National CAPACD Staff
National CAPACD staff at 2011 Annual Convention
Photo by Les Talusan
Prior to joining National CAPACD, Lisa was the Community Liaison for the White House Initiative on AAPIs where she worked to involve and inform AAPI community groups across the country about Initiative activities. She also worked for the U.S. DHHS Health Resources and Services Administration and the Office of Minority Health. Lisa previously worked at two community health centers serving low-income AAPIs in Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
Rosita Choy, Director of Operations
Having dedicated the majority of her professional career to working with Asian Pacific Islander and immigrant communities, Rosita has had experience with the many functions of nonprofit organizations from direct services to policy advocacy, from training to strategic planning, from fundraising to grant-giving, from grassroots coalition building to board governance. She has worked in California, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC, at organizations such as Asian Health Services, the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International, and the American Association of University Women. In addition, she served as board president of Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders for Health. She holds a B.A. in economics and Spanish from Yale University.
Melvin Tabilas, Senior Government Affairs Advisor
Melvin has served as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, advising the Congressman on legislative matters pertaining to transportation, agriculture, taxes, budget, appropriations, trade, immigration, tourism, labor, small business, the Asian Pacific Islander community, and other issues. He also worked previously as a Field Deputy for Congressman Xavier Becerra of California and a Field Representative for California State Senator Debra Bowen. Melvin has a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kevin has worked with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Public Affairs Office, where he helped organize events with community groups and various stakeholders throughout the country. Prior to coming to DC, he worked with Little Tokyo Service Center, a member of the National CAPACD network, where he assisted in the development of affordable housing projects in the Los Angeles area. While at LTSC, he was also involved with the Budokan of Los Angeles project, a community and recreation center designed to bring younger generations to Historic Little Tokyo. A native of the South Bay of Los Angeles, Kevin holds a Master of Public Policy from the George Mason School of Public Policy and a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Davis.
Jane Duong, Director of Programs and Advocacy
Jane has a wealth of knowledge in housing, pre-purchase and foreclosure counseling, and financial education in low-income communities of color. She has developed and implemented programs addressing the financial and asset development needs in the Latino community through housing counseling at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in California. Jane is a NeighborWorks Certified Housing Counselor and Foreclosure Intervention & Default Counselor. She also is a trainer for the National Council of La Raza in pre-purchase counseling and education. She comes to National CAPACD with experience at one of our founding member organizations having spent several years working as the Property Management Assistant at Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco. Jane graduated from University of California, Berkeley with High Honors in Sociology and received her Master of Public Administration from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
Josh Ishimatsu, ACTION Technical Assistance Program Manager
Josh has more than a dozen years of experience in building nonprofit housing and community facilities. He was most recently Director of Real Estate Development at one of National CAPACD’s founding member organizations— Little Tokyo Service Center in Los Angeles, California—and partnered with a number of National CAPACD members in the Los Angeles region in community development projects. Josh has a joint JD and Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA and is based out of National CAPACD's West Coast office.
Van Nhi Nguyen, Senior Housing Counseling Program Coordinator
Van Nhi has more than four years of experience providing direct foreclosure intervention counseling in both the non-profit and private sector. She also served as the Housing Program Coordinator for Boat People SOS, a non-profit organization empowering the Vietnamese community in North Carolina where she was responsible for implementing training programs for other housing staff on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and other foreclosure prevention initiatives. In addition, Van Nhi has led efforts to support financial empowerment for low-income families through her participation as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) provider and site coordinator with the Family Financial Literacy Coalition in Charlotte, NC since 2009. Van Nhi holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
Alvina Condon, Housing Counseling Program Coordinator
Alvina most recently comes from Boston, where she served as the Operations Manager and Homeownership Educator/Counselor for Asian Community Development Corporation (Asian CDC), a nonprofit community organization that develops affordable housing and provides housing assistance to renters, homebuyers, and homeowners. As part of Asian CDC’s housing program, the Comprehensive Housing Opportunities Program (CHOP), she helped facilitate and teach sections of the first-time homebuyer class and provided rental counseling assistance to Chinese-speaking clients. She also managed day-to-day office operations, which included human resources duties, board liason, communications, and bookkeeping. Alvina, a native San Franciscian, graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in Geography and a minor in Political Science, and received her Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University.
