Our Mission
Our Mission
Our mission is to empower immigrants in the Bay Area through access to education, services, resources and advocacy. We are a bridge helping individuals get needed resources at critical moments in their lives.
Our Vision
Our Vision
Our vision is a world where immigrants and refugees thrive in an inclusive and equitable society and everyone has access to basic health care, housing, work and can be part of a safe, healthy and thriving community.
Our History
Early Settlement
1977 The Beginning
1980 Establishing Non-Profit Status
1983 Our First Home
1984-1989 Koryo Village Center
1991-1996 Immigration & Advocacy
1991-1996 Immigration & Advocacy
1992-1995 Small Business Community
1992-1995 Small Business Community
1994 -2002 Youth Development
2000 Shimtuh Program
2000 Virtual Village Program
2010 Environmental Scan
2011-2013 BIA Accreditation
2013 Covered California
2014-2016 KONA Report
2017-2018 New Program Launch
2017-2018 New Program Launch
2019-2020 Innovation & Collaborations
Team
June Lee
As an immigrant and mother of a teenage daughter, June is passionate about women’s empowerment issues. “I make the world a more wholesome place by helping disempowered people to realize their power and become active participants in our society.”
Yeri Shon, MPH, MSW
Yeri completed her MPH/MSW from the University of Michigan and has a BS in Chemistry from UC Berkeley. Coming from a struggling immigrant family and with over nine years working at non-profit organizations, Yeri developed insights into how systemic barriers cause social inequities leading to negative health outcomes. During her free time, she enjoys reading, exploring diverse eateries around the Bay Area, and being a die-hard Warriors fan when the basketball season starts.
Amy G. Lam, MA, PhD
Amy is also an energy healer and a published poet, playwright, and composer. Amy’s mantra is: “Let’s dream the world we want to see into being.”
Pysay Phinith, LCSW
Pysay is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds an MSW from UC Berkeley. She has over 12 years of depth and experience in community-based prevention, early intervention, clinical case management, and mental health treatment services for Asian and Pacific Islanders and the greater communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Pysay loves running for self-care, “Running is my high! Running is my freedom!”
Christina Yu, LCSW
Christina was born and raised in Oakland by a family who immigrated from Toisan, China. In her spare time, she enjoys visual arts, cooking challenges with her friends, exploring the food scene in the Bay Area, hikes amongst the redwoods, bathing in the sound of the ocean, and tending to her plants.
Christine Yang
Outside of work, you can probably find Christine in front of a sewing machine, doodling, or doing other crafts by hand. On a more rare occasion, you can find her hiking in nature or baking something sweet. Christine goes by both Christine and Yang as a way of gender expression and fluidity.
Jeehee Moon, AMFT
As an international student herself, she understands the challenges of living in an unfamiliar culture and the difficulties of having a language barrier. Jeehee values working as a team with her client. The therapist-client relationship comes before the theoretical approach for her. To build the relationship, she treats her clients with empathy, genuineness, respect, and non-judgmental regard.
Dana Kurlander, MS
Dana has a M.S. in Medical Anthropology from University College London and a B.A. in Global Health and Sociocultural Anthropology from University of California San Diego. Throughout the years, Dana has worked supporting diverse immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker communities in public health advocacy, direct service, and community-based participatory research in both non-profit organization and academic research settings. In her work, she focuses on centering diverse community wisdom, prioritizing collective care, and advocating for systems change. During her free time, she enjoys dancing, being in nature, exploring new coffee spots, and learning about different healing traditions.
Hye-Yun Graves
Hye-Yun developed a strong sense of devotion to make a community in a healthier and better way while working in another community center. Her experience gave her a deep appreciation for an organization like KCCEB for how to bring positive changes into the community with passion and effort. In her spare time, she loves taking a walk and watching movies.
Juhee Hong
Julia Chen
Autumn Lee
She first started her work at KCCEB as a volunteer to support the Tobacco and Census project and interned briefly in the past. Having been through similar challenges herself, she experienced a sense of belonging and fulfillment through her involvement with the community, which led her to commit to KCCEB’s mission years later. Outside of work, she enjoys performing music with a Korean rock band at UC Berkeley and spreading Korean culture on- and off-campus.
Jisoo Kim
Fatai Tokolahi
Fatai is a graduate of Tonga College and holds a Certificate in Youth Development from
the University of the South Pacific. He has loved rugby since childhood, and has
learned to also love Bay Area baseball, basketball and football. He lives in San Rafael
with his wife and kids.
Victor Lau
Art Choi
Minha Yoon, MFA
Catt Olazabal
Seokjune Hong
As a first-generation immigrant, he is keenly aware of the need to provide helpful information to all newcomers. He hopes that by volunteering, KCCEB staff have one less hurdle to deal with in their jobs.
MHAP Program Interns
KCCEB’s Mental Health Asian Pipeline (MHAP) Program provides comprehensive community mental health service training with attention to culturally informed practices, advocacy, and innovation.
MHAP’s goal is to increase the number of mental health social workers in the U.S. with specialized experience with Koreans and other Asian immigrants.
We currently have six MSW Graduate Trainees in the Adult Mental Health and Community Mental Health concentrations.
- Zaina Rose Berger (English)
- Dominican University
- Yen Ha (Cantonese, Vietnamese, English)
- UC Berkeley
- Alina Kim (Korean, Mandarin, English)
- Palo Alto University
- Hye Yun Graves (Korean, English)
- CSU East Bay
- Ellen Lhee (Korean, English)
- UC Berkeley
- Nicole Soong (Cantonese, Mandarin, English)
- UC Berkeley
Board of Directors
The volunteer board of directors at KCCEB is responsible for long-term strategic and programmatic planning, financial oversight and investments, fundraising, and general governance.
Dr. Bhupendra Sheoran is a physician and public health thought leader with over 24 years of global health experience working at the intersection of equity, technology, and innovation with experience in both social and for-profit sectors. He began his career caring for HIV/AIDS patients in India, and since then has worked throughout Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the U.S. on social impact, youth development, LGBTQ+ healthcare access, and digital health technology/innovation.
Carolline Kim is a Program Manager with the Levi Strauss Foundation responsible for oversight of the grants that advance Immigrant Rights, Democracy, and Philanthropic Leadership. She brings a wealth of knowledge in engaging excluded or under-represented communities and developing relationships with key stakeholders in the immigrant rights and democracy space. Carolline is a founding member of the Black & Asian Pacific Islander Solidarity, a group of activists, organizers, and community members that seek to create a safe space for Black/API unity.
Jen Lee is the Deputy Director at the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Care Organizations (AAPCHO). With 23 years of service within and on behalf of community health centers, Jen brings her passion for providing equitable, quality, affordable, culturally responsive, and accountable health care for all communities. Prior to joining AAPCHO, she served for 14 years at Asian Health Services, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Oakland, California, first as a community health worker to then providing oversight of the health center’s prevention education programs, school-based health expansion, community outreach, translation and medical interpreter certification, and advocacy initiatives including the Health Center’s Patient Leadership Council program.
Joe Lee is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Community Health Synergy, LLC, a queer and Asian-owned business dedicated to advancing health equity through community-centered capacity building. In the span of his 14-year career, Joe has supported Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), FQHC Look-Alikes, community-based organizations, County agencies, Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans, and national training organizations across the continental U.S., Hawai’i, U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands, and Freely Associated States. Joe also serves as a Lecturer of an undergraduate community health equity course at UC Berkeley and advisor for several student-led service and research organizations.
Lou Cosso has extensive experience in the banking industry, serving for more than 35 years in leadership roles at Wells Fargo and Bank of America in key areas such as Auto Finance (Dealer Commercial Services and Strategic Auto Investments), Commercial Banking, Trade Finance, and International Banking. More recently, he served as the Vice Chairman of the Board, and Chairman of Director’s Loan Committee at Tri Valley Bank in San Ramon (2011-2018), and prior to that as the Chairman of the Director’s Loan Committee (2010-2011), Vice Chairman of Director’s Loan Committee (2011-2014), and Chairman of Asset Liability Committee (2010-2014) at BBCN now called Bank of Hope (which was Nara Bank before the merger with Center Bank to create BBCN).
