By Justin Nam
To most observers, Jane Kim appears to lead a thriving life.
A Stanford-schooled, New York-bred community organizer, Kim is an attorney at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. She began her career as a public servant in 2001 at the Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco, where she would work for the next six years. In 2006, encouraged by her peers to run for the Board of Education, Kim became its first ever Korean representative, and was chosen this year as its president. In this capacity, she administers a $400 million budget.
But there’s more.
After running for the Board of Education, Jane became the first KA elected official in San Francisco.
Today, Kim, 33, is attempting to become the first Korean district supervisor for San Francisco, and to the best of her campaign’s knowledge, the first in the United States.
“I never thought I’d run for any office when I was younger, but I realized I wanted to help the community,” said Kim. “I feel good about the election.”
The board of supervisors can be considered the primary legislative body of San Francisco along with the mayor. If elected, Kim, would help oversee the budget, make appointments and allocate money. As the only candidate on the ballot who has been previously elected to a government post, Kim and her staff consider her to be a frontrunner in the campaign.
“[Kim] was the only candidate with an impressive and diverse resume from her years of service,” said Sunny Angulo, a member of Kim’s campaign office. As president of the Board of Education, Angulo added, Kim is skilled in organizing substantial budgets, and from her previous campaigns, already has the connections in place to begin fundraising.
Kim’s campaign for the November 2 election is highly focused on the grassroots level, a strategy stemming back to her run for the Board of Education. By using social media and word-of-mouth to spread news about her candidacy, Kim wants to reach all levels of the community. Amidst several Facebook groups supporting her is one titled “Jane Kim for the 1st Korean District Supervisor for San Francisco,” which is trying to recruit supporters to donate small amounts of money towards Kim’s campaign.
Her continued encouragement from the Asian American community never goes unnoticed.
“I am honored for the support from around the country from Asian immigrants and the children of immigrants,” said Kim, whose parents hail from South Korea. “I love local politics because it allows me to work directly with community members to get them involved.”
