There is undoubtedly a vibrant Cambodian community in Long Beach — and Chad is one of the reasons why. He was born in a refugee camp where his family was later sponsored to come to America when he was 2 years old. As is common in the immigrant experience, Chad’s family grew up poor in low income communities. They worked hard and managed to get by. He grew up disconnected from the Cambodian community. He used to think that his story was unique until he met other Cambodians along the way who came from similar beginnings.

Inspired by his love of Long Beach — where he tells his peers to “stay and play,” as he puts it — in conjunction with his history led him to become the Project Coordinator & Community Organizer at United Cambodian Community Inc. (UCC), a non-profit in Long Beach. He leads a partnership of several Cambodian organizations working to enhance the development of the Cambodian community. He also serves as a liaison to the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and is currently the Treasurer on the Steering Committee for “Building Healthy Communities, Long Beach,” a 10-year initiative investing millions of dollars to improve the health disparities in Central Long Beach.

Chad, in other words, is compelled to come back to help rebuild a community that has been broken by war and decades of adversity. As he puts its, “Long Beach has been good to our people. This city took us in during a time of crisis. Now, over thirty years and three generations later, it’s time to give back. We have come a long way from our days of immigrant refugees. We are now college graduates, young professionals and tax payers. We no longer have the challenges that our parents had, such as language barriers, cultural barriers and economic barriers. It’s time that we mobilize to become a community that aims at creating opportunities, building equity and adding value. We have learned from our past, we acknowledge our potentials and it’s time we move forward.”