Letter to the Community: Executive Director Transition

Dear Beloved Community,

What an amazing 10 years it has been for Mekong NYC! During this time, I have been deeply honored to serve as the Executive Director of Mekong NYC, where we have built an organization grounded in loving, honoring, and uplifting our Southeast Asian community in the Bronx.

I am immensely grateful for the unwavering support from all of you over the years. With your support, we waged campaigns that demand dignity for our community ranging from health justice to ending deportations, to establishing innovative projects that heal and uplift our community, and to organizing programs that celebrate and preserve Southeast Asian arts and culture. 

Given this pivotal moment within our community and movement, it is with bittersweet emotions that I share the news that I will be stepping down as Mekong NYC’s Executive Director. I will be transitioning into my new role as Executive Director of the Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN), a national movement network of local organizations from across the country who are dedicated to mobilizing Southeast Asian communities towards abolition. Twenty years ago, as Southeast Asian deportations began to take place, I put out a national call to community organizers to solidify a national Southeast Asian grassroots movement. SEAFN was created in response to this call and the deportation of Cambodian refugees. While I am saddened by my departure from Mekong NYC, this transition also feels like the best next step in my j ourney and for our collective movement. 

In the upcoming weeks, we will announce the new leadership of Mekong NYC who will guide the organization through its next chapter. During the past decade, Mekong NYC has intentionally invested in the development of many inspiring new leaders, and deeply grounded ourselves in our commitment to centering queer, femme, and women leadership. It is with great excitement that I look forward to welcoming our new leadership, who I am confident will continue to lead Mekong NYC in its fight for justice and liberation for our community. Mekong NYC will always be my political home, and it will continue to be the home of so many others; the home that built SEAFN and the Southeast Asian feminist movement 20 years ago. 

When I reflect on this moment, the saying “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” deeply resonates with me. I am lucky – and we are lucky – to serve the Southeast Asian community, and it is in preparation for this that we get ready to act on future opportunities to come.

With gratitude and appreciation,

Chhaya Chhoum

Executive Director