Grace Yoo (first row, far left) has resigned from her position as the executive director of Korean American Coalition (KAC), and is campaigning as a candidate for L.A. City Council (10th District). David Ryu (second row, center) is also running for L.A. City Council (4th District). Yoo, Ryu, and other Koreatown advocates gathered at a press conference regarding the L.A. city redistricting issue in early September.
On December 3, Grace Yoo, former executive director of the Korean American Coalition, has resigned from her leadership position. Yoo filed a nominating petition on the same day to be a candidate for the Los Angeles City Council, specifically for District 10, for the election on March 3, 2015.
During the time that Yoo was the executive director, she has had a significant impact in the work that KAC was able to accomplish. KAC helped to create Los Angeles Police Department’s Olympic Community Police Station, which served to protect Koreatown and meet the needs of the Koreatown community.
The Olympic Community Police Station also served as boundaries for the redistricting process in 2010, which enabled the entirety of Koreatown to stay in one Congressional district, one Senate district, and one Assembly district, according to Helen Kim, the Chair of KAC. Yoo was also one of the community organizers with the strongest opposition against the redistricting that occurred in 2012, which split up Koreatown into multiple districts, causing the voice and voting power of Koreatown to become diminished.
Yoo also started new programs in KAC during her time in leadership, including Model United Nations for high school students, Topple Hunger in North Korea (THINK), and Mentorship Circles.
In order for a nominating petition for L.A. City Council to be filed, a minimum of 500 signatures are required. Yoo had collected over 1,000 before the December 3 deadline. She and David Ryu, who is campaigning to be Councilmember of District 4, will be two Korean candidates for the L.A. City Council in March.
The Korean American Coalition (KAC) is a non-profit community organization that was established in 1983 to “promote the civic concerns, civil rights, and community affairs of the Korean American community through education, community organizing, leadership development, and coalition-building with diverse communities.”
