The Cambodian Association of Illinois (CAI) is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, comprehensive social service organization founded in 1976 by a group of Cambodian refugee volunteers who responded to the needs of Cambodians who were resettling in Chicago after fleeing the tyranny, brutality and torture of the Khmer Rouge genocide in which two million Cambodians perished. CAI services some 5,000 Cambodians in Illinois ---over 3,000 in Chicago---all of whom are Cambodian refugees or the children of refugees who escaped the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge’s and Cambodian Killing Fields. The Cambodian Association of Illinois is the only non-profit organization in the Chicago metropolitan area that provides bilingual programming to address the interrelated social and economic needs of our local Cambodian American population.