Rooted In Our
Community.
Growing Up in the Richmond District
David and his siblings were raised by their immigrant parents. His mother, Mee, was a typist at Irwin Memorial Blood Bank in the Richmond District for decades.
His father, Ken, was a proud Galileo High School graduate, a U.S. Army veteran, and a U.S. Navy civilian electrical engineer. His parents struggled to raise their family in San Francisco while caring for more extended family members.
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At 12 years-old, David and his younger brother joined the Boy Scouts. This started David's lifelong passion of volunteer work and giving back to the community. In those early days, David served as a crossing guard, delivered meals to senior citizens, and helped to clean up Chinatown's alleys.
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David attended Wallenberg High School and became interested in government and public policy while volunteering for State Senator Milton Marks.
Educator
As a first-generation college student, David strongly related to the struggles of immigrant students and became an educator to help young people succeed in school and find their passion in life. As a lecturer of political science at San Francisco State, he has taught generations of students how to organize, mobilize and engage the system. Dozens of his students have gone on to participate in voter registration drives and pursue careers in public service.
David is now the director of Laney College’s Asian Pacific American Student Success program, which supports immigrant, undocumented, and formerly incarcerated students with academic counseling, mental health support services, peer mentoring, and multilingual support.
During the pandemic, he organized the first Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) grant from the US Department of Education for any California community college, successfully lobbying for $2.5 million to support mental health services for Asian American and immigrant students at Laney College and Berkeley City College.
Non-Profit Leader
​Since 1993, David has served as the Executive Director for the Chinese American Voters Education Committee (CAVEC), organizing voter registration drives at U.S. naturalization ceremonies, Chinese and Asian American churches, cultural events, family association and community gatherings throughout Chinatown, the Richmond, the Sunset, Visitacion Valley and Daly City.
David has trained hundreds of volunteers and staff to register and educate voters in the AAPI community throughout the Bay Area.
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Through their collective efforts----and those of many AAPI leaders and organizations---Asian American voter participation has surged. This is due to community outreach efforts that included a number of successful Chinese and Tagalog public service campaigns.
In 2002, the San Francisco Foundation honored David for his leadership in helping thousands of immigrants and new citizens gain their right to vote.
Public Servant
In 2005, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed David to serve on the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission to help carry out his administration’s plans to revamp the aging park system. he developed new recreational facilities that have become cornerstone public spaces in the Richmond, like Argonne Clubhouse, Rossi Playground, and Lincoln Playground. He kept programs at Richmond Recreation Center and Golden Gate Senior Center running and secured funding to rebuild facilities at the Cabrillo, Fulton, Richmond and Rochambeau playgrounds.
David also managed millions of dollars in bonds to build and refurbish dozens of playgrounds, recreation facilities, and parks. He fought for the Parks Department to establish more open spaces and parks for residents as well as expanded efforts to plant trees, create urban forests, and improve streetscapes.
