Please join the 68th Assembly Democrats on Monday November 16th 2009 at 7pm, for our monthly meeting at Carrow’s Restaurant at the corner of Magnolia and Warner in Huntington Beach. Some of us come early for dinner at 6:30 so if you want eat please come early.
This month our guest speaker will be Phu Nguyen, prospective Democratic Candidate for the 68th Assembly District. Phu Nguyen is businessman and community leader. Born in South Vietnam, Phu came to the United States at age four and has lived his entire life in Orange County.
Phu is currently the vice president of Saigon Central Post, Inc. He is also the founder and CEO of My Vietnam, Inc., a company that provides cargo and telecommunications products and services.
Phu’s family came from humble beginnings. When they first arrived in Orange County, California in 1982, they had exactly $2. At Mater Dei High School, Phu played football, was president of his class, represented Mater Dei at the American Legion’s California Golden Boy’s State, and, when he graduated, Phu was recognized as the schools’ “Young Man of the Year.”
Phu Nguyen studied political science at California State University, Fullerton. He also won a Gandhi Fellowship to the Master’s program in Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego, he graduated from this program which focuses on International Relations, Conflict Resolution and Ethics.
Phu Nguyen has been an active leader in the Vietnamese American Community since his teens. For 4 years, he was the president of Union of Vietnamese Associations of Southern California, He also served as chairman of the Vietnamese community’s Tet Festival in Garden Grove. Under Phu’s leadership, this annual 3-day event grew dramatically to become the most prominent Vietnamese New Year’s celebration in the Unites States.
In the past few years, Phu Nguyen has sat on the Advisory Board for the District Attorney’s office and on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
He is also an active member of the Franciscan Charities, a nonprofit group which has raised over 10 million dollars in the last 5 years to provide education, health care, and skills training to poor and underprivileged youths and seniors in Vietnam.
In 2007, Phu Nguyen founded the People Empowerment through Micro-Credit and Training (PEMCT), an organization whose small loans provide a pathway for women to lift themselves out of poverty with their own small businesses instead of relying on government assistance or charity. Phu also commits his time and energy to promoting social justice, human rights, and democracy in Vietnam.
We look forward to meeting and working with Phu Nguyen as we continue to work together to improve our community.
This guy needs an image makeover. Might be a nice fellow but looks like a typical gangster to me.
What? What would you change?
I will pass it on!!
In person he is smart, thoughtful, polite and respectful. He would be a great representative should he decide to run.
I’ll be there, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Phu. I hope he has what it takes to keep Minuteman Allan Mansoor out of the assembly!
Thanks Jim for being open to suggestions. I’d say lose the Fu Manchu and let his hair grow out a little.(You can tell he has hair to grow from the five o’clock shadow) Add some glasses and he will look like a professor instead of G.G. chapter president of the Triads!
Vern I am looking forward to meeting you.
Waz Up, I will pass you thoughts along when I see him.
When did Phu indicate he was thinking of running for the 68th? I hope he does. if he does I will be there for him 100%. But I also thought that Steve was going to run?
At any rate, Waz up, you should not judge a book by its cover. Phu is a stand up guy. I like him very much. he is very nice and very smart. And he has been an active memebr of his community for as long as I can recall and even longer.
I just want to say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. I have spoken to several friends now who know Phu and they say he is a real stand up guy. I should not have judged him by this one photo. For that, I am sorry Phu.