When Tina Kim considered what her next dream job would look like, she saw the posting for a job with JCYC (Japanese Community Youth Council) and felt called to respond. Throughout her career, Tina has always been driven by a desire to positively contribute to the community, traveling wherever her passion took her. Her work has spanned food security in Guatemala, education in NYC, and most recently she served as Senior Director of Health & Wellness Programs with the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. But JCYC’s history and ongoing legacy was a huge draw. “I wanted to be more intentional about working among and for this community,” Tina says.
As the new Director of Programs, Tina will work closely with the executive team to manage the organization’s culture and strategy, while supervising department directors to support the successful implementation of all JCYC programs. After initial conversations with JCYC staff, Tina says she knew the job was worth packing up her family of four. “There was this feeling that there is a special culture at this organization,” she says. “It’s people-centered and very human.”
Relocating from Nevada to San Francisco, Tina, her husband and two children are excited to experience all the Bay has to offer–including JCYC programs. Her two-year-old son is already enrolled in JCYC’s Chibi Chan Preschool program. “The fact that JCYC’s programs encompass everything from preschool to college access, means big opportunities to make an impact on the children and youth that we’re serving and their families.”
After graduating college in San Diego, Tina went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from San Jose State and landed her first job with Climate Corps, working with schools across the Bay Area on environmental education. There she says she “found her purpose” in community-based programs, and always dreamed about coming back to the Bay.
Now that her dream is a reality, she looks forward to doing what she does best: thinking creatively, analyzing data and looking for ways to better connect systems, programs and people that support a long-term vision. “Whether it’s a small process of how a team functions or how people feel appreciated in a big system, that all translates into our work being better in the community and the community actually feeling it,” Tina says. “It’s going to be really fun!”
