Nayon Kang holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Social Welfare from UCLA and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than two decades of experience in direct social services and nonprofit leadership. Her mission is to serve and strengthen the next generation of leaders.
Her clinical background includes direct work with youth and families affected by trauma, mental health and substance use issues, linguistic and economic barriers, and family and community violence, as well as involvement with child protective services and the criminal justice system. She also brings more than a decade of experience coordinating, managing, and directing clinical and social service programs throughout Koreatown and in countywide collaboratives.
Ms. Kang has been on staff at Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC) since 2007, currently serving as Behavioral Health Administrator. Her tenure includes oversight of the organization's social services departments, including early childhood education, youth services, mental health and substance use treatment, intensive medical case management, and prevention education for communities across Koreatown and Los Angeles County. Over the course of her career, she has supervised and mentored more than 30 leaders and hundreds of staff. Prior to KYCC, she worked with organizations including Aviva Family and Children's Services, McKinley Children's Center, Jewish Family Service, and National Family Life & Education Center.
In 2014, Ms. Kang was named a Magnolia Community Initiative Fellow, helping build capacity for more than 70 community agencies across Los Angeles. Her leadership extends beyond KYCC through numerous community advisory roles: she has served as a board member and Secretary of the AAPI Equity Alliance, co-chaired the LA County API Child Abuse Prevention Council for over a decade, and served on the Health Net Community Advisory Committee and the PIH Health Community Benefit Oversight Committee. She has also held long-standing membership on the Healthy Families America Community Advisory Board, the Los Angeles County API Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Collaborative, and the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) & Arab Middle Eastern Muslim South Asian (AMEMSA) Educational Equity Group.