Hamkae Center
Contents
Activities
Hamkae advocates on issues related to the Asian community, education, healthcare, voting, and language access. Hamkae Center pushes for an expansion of acceptable voter identification, increased use of ballot drop-boxes, and no-excuse absentee voting. Hamkae Center opposes any legislation that defunds in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants. 2
Chinese Academic Funding
Hamkae Center has opposed Virginia state legislation on “Higher educational institutions, public; foreign governments, programs and grants” which would prohibit higher education employees in Virginia from participating in “Chinese-sponsored talent recruitment programs or receiving Chinese-funded grants.” 3 Hamkae Center opposes the bill on the grounds that the bill “specifically singles out or penalizes Asian Americans,” and they list their opposition under the heading of “Anti-Asian Violence.” 2
TikTok Regulation
The Hamkae Center was listed among the supporters of a letter opposing efforts to ban the Chinese-owned social media application TikTok in the United States. 4 The then-director of the Hamkae Center argued that the ban “alienates Chinese Americans” and that “some people will interpret the bans as a reason not to trust Chinese Americans.” 5
Target Pride/Trans Youth Campaign
The Hamkae Center joined calls for Target stores to resist efforts to wind down Pride/Trans campaigns for young people. Their 2023 petition called on “Target and Business Community to Reject Coordinated, Extremist Anti-LGBTQ+ Attacks” organized by what they called “extremist groups.” 6
Dream Act and DACA
The Hamkae Center opposes efforts to curtail illegal immigration. When efforts to offer DACA recipients a path to citizenship failed in Congress, the Hamkae Center joined in a head shaving protest. Rachel Koelzer, communications manager for Nakasec, cited the “long tradition of shaving (the) head as a form of protest” in South Korean history. 7
Parent Organization
The Hamkae Center, formerly Nakasec Virginia, is the state affiliate of Nakasec. Nakasec Action Fund is the grantmaking arm of Nakasec, which focuses on immigrant and civil rights. Nakasec Action Fund seeks to benefit people who are “low-income, recent immigrant, limited English proficient, undocumented, queer, young people, seniors and women.” 8
Nakasec Action Fund is funded by groups such as the NEO Philanthropy Action Fund, which had an excess of $10 million in revenues and over $12 million in assets in 2022. NEO Philanthropy Action Fund is the funding pass through for NEO Philanthropy (formerly Public Interest Projects), a left-of-center grantmaking organization. 9
Nakasec reported revenues of $3.8 million in 2022. Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund donated $300,000 to Nakasec in 2021. 10
JPB Foundation, one of the largest grantmaking foundations in America with $2.8 billion in assets in 2022, also donated $300,000 to Nakasec in 2021. 10 JPB Foundation funds left-of-center organizations and focuses on medical, environmental, and poverty issues, as well as racial and gender justice. 11
People
Sookyung Oh is the director of the Hamkae Center, having joined the organization in 2017. She also participates on the board of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights. 12
Grant Activity
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $247,500
- Number of Grants: 5
- Number of Funders: 3
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
| Amount | Year | Funder | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| $80,000 | 2025 | Greater Washington Community Foundation | GENERAL SUPPORT |
| $75,000 | 2024 | Korean American Community Foundation | Implement Language Access Services |
| $50,000 | 2025 | Agua Fundinc | for general support |
| $40,000 | 2023 | Korean American Community Foundation | Statewide coalition to improve language access |
| $2,500 | 2024 | Greater Washington Community Foundation |