APA Heritage Month Honoree Anne Im

Anne Im was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was two years old. Serving others was a big part of her family growing up but she began to learn more about issues affecting the Asian community such as race, gender, immigrant status, LGBT issues, and domestic violence during her college years. This propelled her down a path of serving minority communities throughout her career.

Early in her career while working in Congress, she realized that there were so few API voices at the table. “We still have to continue to fight and advocate for the voice of Asian Americans, we have to be at the table, to have our community represented in every single sector, from the government, to private sector, to the nonprofit sector, we need good people everywhere – our voice needs to be there.” This experience drove Anne to advocate for the voices of marginalized groups.

Anne has also been involved in the last three census cycles, first in congress, then at AACI engaging community members directly and now at Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) as a convener and funder.

When asked why she cares so deeply about the census Anne said, “Everyone that is here should be counted, whether you’re undocumented, educated, you have a home or not. It’s an important part of civic representation and recognition of each person that’s here in our country. Especially given the challenging environment we are in now it’s about a recognition of our humanity as well. It’s an act of courage and, for me, an act of resistance to say that I am a part of this community and I count. Even though I think there are some forces and voices we are hearing that make immigrants feel like we shouldn’t be here."

Thank you Anne for using your voice to uplift your community.

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