Organization

The Cambodian Family


The Cambodian Family (TCF) is a grassroots, community-based nonprofit in Santa Ana, California, founded by Cambodian refugees in February 1980.[1] Its founders had fled the Khmer Rouge regime and resettled in the Minnie Street neighborhood of Orange County. The organization's offices, The Cambodian Family Community Center, are at 1626 E 4th Street in Santa Ana.[1][2][3][4] The organization describes itself as the only Cambodian nonprofit agency in Orange County, and Voice of OC called it the county's only Cambodian-serving nonprofit in 2022.[2][1]

History

In the early 1980s many Cambodian refugees who had escaped the "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge came to Orange County. They settled around Minnie Street in Santa Ana, where crowded apartment complexes had some of the lowest rents in the county.[5] The neighborhood faced poverty, crime, gang violence and substance abuse.[4] Five refugees living in Santa Ana formed the organization to teach their monolingual neighbors English, provide emergency translation and ease their adjustment to a new country. The five founding board members and a few other volunteers pooled their resources and rented a small apartment on Minnie Street. There they offered free English classes, adjustment counseling and emergency translation. The organization's own history dates the apartment to 1982.[1][5][3] Local refugees came to know it by word of mouth, and it later opened a building on Minnie Street.[1][3]

In 1983 the organization received its first formal grant, $64,000 from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, to launch Employment Services. Its federal tax exemption was issued in August 1983.[5][6] Over the following decades it added ESL and vocational training, an after-school Youth Program, early childhood development for school readiness, health access, trauma resolution and behavioral health services.[5]

A few years after its founding, The Cambodian Family began serving immigrants and refugees of many backgrounds. Its clients have come from Vietnam, Laos, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Somalia and elsewhere.[2][5][7][1] In 2010 it moved from a warehouse into a facility bought with a $2.1 million grant from the City of Santa Ana, now called The Cambodian Family Community Center.[7][4] As of 2025 it was based in a two-story office building in Santa Ana.[3]

In 2018 the organization had raised enough money to open the first in-language mental health counseling service for the Cambodian community in Orange County.[1] During the 2020 census it did outreach through the OC Cambodian Complete Count Committee, formed with resident leaders, business owners and religious figures. During the COVID-19 pandemic it joined the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Task Force. With the Orange County Health Care Agency it made health education materials in several languages, and it hosted a free vaccination clinic for older adults and others.[1]

The Cambodian Family celebrated its 42nd anniversary in February 2022 and its 45th in 2025 with a gala.[1][3] In April 2025 the City of Santa Ana and the Orange County Board of Supervisors proclaimed April as Cambodian Heritage Month and recognized the organization's contributions to the county.[3][8] The organization received a $2 million gift from MacKenzie Scott through Yield Giving. It was one of 361 organizations chosen from more than 6,000 nonprofit applicants across the United States.[9]

Programs

By 2022 the organization offered 17 services in three areas: community health and mental health, youth, and civic engagement and immigration.[1] Its Community Health and Mental Health programs have served the community for more than 20 years.[10] They offer mental health services to aging Cambodian refugees and their children, along with health classes, wellness exercise classes and community gardening.[3] The Body, Mind, and Spiritual Wellness Program, supported by the UniHealth Foundation, provides culturally tailored mental health prevention, early intervention, case management, counseling and wellness activities. With that support the organization is building the capacity to bill Medi-Cal, in partnership with a federally qualified health center.[9]

The Youth Program focuses on academic achievement, character development and career exploration.[10][5] The Citizenship Program screens applicants for naturalization (Form N-400) eligibility, helps prepare or review applications and provides case management. Civic engagement training teaches youth and adult residents team building, self-empowerment and leadership, and community members meet elected officials to speak for their community.[10][1][3]

For families with children under six, the organization helps with benefits such as WIC. A No Kid Hungry grant helps it bring food to infants and pregnant mothers.[11] Staff also help clients enroll in Medi-Cal, CalFresh and CalWORKs, and they offer employment services, ESL and vocational training.[1][5] Other listed services include cancer outreach and education, early intervention for older adults, housing navigation, youth substance use prevention and cultural preservation.[4] Classroom workshops on financial education, taught in clients' own languages, cover credit, savings, debt and access to financial services.[12]

Staff work in English, Khmer, Cham, Spanish and Vietnamese, and clients who need another language are referred to partner organizations.[1][12]

Community

The Cambodian Family serves people across Orange County, mainly in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster, Midway City, Stanton and nearby cities.[4] Many of its staff members are refugees themselves. At the community center, elders and young people share meals, gardening and English classes. Bilingual English classes teach practical phrases, such as the names of body parts for medical appointments.[3] The organization welcomes volunteers.[13]

By the end of 2021 it had served more than 3,000 clients, 95 percent of them low-income. Sixty percent of its clients were Asian, 90 percent of them Cambodian, and 35 percent were Hispanic and Latino.[1] In fiscal year 2023 it reached more than 41,500 community members and provided about 29,000 direct services to more than 7,800 clients.[9] For fiscal year 2025 it reports reaching more than 70,000 community members, with about 30,500 direct services to more than 9,000 clients.[4]

Its partners include the Santa Ana Unified School District, the Cambodian Association of America, the Southeast Asian Resource and Action Center, the Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies and Jamboree Housing. Its funders include the City of Santa Ana, the County of Orange, the UniHealth Foundation, The California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente.[14]

Leadership and finances

Vattana Peong is executive director. Under his leadership, the organization reports growing from 8 to more than 26 programs and from 3 employees in 2015 to more than 30 in 2025, and securing more than $25 million in grant and contract funding.[6][8] As of September 2026 it had 24 full-time staff members, one part-time staff member and six volunteers.[8]

Its federal filings show revenue of $5,333,121 in the fiscal year ending June 2024, with net assets of $6,490,620. For the fiscal year ending June 2025, The Cambodian Family reported revenue of $2,299,719, expenses of $2,778,739 and net assets of $6,011,600.[6][15]

Leadership (2025)

Leaders named in 2025 coverage and the organization's nonprofit profile.[3][4]

  • Vattana Peong, executive director
  • Norannsy Chieuchin, board president
  • Amina Sen-Mathews, director of health and mental health programs
  • Megan Drda, director of youth, immigration and civic engagement programs
  • Sophia Chhoeng, assistant director of programs

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Voice of OC (2022)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 OC Grantmakers, Lessons learned (2019)
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Voice of OC (2025)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 OC Nonprofit Central, The Cambodian Family
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 The Cambodian Family, About us
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Cambodian Family
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 OC MECCA, The Cambodian Family
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 OC Nonprofit Central, Management
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 UniHealth Foundation, Our work: population and community health
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 The Cambodian Family, home page
  11. ↑ No Kid Hungry (2021)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 California DFPI (2026)
  13. ↑ The Cambodian Family, Join our team
  14. ↑ The Cambodian Family, Partnerships
  15. ↑ ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, 2022 Form 990 filing

Sources

Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=The_Cambodian_Family&oldid=9014"
This page was last edited on 2 October 2026, at 01:35.