Joanne Kim testifies for Korean American Family Service Center

Hello, good afternoon.

My name is Joanne Kim, and I am the Assistant Director of Community Engagement of the Korean American Family Service Center, or KFSC.

For 37 years, KFSC has supported survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and gender-based violence,

particularly immigrant survivors who face language, cultural, economic, and immigration-related barriers.

Thank you for holding this important hearing and for the opportunity to share KFSC's perspective on the restructuring of the mayor's office to end domestic and gender-based violence under the Office of Community Safety.

safety.

KAFSC welcomes this new structure and sees real value in a more connected approach to community safety.

As a culturally specific organization, our work has never existed in just one category.

The survivors and families we serve may come to us because of domestic violence, but they are also navigating language barriers, immigration concerns,

economic insecurity, hate incidents, community safety concerns, and fear of engaging with systems that may not understand their culture or language.

For organizations like KFSC,

Bringing this work into a broader community safety framework makes sense.

We have deep language capacity and longstanding trust within the communities we serve.

We also know that

preventing domestic and gender-based violence is closely connected to preventing other forms of violence,

addressing hate crimes, strengthening community trust, and making sure people know where they can turn before a crisis escalates.

This structure creates an opportunity for greater coordination across these areas while still recognize the specialized expertise that domestic and gender-based violence work requires.

For immigrant communities in particular,

Trusted, culturally specific organizations are often the first point of contact.

Survivors may not initially identify what they are experiencing as domestic violence, or they may be hesitant to contact law enforcement or government agencies.

They may first come to us because they feel unsafe.

Because of a family crisis or simply because they need someone who speaks their language and understands their cultural context.

That is why we believe this broader community safety model has the potential to strengthen the city's response.

As a new structure continues to develop, we hope culturally specific organizations will

remain strong partners in shaping how these systems work on the ground.

Our organizations can help bridge the gap between city systems and communities that have historically been harder to reach.

We look forward to working with the Office of Community Safety, NGBV,

the city council, and our community partners to make all this new model successful and to ensure that survivors and families receive coordinated, culturally responsive, and

accessible support.

Thank you.