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Duong Announced Director of White House API Initiative

John Quoc Duong.

By Eunice Park

On June 1, John Quoc Duong was announced as the new executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson made the announcement, stating, “We are very pleased that Mr. Duong has joined the HHS (Health and Human Services) team. We will work closely with him to improve the health and well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.”

About his appointment, Duong said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to serve my community and my country. I look forward to working with the White House, Secretary Thompson, and his staff to develop an agenda that will give Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders a strong voice in government.”

The initiative was established by Clinton’s Executive Order 13125 in June of 1999. The goals of the order were to improve the quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by increasing participation in federal programs, supporting research aný data collection for Asian American and Pacific Islander populations and sub-populations, and increasing community involvement of both the public and private sectors. Areas of concern included health, education, labor, small business, housing, and economic development.

Duong was rather surprised to hear of his appointment. “There were many other qualified candidates,” he said. “I do not know exactly why I was chosen.”

Nevertheless, he is highly optimistic that he and his fellow workers will be able to achieve many of the objectives of the order. This optimism persists even in the face of the daunting diversity of Asian Americans and the sheer scope of their differing demands.

He acknowledges the difficulty of adequately addressing the issues of each and every sub-population, groups that range from a commune of monks in Minnesota to the many enclaves of new immigrants sprouting in cities across the country.

“We will use the information gathered by the census to decide where to focus and who needs the most assistance,” he said. “But we already have a good idea of areas of concern.”

Such concerns include the rapidly increasing smoking rate among men, increasing cervical cancer among women, and most importantly, aging.

Duong considers the language barrier to be the most pressing problem to solve, hypothesizing that the inability to communicate is the major reason why many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders avoid federal programs. He intends to make reliable translation and interpreters some of his chief projects, declaring that the major intent of his position is to “serve as a gateway, an access channel of the people we serve to federal programs they can use.” For example, he intends to provide translated information to many vendors in San Francisco’s Chinatown, alerting them of the fact that they can join and benefit from such labor unions as the Small Business Administration.

Duong is of Vietnamese descent and immigrated to California in 1982. Before joining the Bush administration, Duong was vice president for Bridgecreek Development, a real estate development company headquartered in Orange County. He previously served as deputy director of California ex-Governer Pete Wilson’s Office of Community Relations. He also served as a board member for the Contra Costa College Foundation, the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board, the America Viet League, and the Vietnamese American Council. He graduated from University of California, Davis, majoring in political science and public service.