How one group is making sure small businesses in Manhattan's Chinatown stay open By Paulina Smolinski May 14, 2021 / 7:55 PM / CBS News Businesses in Chinatowns across the U.S. are recovering after battling closures from the pandemic and a rise in hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Vic Lee, the co-founder of Welcome to Chinatown, is making sure Manhattan's Chinatown stays open. She recently spoke to CBS News about her work in the community. CBS News: To start, tell me about your connection to Manhattan's Chinatown? Vic Lee: I am a native New Yorker. I grew up in Brooklyn, and Chinatown is a really special place for me. I think of my upbringing being in Chinatown because I used to come out every Sunday with my parents and my sister. We would drive out to Chinatown where I had Sunday dinner with my grandmother. It's this very formative part of my identity. Now in my early 30s, I've been living in Chinatown for the past 10 years. It's this place for me, as an Asian American woman, where I am able to understand what it means to be an Asian American woman. On those Sundays, it wasn't just about the dinners. We would run errands, go to the local Chinese grocery stores to buy everything. My grandmother, when I was really young, she took me to the park. I remember celebrating Lunar New Year and going to the temple. All of the experiences I remember growing up are very much rooted in Chinatown.