About CCAST

Some of our longtime members will remember that back in the late 1960's, there were only five to six Chinese families living in the Corning area working for the then Corning Glassworks (now Corning Inc.). The group was informally named "Corning Chinese Association ". Since the community was such a small cluster, get-togethers were usually an informal dinner at someone's house.

In the 1980's the community grew to about twenty families and changed its name to "Southern Tier Chinese Association."  The organization included members living in Elmira, Horseheads, Bath, Avoca, and Ithaca. Not quite considered a critical mass at the time, the small Chinese club still gathered for dinner about four times a year to socialize and build friendship. Membership dues were voluntary and anyone could join without paying them. The main goal was to get to know other Chinese people in the community. As one member recalled, "we did have an elected chairperson, treasurer, and secretary. Basically three families helped organized annual social events."

In the early 1990's the membership grew such that gatherings had to be held in conference rooms at the Arnot Mall or at local high schools. The name got changed again to "Corning-Elmira Chinese Association."

At the 2001 Spring Festival celebration, the members were surveyed on a few topics such as the name of the organization, events, membership dues etc. Based on the information collected, we changed the name to “Corning Chinese Association”. Formal memberships grew to approximately 70 families. CCA started to have regular monthly activities and other big annual events. In 2004, CCA became an employee resource group within Corning, Inc.

In 2024, Corning Cultural Association of the Souther Tier was created as a nonprofit organization. CCA will remain as a separate entity within Corning, Inc.