STATEMENT - HIP Board Announces New Leadership Structure
Dear HIP friends and supporters,
Recognizing the tremendous opportunity to grow our community’s power in 2020 and beyond, HIP is excited to introduce our new tri-director leadership structure that gives our organization more flexibility and elevates the unique strengths of our staff. Cha Vang is our Director of Statewide Organizing--responsible for leading HIP’s base building and mobilization efforts. Brought onboard in the Summer 2019, Nancy Xiong is the HIP’s Director of Development and Communications--responsible for building out the organization’s communications capacity to reshape narratives that impact the Hmong and Southeast Asian American community. And the newest member of the HIP team is Nkauj Iab Yang, Director of Youth Justice focused on building HIP’s youth and young adult organizing efforts.
Born and raised in North Sacramento, Nkauj Iab joins HIP with a wealth of experience. After finishing her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, Nkauj Iab stayed in the Bay Area and has over 11 years of youth organizing and youth development experience. Nkauj Iab came back to Sacramento to serve the community by becoming the Director of California Policy and Programs for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) where she worked closely with Southeast Asian American led and serving organizations throughout California to build a statewide equity agenda and advocate for policy change.
“I’m thrilled to be back on the ground and this time to build in my hometown. The heart- and mind-work starts with our families and young people-- creating a space where young people are thriving and leading the charge for institutional change. Our young people deserve better and they deserve more. Their time is now.” - Nkauj Iab Yang
From our very founding, HIP has always believed that the next generation of leadership cannot and should not depend on a singular person; but rather hope stems from cultivating the leadership that is already inherent in our community including from women and young leaders. For generations, there have been everyday leaders in our family and our community that make the most impact--the ones without titles, prestige, or recognition. Those that stand up for others even if it runs counter to authority; those that grind and toil because they understand that’s what it takes to give the next generation a better life. It is in this spirit that HIP moves into this new structure.
When HIP set out to establish a full fledged organization, our goal was to develop an infrastructure to build power in our community in order to advance racial equity and justice. We understood that traditional models for non-profit organizations may not match the unique needs of our community and that we have a responsibility and the ingenuity to define roles and create structures that will be most impactful. Indeed, looking around the country--only a handful of the organizations that helped our communities resettle here in the United States remain. Those that have managed to survive, recognized the importance of helping our communities reach the next stages of making the US our home--one that supports ownership and agency over our neighborhoods, schools and communities.
This new tri-director model will be responsible for driving HIP’s goals of (1) ensure a complete count of Hmong and Southeast Asian American refugees in the 2020 Census, (2) significantly increasing the number of Hmong and Southeast Asian American voters in the March and November 2020 elections; and (3) harnessing the tremendous leadership of young people in our community and giving them the tools to continue to drive social justice efforts.
HIP’s Board of Directors are excited for this new transition and organization structure as it sets the organization up for success heading into an extremely impactful and important year. Stay tuned for our official announcement of our new board members at the end of this month.
Signed,
HIP Board of Directors
Laura Vu, Board President
Doua Thor
Mabel Tsang
Mai Yang Vang