Hyepin Im

Template:TOCnestleft Hyepin Im is President/CEO, Faith and Community Empowerment (FACE). Ms. Hyepin Im is a U.S. Presidential Appointee on the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She is the President and Founder of Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD), a national nonprofit, empowering churches and nonprofits to leverage their resources by building capacity, leadership, and partnerships in economic development and serving as a bridge between the Asian American community and the greater community.

Since 2001, KCCD has had over 300 partners, ranging from the White House to Fortune 500 companies. Successful initiatives include educating over 8000 homebuyers and helping them receive over $1.4 million in down payment assistance, saving over $86 million in assets from foreclosure, implementing a historic $5 million U.S. Department of Labor workforce development program, and hosting joint conferences with the White House to mobilize 5000 Korean American churches for economic development. She has been featured on CNN, NPR, LATimes, and the Washington Post and presented at numerous conferences including the White House, U.S. Department of Labor, and Christian Community Development Association.

She serves on the U.S. Army Advisory Board, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Western Partner for the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, she was recently honored by Los Angeles Magazine as “Ten Inspirational Women of Los Angeles .She was honored as 2012 Woman of Action by California Speaker of the Assembly John Perez and also as Pioneer Woman of the Year by Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Tom LaBonge. She was also recognized by LAUSD Board of Education as a Trailblazer for her work and advocacy for students. She has a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley, M.B.A. from the University of Southern California, and M.Div., summa cum laude, from Wesley Theological Seminary.^[1]

Lives in Los Angeles, California. Married to Jin Kim.

Worked at General Board of Church and Society.

Education

Studied Master of Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary
Studied Marketing at University of Southern California
Studied MBA at USC
Studied at UC Berkeley
Went to Saddleback High School

Immigration meeting

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and eight Christian leaders met in the Oval Office on Nov. 13 2013 to discuss the faith community's role in passing immigration reform.

Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, a progressive Christian social justice group, said that the meeting did not dwell on the specifics of the political challenges facing reform, but rather was the result of the president's curiosity on how the issue had been discussed within the faith community.

"It was a conversation with President Obama about immigration reform and how this has really united the faith community across our boundaries," Wallis told The Christian Post.

According to a White House press release, Obama "and the leaders discussed their shared commitment to raise the moral imperative for immigration reform and said they will continue keeping the pressure on Congress so they can swiftly pass commonsense reform."

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who was also present at the meeting, praised Obama for "taking time to listen and dialogue on an issue of concern to many of us" and said that immigration seemed to be one of the few issues that transcended the politically divided United States.

"My message to the president is that there are many things that divide us as a country, but on this issue we have a remarkable consensus that the system is broken and the government isn't doing its job to keep the border secure, to shore up the economic health of the country, and to keep track of who is and isn't legally here," said Moore in a statement from the Evangelical Immigration Table.

Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, was grateful that the president had created space for leaders to "express the urgency the evangelical community feels around immigration reform."

"It was important to express our ongoing commitment to a bipartisan solution. We hope that our legislators continue to hear our prayers and listen to their constituents, who overwhelmingly favor commonsense immigration reform," said Salguero in a statement.

Other Christian leaders at the meeting were Hyepin Im, president and CEO of the California-based Korean Churches for Community Development, Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle, Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Joel Hunter, a Florida senior pastor at Northland and an Obama advisor, and Mike McClenahan, a California senior pastor at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.^[2]

Promoting Illegal Immigration & Refugee Resettlement

World Relief Logo

Hyepin Im signed a letter to President Trump written by World Relief.^[3] titled "Top evangelical leaders and pastors from all 50 states urge action to help vulnerable immigrants" which lamented a decrease in refugees entering the United States, and requested amnesty for DACA recipients.

Letter

"Dear President Trump and Members of Congress,

"As Christian leaders, we have a commitment to caring for the vulnerable in our churches while also supporting just, compassionate and welcoming policies toward refugees and other immigrants. The Bible speaks clearly and repeatedly to God’s love and concern for the vulnerable, and also challenges us to think beyond our nationality, ethnicity or religion when loving our neighbor.

"We are committed to praying for you, our elected leaders, just as Scripture mandates (1 Timothy 2:1-2). In particular, we pray that you will not forget the following people as you craft our nation’s laws and policies:

"Dreamers. Roughly 700,000 young people are poised to lose their right to work lawfully in the U.S., not to mention their dreams of a future in this country—the country they were brought to as children, without choice. Our prayer is that these young people would be allowed to continue contributing to our society without fear of deportation.

"Refugees. We are troubled by the dramatic reduction in arrivals of refugees to the United States, which declined from 96,874 in 2016 to just 33,368 in 2017. Based on arrivals so far in this fiscal year, the United States is on track to admit the lowest number of refugees since the formalization of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program in 1980. This, at a time when there are more refugees in the world than ever before in recorded history. Our prayer is that the U.S. would continue to be a beacon of hope for those fleeing persecution.

"Persecuted Christians. Refugees of all faiths and nationalities deserve our welcome, for they (like all human beings) are made in the image of God. We are particularly aware, though, of the Christian refugees and other minorities facing persecution in countries like Iraq, Iran and Syria. Admission of Christian refugees to the U.S. from these three countries has declined by 60%. We pray that those facing religious persecution would be protected overseas as well as in the U.S.

"Families Waiting for Reunification. God ordained the family as the cornerstone of society, and we believe that our country is stronger when our citizens can be quickly reunited with their close family members. For some U.S. citizens, the waiting period can be years or even decades. We pray you will respect the unity of the family.

"We are mindful of the difficulty of serving in public office and are grateful for your service. We ask that God would grant you wisdom and courage as you confront these and various other complex policy issues in the days and months ahead.

Signatories

Review Russell Jeung's 'Spiritual Memoir'

In October 2016, Russell Jeung published a "spiritual memoir" titled "At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors."^[4] Hyepin Im wrote:

Russell Jeung's book 'At Home in Exile' at first glance, may be read as an wild adventure tale of ragtag bunch of misfits in exile whether it be Russell - a descendant of the Hakkas or the Cambodian refugee grandmother, or the African American gang members who stole his laptop to the veteran who keeps waiting for his big check all living in public housing complex. But it is so much more as he weaves the stories of their lives to lift up social injustice, racism, poverty, and obeying Jesus in a delightful storytelling! I was inspired, challenged and my faith and conscience pricked at times reading Russell's obedience of truly walking amongst and embracing the poor. At the same time, his transparency of his own humanness facing at times the raw reality of humanity and poverty and living in a crime driven neighborhood makes his faith ever more real. Finally, I was inspired to want to do more as he shares the beauty, joy, life and hope that can be found even amongst the poor and those in exile and the interconnectedness amongst all of us. -- Hyepin Im, President and CEO, Korean Churches for Community Development

External links

World Relief Website

References

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↑ [1]
↑ [2]
↑ Top evangelical leaders and pastors from all 50 states urge action to help vulnerable immigrants., accessed March 2 2018
↑ At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors (accessed on March 25, 2020)

[1] [1]

[2] [2]

[3] Top evangelical leaders and pastors from all 50 states urge action to help vulnerable immigrants., accessed March 2 2018

[4] At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors (accessed on March 25, 2020)

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