2006 Anniversary Program Book

Contents 1 Activity Highlights 2006 1.1 Health Access Project 1.2 Voter Empowerment 1.3 Social Services 1.4 Education 1.5 Solidarity with New Orleans 1.6 Immigration Reform 1.7 ORAnGE 2 Hosting Committee 3 Staff 4 Board of Directors 5 Sponsors 6 Welcome 7 Standing Up For Justice Awardees 7.1 Courtni Sunjoo Pugh 7.2 Dolores Mission Church 7.3 Community Health Promoters 8 Artists

Activity Highlights 2006

Health Access Project

The Health Access Project was created to improve the health status of Korean Americans, and ensure Korean American representation in health policy, funding and education. Working together with Community Health Promoters, the project goals are focused on creating access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health services.

Health Services

KRC provided consultation and application assistance to 555 low-income seniors and families for public health programs such as Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and Healthy Kids. In addition, KRC distributed the first bilingual Health Alert, which provides timely information regarding the recent policy and program changes in public health benefits. To prevent the further loss of free and low-cost health services and a significant trauma center, KRC actively advocated to save Martin Luther King/ Drew Hospital in solidarity with the South Los Angeles community. These KRC health services are particularly vital given that Korean Americans have the highest uninsured rate at 52% among all ethnicities.

Medicare Part D Enrollment Services 

With the implementation the Medicare Part D program at the beginning of the year, limited English proficient Korean American seniors were faced with significant additional barriers when receiving medications and treatment because of the lack of written bilingual materials and access to language services. With the help of California Endowment, in 2006, KRC assisted over 1,344 Korean seniors in enrolling in prescription drug plans.

Koreatown Health Day Clinic The “Koreatown Health Day” is a biannual event, providing much needed health services to 300 uninsured low-income community members who otherwise do not have meaningful access to healthcare. Health Day promotes preventive health practices by offering free pap smears, mammograms, blood pressure readings, diabetes & cholesterol tests, general blood tests and consultations from family practice doctors, dentists, acupuncturists as well as information on healthy eating and fish contamination.

Language Access Advocacy

A survey conducted by the New California Media in 2003 found that 60% of Korean Americans reported to speak English not well or not at all. Competent multi-lingual services are crucial for the Korean immigrant community members when accessing public health benefits. The language access component strives to build the capacity of the community to instill self-sufficiency through education so that clients could advocate for themselves and to build discussions between government agencies and the Korean community. Toward this purpose, KRC conducted workshops with 729 Korean American seniors informing them of available multi-lingual services at senior day care centers, community organizations, faith-based organizations, and senior apartments. For policy recommendations, KRC has surveyed over 300 Korean American seniors in Los Angeles County to assess the accessibility of written materials and of Korean language lines at CMS and Medicare Part D prescription drug plan sponsors. For more direct advocacy, KRC, part of the Community Advisory Board Coalition, meets with representatives from the Department of Public Social Services to present case stories to ensure that every individual is given competent services in the language preferred in a timely manner.

Voter Empowerment

During the 2006 General Elections, KRC assisted close to 2,278 U.S. citizens with voter registration and helped 477 voters complete vote-by-mail applications. Our voter mobilization efforts resulted in contacts with 7,000 Korean American voters. In addition, KRC produced 24,000 bilingual election guides, 19,000 of which were were mailed to registered Korean American voters during the November elections and 5,000 guides during the June elections.

This year, KRC expanded the voter empowerment project with outreach to Korean American community members in both Los Angeles County and Orange County. KRC, with the help of local business owners, community organizations, and local ethnic media, organized voter registration drives in these counties, distributing bilingual voter guides and creating public service announcements to increase public awareness and civic engagement. Details are below.

• Voter Registration with 2,278 individuals through Naturalization ceremonies, One Vote campaign, Vote 2006 Campaign
• Direct mailing (8-page bilingual voter guide, Immigration issue alert flyer, Vote-by-mail form) sent to 16,000 Voters in the city of Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) and 2,000 voters in the cities of Garden Grove & Buena Park (Orange County)
• Door to Door Voter Awareness with 1,994 potential voters
• Phone Banking: KRC contacted up to 2,600 voters for the June elections and 7,000 voters during the November elections
• 8 Voter Workshops with 880 participants
• Media Campaign: 103 Media activities, including press conferences, interviews, and PSAs
• Voter Hot-Line from 9/1/06 -- 11/7/06 : With 1,374 voters

Social Services

Free Naturalization Clinic

The Korean Resource Center hopes to raise the voice of the Korean American community in various legislative measures , including humane immigration reform. Through naturalization and voter registration, the Korean community will be empowered to become a noticeable political force with access to the electoral system.

Last July 1st, KRC participated in the “National Citizenship Day” event at the Los Angeles Convention Center with the “We Are America Alliance”, and with the support of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) and Asian Pacific American Legal Center. KRC held additional clinics on July 15 and August 12; starting September, KRC offers weekly Tuesday clinics, assisting the process of 374 Korean American clients.

Free Legal Clinic

KRC and LAFLA have been co-sponsor ing a “Pro Bono Legal Clinic” on a monthly basis since June 2004, serving 99 individuals in 2006. Many thanks to Joanne Lee, an attorney with LAFLA, who has been providing consultation on family, immigration, and labor law.

Free Low Income Tax Clinic

This year, KRC provided consultation to 530 low-income, limited English proficient (LEP) taxpayers on rights and responsibilities, tax credit laws, and tax filing processes. KRC volunteers also sponsored a Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which assisted 439 low-income taxpayers with their E-filing returns. Through KRC’s VITA program, an estimated $318,000 in Earned Income Tax Credit (both federal and state) and federal/state tax refund was refunded to 420 low-income taxpayers.

Education

2006 Summer Youth Empowerment Project

KRC offered its Summer Youth Empowerment Project for eight weeks to local high school students seeking to participate in this joint study and internship program. Four times a week, students learned about a range of topics from modern Korean history and culture to civil rights and race relations.

Fish Contamination Education

KRC’s public education efforts have focused on raising community awareness about potential fish contamination of DDT, PCBs and mercury caught from the coastal waters of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. For example, white croaker, a favorite dish among Korean Americans, has been found to have high levels of contaminated chemicals and mercury, putting children and pregnant women at high risk for cancer.

Free Naturalization English Class

Since the Fall, KRC established a free Naturalization Evening Class in partnership with the Los Angeles Trade Technical College. A total of 28 immigrant students registered for the class and had an opportunity to learn about U.S. history, government, and how to prepare for citizenship interview.

Senior Technology Class

KRC launched a free technology class for low-income seniors to provide computer literacy on a wide range of topics from the most basic—how to use a computer: windows, introduction to the internet & search engines, to the intermediate-beginner--how to find a polling place on the county website.

From October 13, 2005 to May 31, 2006, KRC conducted six workshops composed of eight 1-hour sessions and a total of 33 seniors participated.

Solidarity with New Orleans

Korean Resource Center and NAKASEC sent two delegations to the New Orleans in solidarity with the People’s Organizing Committee (POC, http://www.peoplesorganizing.org), a grassroots organization committed to bottom-up organizing. The two Korean American delegation teams had an opportunity to learn about discriminatory levy system, history of the African American community and civil rights movement; also the teams participated in house gutting work, resident organizing through phone banking and canvassing.

During the solidarity trip, KRC youth participated in a joint press conference by POC and Immigrant Worker Coalition of New Orleans. The event was to call attention to hotel workers’ grievances against their unscrupulous employer who had denied them paychecks trying to take advantage of the workers’ immigration status.

Immigration Reform

As the powerfully worded anti-immigrant bill H.R. 4437 passed the House in 2005, immigrant communities prepared for demonstrations in a tense mood.

Waves of protest for humane immigration reform and against anti-immigrant bills swept the nation starting in Washington DC in March, and here in Southern California on March 25th, 26th, April 10th, and May 1st. Throughout the various marches, more than 2 million people participated, and figures such as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Archdiocese’s Cardinal Mahoney participated and created a momentum that lasted into history.

As all the immigrant communities started mobilizing the street marches across the cities beginning of March 2006, KRC also mobilized the Korean American community for March 25, March 26, April 10 and May 1. Over two months of periods, KRC disseminated 10,000 flyers, 2,000 direct mailing, and 1000 phone banking and door-knocking to the community members to participate in the marches as well as organizing Korean traditional drumming groups. As a result of these efforts, the Senate passed a reform proposal without the criminalization aspects of H.R. 4437.

As the marches folded, immigrant communitie felt the need to channel the energies into votes and initiated a period of naturalizations and voter registrations. At the same time, NAKASEC and its affiliates KRC, YKASEC, Chicago KRCC launched the “We Are America” Campaign and so far 100,000 postcards have been printed for participating organizations.

As a result of the mass (voter) mobilizations, the Korean American community’s attitude towards issues of legalization, criminalization of immigrants, and family reunification, turned out to be overwhelmingly in support (78%) of a path to citizenship, against criminalization of undocumented immigrants, and demanding a solution to the slow family reunification process.

ORAnGE

Founded in October 2005 within the Korean Resource Center, Organize, Rise Up, Act n’ Get Empowered (ORAnGE) is a youth group dedicated to advancing student legalization, humane immigration reform, and developing leadership, and political consciousness. This past summer, ORAnGE successfully raised close to $5,000 towards the costs of the August 2006 Korean American Youth Solidarity Trip to New Orleans. As part of their efforts to educate the community on student legalization issues, several ORAnGE members, Eunice Lee, SangHoon Lee, and Elizabeth Heo, shot, edited, and produced “April 10, 2006.” This short documentary is based on Eunice’s experience speaking out on the importance of the DREAM Act during the historic April 10 Na-tionwide Day of Action for Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles. “April 10, 2006” was recently screened as part of the Los Angeles “Too Much Freedom?” film festival in November 2006.

Hosting Committee

Judy Chu

California State Assembly

Kevin De Le?n

Assemblymember-elect

Maria Elena Durazo

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Mike Eng

Assemblymember-elect

Kiwan Hong

Korean Resource Center

Yonah Hong

LAUSD Community Outreach Organizer

Hee Bok Kim

Senior Activist

Joon Kim

HanNuRi Korean American Cultural Troupe

Zuwhan Kim

Young Koreans United of Los Angeles

Edward Koo

Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles

Cliff Sukjae Lee

Young Koreans United of USA

Janet Lee

Elementary School Teacher

Chris Moon-Ki Nam

Korean American Federation of Los Angeles

Angela Oh

Civil Rights Advocate

Mark Ridley-Thomas

California State Assembly

Myung-Soo Seok

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Debra Suh

Center for the Pacific Asian Family

Dianne E. Watson

United States Congress

Staff

Dae J. Yoon

Executive Director

Hee Joo Yoon

Program Director

Caroline Lee

Health Access Director

Irene Hong

Language Access Coordinator

Yongho Kim

Immigrant Rights Coordinator

Jung Hwan Boo

Health Access Fellow

Hyejin Kim

5.18 Foundation Fellow

Hosan Kim

5.18 Foundation Fellow

Choi, Ja Ae

NAPCA Fellow

Chae, Seung Yong

NAPCA Fellow

Board of Directors

Sponsors

Education ($2,500)

California Teacher’s Association, President Barbara Kerr

Korean American Cultural Troupe HanNuRi and

Jang Koo Hak Dang

SEIU United Healthcare Workers

Service ($1,000)

Inbo Sim

Iron Workers of America

Kiwan Hong

Kil Joo Lee

National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, YKASEC and the Korean Resource and Cultural Center

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Sang Ho Yoo

Table Purchases

Korean American Foundation of Southern California

Strategic Concepts in Organizing & Policy Education

Dolores Mission Church

Lee & Bardavid Attorneys at Law

Dong Hyun Ahn

Individual Contributions

Kim, Henry Kim, Young Ok Kim, Yong Cha Kim, Young Chun Suk, Chang Kim, Chang Ok Kim, Tong In Kim, Hyeon Sook Kim, Hee Pok Nam , Eung Hee Park, Kyung Sook Park, Mu Sung Park, Bang Ja Park, Soo Young Park, Won Hi Park, Choon Ho Bahng, In Jo Suh, Yeon Ok Suh, Jung Sul Yoon, Jeong A Shin, Soon Ja Oh, Seung Hwan Oh, Hee Joon Yun, Sang Baek Youn, Kum Cha Lee, Matthew Lee, Bae Eul Lee, Soung Woo Lee, Sung Hwa Lee, Yong Hee Lee, Chung Ae Im, Kye Hee Im, Myong Soon Yim, Jyong Soon Lim, Jin Mook Choo, Soon Ja Choo, In Joon Choo, Hyung Tak So, Kevin Youn, Katie Han, Seon-Joo Hyun, Moo Il Anonymous

Special Recognition

The Korean Resource Center acknowledges the generous support of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian Pacific Community Fund, California Consumer Protection Foundation, Impact Assessment, Inc., Liberty Hill Foundation, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, The California Endowment, The Four Freedoms Fund, and Young-Nak Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles.

Welcome

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Korean Resource Center’s 23rd anniversary annual fundraising banquet. On behalf of the center I would like to extend our sincerest appreciation to all the guest here tonight, host committee members, donors and allies who supported this event; and finally, many thanks to all the KRC board members, staff and supporters who’s dogged work behind scenes and spirit made this event tonight possible.

Our annual banquet is the opportunity to come together with our friends, supporters and colleagues to reflect on our accomplishments and successes. While, each year holds distinct memories, 2006 is particularly special. We will always remember it as the year that immigrant communities were stirred to become politically engaged like never before in history as communities voted with their feet through the mass spring mobilization for comprehensive immigration reform.

The year ahead presents much hope and challenges for the low income and immigrant communities. In order to achieve genuine social economic change that benefits all Americans, we must adopt a more inclusive mandate and begin to reach out to work with diverse constituencies. Therefore we recommit ourselves to focus on deep education and long term organizing of our community and multiracial and class coalition building. Tonight banquet’s theme, “Make The Road By Walking” r reflects the belief that we can make change and progress by doing. Let us walk this road that has never been walked before,hand over fist, shoulder to shoulder.

Our wishes for a meaningful and enjoyable evening to all.

Kiwan Hong, KRC Board Chair

Standing Up For Justice Awardees

Courtni Sunjoo Pugh

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Ms. Courtni Sunjoo Pugh has been a dynamic leader and campaign organizer for over a dozen years. She is currently the Political Director for the LA County Federation of Labor.

Drawing on the highlights of her extensive commitments, Ms. Pugh began her career as a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union, Local 250, in Oakland, California in the early nineties.

Before returning to Los Angeles, Pugh served as the Deputy Base Vote Director and National Director of Asian Pacific American Outreach at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 2000 election. Her national political commitments continued, as Deputy Political Director for Senator John Edwards 2004 Presidential campaign. A pioneering leader, Pugh is also the first woman and Asian American to serve as Political Director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Pugh’s commitment to community service extends far beyond her employment history. She recently served as the Western Region Political Director for the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) where she was the International’s Representative in Politics for California and Nevada.

Courtni Sunjoo Pugh’s work on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans is nationally recognized for her effectiveness in increasing the political will of Asian Pacific Americans. Her knowledge and leadership is widely sought after: Pugh serves on numerous Boards and Committees, including as the founding Board Chair of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) Action Fund, and the founding member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association (CAPASA), just to name a few.

We honor her tonight as one of the community’s unsung heros.

Dolores Mission Church

Dolores Mission Church was founded in 1925, in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, California. Throughout its history, it has served immigrant groups, and for more than forty years the community has been comprised mostly of Hispanics, both recently arrived immigrants and those born in the United States.

In the 1980’s, the non-profit organization Proyecto Pastoral was founded within Dolores Mission parish to address critical social needs, such as child care, leadership development, shelter for immigrants and homeless men, and outreach to at-risk youth through continuing education and job placement. Over time, Dolores Mission Church and Proyecto Pastoral have collaborated effectively with each other to address these concerns and to work for social change, most recently in the areas of public safety and immigration reform.

On February 1, 2006, Dolores Mission held a press conference to begin a month of fasting and prayer as part of the struggle for comprehensive immigration reform. Parishioners actively participated in the immigration movement by marching in the spring mass mobilizations; provided testimonies to the media about the impact of anti-immigrant proposals; and helped register new voters, et al. In these efforts, Dolores Mission also united with other communities of faith, labor, and with the service and advocacy community to advocate for fair and humane immigration reform.

Community Health Promoters

Community Health Promoters (CHP) is comprised of twenty four Korean American seniors who have been active within Korean American community. One of CHP’s chief functions is advocacy: members address health policies that impact the senior immigrant population such as the 2006 Deficit Reduction Act. Through information sharing and education CHP can pass this information on to the most vulnerable members in the Korean American community-limited English proficient Korean seniors. CHP member also assist by referring those in need to the Korean Resource Center (KRC). Through this exchange. CHP helps KRC key into gaps in services and emerging needs that the community is facing.

CHP also act as legislative advocates. In May of 2006, CHP organized a lobby day. Eighteen members traveled to Sacramento to meet with eight members of California’s legislature. CHP’s mission was to surface the immigrant community’s concerns to politicians of the cultural and linguistic barriers that exist which prevent many elderly limited English proficient individuals from accessing Medicare Part D plans and state health programs.

In response, this fall, CHP members conducted over 120 Medicare Part D Language Access Surveys. The findings from the surveys will be used to advocate for culturally and linguistically appropriate materials and services.

KRC is fortunate to work with the passionate and dedicated members of Community Health Promoters. It is because of their efforts that linguistically and culturally appropriate services for the immigrant community is prioritized.

Artists

Dekonte Muhammad

Mr. Muhammad is a young human activist from New Orleans, LA. For most of his life he has been active in racial and economic justice work. Most recently, he assisted the People’s Organizing Committee (POC)-an organization that works to ensure that Hurricane Katrina survivors receive justice in rebuilding-to organize volunteers in the devastated areas, and gather issues that Katrina survivors were facing through home visits. Dekonte is also a performing artist who co-wrote and produced “Bloody Waters,” a song about the situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Yoojin Yang 

Ms. Yoojin Yang, is a classical voice major at Los Angeles City College (LACC), Ms. Yang is also the soloist at Eastern Presbyterian Church and the LACC Chamber Choir. She has sung with the Los Angeles National Symphony Orchestra, the Union Choir, and local Korean American church choirs. When Ms. Yang is not singing, she actively volunteers on health and immigrant issues at KRC. Piano Accompanist: Mina Park

HanNuRi Cultural Troupe

A Korean traditional folk culture group, HanNuRi was founded on December 1992 in Los Angeles to promote and to preserve Korean folk culture within the Korean American community. Hannuri maintains traditional folk culture through poongmul (traditional folk drumming), samulnori (traditional performance drumming), talchum (masked dances), madang kuk (outdoor performances), etc. By utilizing forms of traditional cultural arts, Hannuri creates an encouraging space to appreciate our culture and roots. Hannuri events include the annual New Year celebration at Griffith Park, JiShin BalpGi (Lunar New Year Street Festival), and participates in cross-cultural exchanges with other ethnic cultural arts organizations.

Jan Koo Hak Dang

Jan Koo Hak Dang, founded in 2002, started as a class for adults who possessed a passion for traditional folk rhythms and social justice. Currently, there are two levels of classes on Mondays and Fridays. Because of their skill and dedication to the art, the school has regularly been asked to perform at various events including the annual Los Angeles Korea Day Festival Parade, various associations, and organizational events. We are proud to provide a space for Korean American adults who have dedicated their free time to promote our cultural arts within mainstream and Korean immigrant communities.