This story was reported for IVNSanDiego.org in September 2020.
Jean-Huy Tran grew up in Orange County, home to more than 200,000 Vietnamese-Americans, one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the U.S. He became accustomed to seeing elected officials of Vietnamese descent in office, including Tony Lam, the first Vietnamese person to hold elected office in the U.S.
But, when Tran made his way to San Diego 15 years ago, he found a different story.
“There are issues the Vietnamese folks around here are not aware of,” Tran said. “We pay taxes, yet we don’t benefit from government services. Our local government does a pretty terrible job of reaching out to the Vietnamese community and why should they care about us if we aren’t voting?”
Frustrated by the lack of outreach from City Hall, Tran and a handful of other activists began engaging the Vietnamese community, focusing on City Heights, a diverse neighborhood where immigrants from around the world call home.
In 2019, they established a nonprofit called Viet Vote with the goal of engaging more Vietnamese Americans in the civic process. Tran, the board president, said the only way his community will be able to grab the attention of elected officials is to vote.
Read the full story at IVNSanDiego.org.