Sithea had considerable experience in community service at the municipal, state and national level in the United States of America and Cambodia. Sithea is a Chair of Cambodia Town, Inc. a Secretary of Cambodian Coordinating Councils, a Secretary of the Long Beach-Phnom Penh Sister Cities and an active board member of the Cambodian-American Chamber of Commerce and Cambodia Women Business Federation. She also received many leadership awards and recognitions from the congressional office and well-known organizations in United States and Cambodia.
Since 2004, Kahn has been the Executive Director of Pacific Asian Counseling Services (PACS), a non-profit that provides mental health services to the severely and chronically mentally ill in Los Angeles County. PACS is well-known for its culturally and linguistically sensitive services working with API refugee and immigrant populations. The agency’s staff usually has language capacity in eight API languages as well as Spanish.
Since 2008 she has been an active board officer of Cambodia Town, Inc. in Long Beach. Her work with CTI has enriched her understanding of this emerging API population. She has written a number of grants and contracts to improve the mental health and living conditions of Cambodians in Long Beach. As a past president and current Treasurer for the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), she has advocated for the needs of APIs and partnered in collaborations with other API agencies for grants.
In FY2011-2012, PACS was awarded an Innovation grant to provide integrated behavioral and medical services to the Cambodians in Long Beach under MHSA. She has been integral in the implementation of this community strength based project that has outreached and informed hundreds of underserved Cambodians about mental health. The use of non-traditional practices including spiritual ones like the Buddhist Blessing Ceremony have created great interest.
She has received several awards including: “2014 Woman of the Year” for the Commission on Women, awarded by Supervisor Don Knabe, 4th District; “Champion of Cambodia Town Award” from the City of Long Beach in recognition of her dedication in the creation of “Cambodia Town,” and the President’s Undergraduate Fellowship from the University of California, Riverside which allowed her to study Caribe Indians in the Orinoco, Venezuela. Dr. Elisa Nicholas and she were published in the AAPI Nexus Journal in the Fall 2014 on “Challenges to Improve Health Care Access for Cambodians,” Vol. 12, No. 1 & 2.
Kahn has presented at State and international conferences on cultural competency, integrated services in the public mental health field and the use of non-traditional and healing practices as part of mental health treatment in the Cambodian community. She is often requested as a speaker for API student organizations, presents on many panels and testifies at the County and State level on issues such as API disparity and cultural competency for ethnic minorities in the public mental health system. Kahn was appointed to the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Systems Leadership Team in 2010 till 2019 by the DMH Director, Dr. Marvin Southard. This group oversees the implementation and evaluation of the Mental Health Service Act in Los Angeles County. She is a recognized advocate in Los Angeles County for the priority needs of APIs, and serves on many committees and work groups within LAC DMH to ensure that mental health funding is equitably allocated to API communities.
Over the past twenty years, Mr. Ngann has been a dedicated volunteer for the Long Beach Cambodian community. For many years he and his wife prepared and donated meals to Wat Willow Buddhist Temple in Long Beach.
In 2001 Mr. Ngann volunteered for the campaign to designate Cambodia Town for a section of Anaheim Street in Long Beach. He participated in the petition drive and attended every Long Beach City Council hearing on the Cambodia Town name designation, which was eventually approved by the City Council on April 3rd, 2007. He is currently a member of Cambodia Town, Inc. board of directors.
Mr. Ngann maintains a strong commitment to preserving and promoting the Cambodian culture in Long Beach. In 2004 he joined the committee that worked to bring the Cambodian New Year Parade to Long Beach. Mr. Ngann’s hard work bore fruit when the inaugural Cambodian New Year Parade was held on April 27, 2005 in front of a large ecstatic crowd. He has volunteered countless hours in every New Year Parade held since then.
Mr. Ngann’s other contributions include volunteering for the annual Cambodian New Year Celebration at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. He is a current member of the board of directors of Cambodian Coordinating Council, which organizes the Cambodian New Year Celebration. He has also served as Treasurer and a member of the board of directors for Cambodian Veterans, Inc.
For thirteen years, Mr. Ngann was a businessman who owned and managed Royal Palace Restaurant, which was an enormously popular venue for Cambodian weddings. He is currently a senior technician at Robinson Helicopter Company. He has been married to his wife Sophy for over 45 years. They are proud parents to Stephanie and Andrew, and grandparents to two-year-old Aiden with another grandchild on the way.
Mr. San is an active Board of Director of the Long Beach community-based organizations including Cambodia Town, Inc., Cambodian-American Chamber of Commerce, Cambodian-Coordinating Councils, the Long Beach - Phnom Penh Sister Cities, and the Long Beach Sister Cities Inc. He received numerous awards and recognitions from municipal, state and national levels for his community services. Richer holds a BS in Business Administration from Cal State University of Dominguez Hills.
In December 1995, the Venerable Be arrived in Stockton, CA and completed his A.S. degree in computer technology at Heald College while teaching laypeople about prayers, non-violence and meditation as well as volunteering for a number of non-profits in the Bay area that worked with the Cambodian, American, Korean, Laotian, and Vietnamese populations.
Some of his accomplishments are:
As a Buddhist monk for over 21 years, he performed many functions internationally, mainly in Asia, Europe and America. He also went on Buddhist pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Burma.
Taught about Buddha Dhamma to a delegation of doctors at Stanford University in Santa Clara County.
Former a Board member of the Faith-based Advocacy Council in Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.
Served on the Cambodia Town, Inc. Council since 2015 and elected to the Board of Directors in 2017.
Elected to the Board of Directors of Midtown Property and Business Owners Association in 2018.
In 1990, he married his wife, Vanna with whom they have 2 boys, Westley and Winston. He graduated from Freeman School in LA in 1986 with an emphasis in Ethics and attended LA Trade Tech College from 1986-1989. He held numerous positions in the Hotel business starting with The Mondrian in West Hollywood (1984-1993) and then The Standard in West Hollywood and finally transferring to The Standard in Downtown LA where he retired from the business in 2009. He worked as a life insurance agent from 1997-2001 as a representative for 3 major companies with the first being The Midland Life Insurance Company, then Zurich Kemper Life, and finally Pacific Life Insurance Company. Using those experiences, Simorn became a small business owner in 2004 which he still owns currently.
His mission as a board member of Cambodia Town is to preserve Cambodian culture and to educate about who they are as a people.
Prior to rejoining the LA City Attorney's Office, Evan was twice elected to the City Council for the City of Long Beach, and served from 1986 to 1994. As the representative of Long Beach City's 1st Council District, Braude spear–headed downtown redevelopment, pushed for affordable housing, championed the neighborhood improvement program, successfully authored Anti-discrimination legislation regarding AIDS and LBGTQ rights, and directed the effort to solve the region's difficult transportation and port issues. He wrote and sponsored the strongest anti-tobacco and anti-smoking regulations of a large city and over his terms was chair of the City’s Housing Authority and Housing & Neighborhoods Committee, chair of the Legislation Committee, and sat on the Council's Quality of Life Committee and the Harbor Liaison Committee. While on the Council he helped form and organize the Phnom Penh Sister City Committee.
In 1991, Braude was nominated by the Mayor and City Council to the influential Board of Directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) and was elected to serve as Corridor "A" Rep by the 26 cities in the Southeast region of Los Angeles County. When the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was formed to supersede the SCRTD, he was re-elected by the Southeastern cities to serve as their representative. During his tenure until mid 1994, he served as Chairman of the MTA's Operations Committee.
Braude has a life–long history of public service, beginning as part-time Assistant Secretary of the California State Senate at the age of 15, and then, at age 22, serving as an aide to Cong. Glenn M. Anderson. After graduating from UCLA (1970) and while earning his law degree at Loyola University (1973), Braude worked in Los Angeles for the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. After passing the California Bar and serving as a Legal Assistance Officer for the United States Navy, Braude became a Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney and prosecutor. He was appointed by the Carter White House to assist the Secretary of Transportation as an attorney and legislative advisor in Washington, D.C. from mid 1977 until 1980, whereupon he returned to Long Beach to open his own law office. He was Assistant General Counsel of Mercury Savings & Loan from 1985 to 1990, where he oversaw legal
issues involving land use and financing.
Born and raised in Los Angeles County, Braude lives in Long Beach. Evan’s son, Jayson, graduated from UC Santa Barbara and Southwestern School of Law, is a member of the Washington State Bar and is currently is a Federal lobbyist for several LA County cities. Jayson previously worked for two United States Senators and two CA Congresswomen. Evan’s 32 year partner, Bonnie Lowenthal, termed out as a California Assembly Member, 70 th District, and now sits on the Long Beach Harbor Commission. They are long-term members of Temple Israel of Long Beach, where Evan sat on the Temple Board, as well as the Union of Reform Judaism North American Board of Trustees. He has been active in numerous legal and civic organizations including being a founder of Bet Tzedek Legal Services serving the poor in Los Angeles County. Additionally, he served on the Boards of the California Conference for Equality & Justice, Glenn & Lee Anderson Foundation, St. Mary's Hospital, Cambodia Town Board, the Long Beach and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, as well as numerous other legal and philanthropic organizations. He is the past President of the Historical Society of Long Beach and past President of Long Beach Affordable Housing Coalition bringing affordable housing to hundreds of families. He was a founder and former Board member of Golden Coast Bank, the first Cambodian Community based bank.
Evan and Bonnie have traveled the world extensively both for professional purposes as well as personal
enjoyment and education. They both have visited Cambodia more 8 times.