MEET THE STAFF
BPSOS-Delaware Valley encompasses South Jersey and Philadelphia and most of our staff interchange between the two offices, offering programs and services to both the Philadelphia and South Jersey communities. Learn more about them and their courageous work here in our "Meet our Team" page. Besides our staff, we also employ numerous workstudy students, interns, and volunteers in our 3 programs: Health Awareness and Prevention (HAPP), Citizenship Initiative in Vietnamese Immigrant Communities (CIVIC), and our South East Asian Youth Empowerment Program (SEAYEP). Enjoy!
Nancy Nguyen, Branch Manager
Nancy Dung Nguyen leads the BPSOS-Delaware Valley branch, the community-based branch office of the largest national Vietnamese organization in the US. We equip, organize, and empower the Vietnamese community in the area through youth empowerment and organizing through a lens of social justice and anti-violence, health promotion and navigation, civic engagement, and community building projects. In addition, Ms. Nguyen has had an array of experiences working and volunteering in non-profits in Northern Mexico, Vietnam and the US that work to end violence in communities, especially against women and young people. In 2010, she was selected to be part of the pilot cohort of Move to End Violence, a 10-year project to re-invigorate the US based movement to end violence against women and girls. Ms. Nguyen graduated with a M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She continues to organize youth and her community towards a vision of a community free from all forms of violence.
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 385-8156 | Email: [email protected]
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 385-8156 | Email: [email protected]
Jonathan Viet Luu, South East Asian Youth Empowerment Program (AYEP) Coordinator
Jonathan Viet Luu is the current Asian Youth Empowerment Program (AYEP) Coordinator and Manager. He recently moved to Philadelphia from Austin, Texas. Jonathan studied Philosophy, Sociology, Africana Studies, and Urban & Regional Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. During his time as an undergraduate, he was invited to present his work as several peer-reviewed venues such as the Philosophy Born of Struggle Conference, the Association of Cultural Studies at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The Critical Race Studies in Education Association, and the World Philosophy Congress in Athens, Greece. He is interested in developing youth’s leadership capacities through philosophical and intellectual rigor.
Previously, he has served as the Residential Co-Director of the Texas Governor’s School in the Arts and Humanities for Urban Leadership at Texas A&M University. During his tenure at the Texas Governor’s School, he was responsible for developing the leadership capacities of approximately 300 high school students through curriculum development and implementation, the supervision of 12 residential advisors, and other miscellaneous logistics. Furthermore, he has also served as a legislative aide/intern in the Texas Senate (Government Organization Committee), as an immigration paralegal for Jung Ko, PLLC, a child safety specialist for the City of Austin, and a Community Educator with the Asian Family Support Services of Austin.
Jonathan served in various positions and capacities during his time in Austin: Vice Chair of the City of Austin’s Human Rights Commission, Vice President of the Vietnamese American Community of Austin, Texas 501(c) 3 Nonprofit, and as a member of the Austin Independent School District’s English Language Learners Advisory Committee.
Contact - Email: [email protected]
Previously, he has served as the Residential Co-Director of the Texas Governor’s School in the Arts and Humanities for Urban Leadership at Texas A&M University. During his tenure at the Texas Governor’s School, he was responsible for developing the leadership capacities of approximately 300 high school students through curriculum development and implementation, the supervision of 12 residential advisors, and other miscellaneous logistics. Furthermore, he has also served as a legislative aide/intern in the Texas Senate (Government Organization Committee), as an immigration paralegal for Jung Ko, PLLC, a child safety specialist for the City of Austin, and a Community Educator with the Asian Family Support Services of Austin.
Jonathan served in various positions and capacities during his time in Austin: Vice Chair of the City of Austin’s Human Rights Commission, Vice President of the Vietnamese American Community of Austin, Texas 501(c) 3 Nonprofit, and as a member of the Austin Independent School District’s English Language Learners Advisory Committee.
Contact - Email: [email protected]
Tracy Nguyen, Health Awareness and Prevention Program (HAPP) Coordinator
Tracy Nguyen is the Health Awareness Prevention Program Coordinator at BPSOS South Jersey. Ms. Nguyen has over five years of experience in navigating Vietnamese immigrant and refugee women and seniors through the health care system. She is skilled in delivering a multitude of community health workshops in intimate small group settings or large scale 100 individual lectures on topics as diverse as cervical and breast cancer education and screening among Vietnamese women to chronic disease health management. Ms. Nguyen is a certified community health interpreter, and is also currently working on gaining BIA Accreditation to support clients through the naturalization process. Tracy is attending Rowan Universityfor a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 312-9136 | Email: [email protected]
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 312-9136 | Email: [email protected]
Linh Pham, Citizenship Initiative in Vietnamese Immigrant Communities (CIVIC) Program Coordinator
Linh Pham has been a part of the BPSOS-Delaware Valley since April of 2012. In the duration she has been with BPSOS and the CIVIC Program, 32 community members from the Delaware Valley became new citizens of the United States with her assistance. Her involvement with the organization’s first ever Get Out the Vote Campaign was integral to the success of the project, helping register over 300 new Asian American voters in the Philadelphia area and contacting 2,626 individuals through phone banking efforts. She holds a Bachelor degree in International Studies-Asia from the University of NC-Charlotte and a Master’s degree in Development Planning & Environmental Sustainability from the University of Pittsburgh. She is an alumnus of the AmeriCorps State Program and was a member of Viet Fellows, an program based in San Francisco, CA dedicated to providing research and program support to agencies working to combat the Agent Orange/dioxin issue in Vietnam.
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 385-8156 | Email: Linh.pham@bpsos.org
Contact - Direct Line: (267) 385-8156 | Email: Linh.pham@bpsos.org
Kenny Mejia, South Jersey Youth Organizer
Kenny joined BPSOS as an aspiring dancer for B³ (BPSOS Basement Breakers), a dance crew created by BPSOS high school volunteers Dianne Le and Sonny Nguyen. B³ grew from a dance crew into a socially and politically conscious space for youth to develop their leadership skills and Kenny took interest in the principals of community organizing as a tool for social justice.
After over two years of working with B³ as one of the most active members, Kenny was hired by BPSOS as our first Camden, NJ youth organizer. Possessing an early interest in social issues and being an agent of change, Kenny seeks to provide young people who come to BPSOS with the same sense of support, confidence and safety that made for this formal quiet and afraid high schooler into an outspoken undocumented feminist queer immigrant young person of color in charge of bringing youth to the realization of their power as leaders of their communities.
Contact - Direct Line: (215) 436 - 6812 | Email: B[email protected]
After over two years of working with B³ as one of the most active members, Kenny was hired by BPSOS as our first Camden, NJ youth organizer. Possessing an early interest in social issues and being an agent of change, Kenny seeks to provide young people who come to BPSOS with the same sense of support, confidence and safety that made for this formal quiet and afraid high schooler into an outspoken undocumented feminist queer immigrant young person of color in charge of bringing youth to the realization of their power as leaders of their communities.
Contact - Direct Line: (215) 436 - 6812 | Email: B[email protected]
Duong Ly, South East Asian Youth Empowerment Program (SEAYEP) Youth Organizer
Duong was among the first students to be involved in BPSOS-Delaware Valley's Asian Youth Empowerment Program with the "I Am Vietnamese" Mural Project started in the fall of 2009. Duong continued his involvement with BPSOS-Delaware Valley after the boycott he and his friends helped launch against the school district of Philadelphia's indifference toward Asian immigrant students' safety at South Philadelphia High School.
Duong stepped up to, for the first time, become a youth program coordinator in the summer of 2013 in the pilot Journey Home Program. The program helped Duong confirm and strengthened his belief in youth organizing work, and he'll continue to work with BPSOS-Delaware Valley this fall in another youth leadership development program—VIYO.
Duong is currently a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Sociology and minoring in Asian American Studies.
Contact - Direct Line: 215-391-7792 Email: [email protected]
Duong stepped up to, for the first time, become a youth program coordinator in the summer of 2013 in the pilot Journey Home Program. The program helped Duong confirm and strengthened his belief in youth organizing work, and he'll continue to work with BPSOS-Delaware Valley this fall in another youth leadership development program—VIYO.
Duong is currently a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Sociology and minoring in Asian American Studies.
Contact - Direct Line: 215-391-7792 Email: [email protected]
Dennis Lee, Operations Coordinator