National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

Background

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium was founded in 1994 when a group of local Korean American organizations came together in response to the destruction of Korean American neighborhoods during the riots in the aftermath of the beating of Rodney King by police and California Proposition 187, a measure that proposed to deny public services to illegal aliens. NKASEC’s original purpose was to mentor young low-income Korean immigrant leaders to further the formation of advocacy groups nationwide. ^{1  3}

The group states on its website that its mission “is to organize Korean and Asian Americans to achieve social, racial and economic justice.” The organization has evolved and now states its vision as “a future in which low and middle-income, immigrants, people of color, and marginalized communities are working together as change-makers.” ⁴

The NAKASEC Action Fund, a 501(c)(4), is a sister social welfare arm that advocates, lobbies, and mobilizes voters for “civil, immigrant and human rights for low-income, recent immigrant, limited English proficient, undocumented, queer, young people, seniors and women.” ⁵

Activities

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium’s “Theory of Change” provides guidance for its activities that are focused on education, advocacy, civic engagement, and leadership development to promote additional affiliates. ⁴

Civic Engagement

Through texts, door knocking, telephone calls, and bilingual mailers, NAKASEC conducted a 2024 voter turnout campaign that they claim reached 400,000 Asian American voters. ⁶

Immigrant Defense Rapid Response

The organization provides an emergency hotline in Korean and English and links to a Spanish hotline for people facing immigration enforcement or those seeking information on detained family members. NAKASEC provides online trainings for individuals and on-site training for small businesses, churches, and schools. ⁶

The group promotes citizenship for all illegal aliens, advocates for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and calls for all DACA recipients to renew their immigration statuses. ^{7  2}

NAKASEC members and staff participated in phone call campaigns to members of the U.S. Congress to advocate the release of detained illegal aliens and oppose the Laken Riley Act, which allows the U.S. Attorney General to take custody of an inadmissible alien “charged with, arrested for is convicted of, admits having committed or admits committing acts of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.” ^{6  8}

The group launched a “Know Your Rights 4 Immigrants” app that explains immigrant rights and can read them aloud in English if an individual is confronted by immigration enforcement. ⁶

NAKASEC is part of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), which joined the Tennessee Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (TIRRC) to oppose a Tennessee bill to exclude children of inadmissible aliens from public education. ⁹

Adoptees for Justice (A4J)

NAKASEC aids in securing citizenship for international adoptees and provides resources for those without citizenship. The group also held a summit in Los Angeles, California’s Koreatown to support a pardon for two adoptees, and the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act. ⁶

WoOri Ujima

WoOri Ujima is a joint initiative of NAKASEC and the UndocuBlack Network (UBN) designed to build “Black and Asian power.” The initiative launched its own website and a fellowship program. ^{10  11}

Affiliates

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium’s affiliates include the Chicago, Illinois-based Hana Center, the New York City-based Minkwon Center, the Pennsylvania-based Woori Center, Texas-based NAKASEC Texas, and the Virginia-based Hamkae Center. ¹²

Coalitions

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, Inc. is a member of multiple coalitions including the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), the Value Our Families Coalition, which was formed in conjunction with Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship, which calls for the amendment of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, Home is Here, and the Immigrant Movement Visioning Process. It is also part of the DefundHate Campaign, also known as the Defund Hate Coalition, which calls for defunding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). ¹³

Funding

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium has been a recipient of funding from the left-wing Four Freedoms Fund, which is fiscally sponsored by NEO Philanthropy with funds received from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ^{14  15  16  17}

NAKASEC is also funded by the Healthy Democracy Fund through the Tides Foundation and individual donations. The group received government grants worth $149,752 in 2023. ^{18  19}

Grantees

In 2023, the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, Inc. made grants to CHIRLA, the Minkwon Center for Community Action Inc., the Woori Center, the UnDocuBlack Network, and the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, among others. ²⁰

People

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, Inc. was founded by Yoon Han Bong, a student organizer of South Korea’s 1980 Gwangju Uprising against the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship, who was granted asylum by the United States. Yoon founded Young Koreans United and Korean Americans for Peace and Justice, precursors to NAKASEC, in 1984. He also founded the Young Korean American Service and the Education Center, which later became the MinKwon Center for Community Action, a NAKASEC affiliate. ²¹

Eunsang Lee is chair of NAKASEC, and Rebecca Belcore and Jung Woo Kim are its co-directors. ²²