Top Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Unsung Heroes 2009

In January 2009, Steve Ngo was inaugurated onto City College of San Francisco's (CCSF) Board of Trustees, becoming the first Vietnamese American elected in San Francisco's history.  Garnering over 89,000 votes, Steve won a city-wide race as a first-time candidate.  As a trustee, Steve overseas one of the largest community college systems in the U.S., which serves over 100,000 students

In 2009, Steve was also appointed to the prestigious Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, in recognition of his legal advocacy work on behalf of people of color, the poor, and immigrants.

Working in one of the toughest budget cycles in California history, Steve Ngo has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in protecting the rights of low-income students and students of color to a fair education. These include:

- lowering the cost of textbooks by as much as $110,000 per year for students
- authored and shepherded the passage of a resolution to create and enforce a 35% local hiring goal for jobs on the new Chinatown/North Beach campus
- winning a fight to restore 30 basic skills classes and financial aid to CCSF's neediest students by passing an amendment calling for a 6% salary reduction for administrators earning over $150,000, which was matched with a 6% cut of board member salaries ($500 per month). This will help 1,000 students get access to higher education.
- Assisted in helping CCSF win a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will provide $250,000 over the next 9 months to fortify a partnership between San Francisco Unified School District, City College of San Francisco and the City and County of San Francisco aimed at increasing the number of individuals who earn a degree or credential beyond high school.  The most promising projects will receive up to $3 million through 2013.
- expanded a re-entry program for formerly incarcerated students, Second Chance, by reallocating resources without additional cost to the College

Steve is a tireless advocate for the APA community for many years.  His political advocacy work includes:

- being a paid organizer for George Nakano for Assembly 1998
- being a paid organizer for California Democratic Party Promote and Protect the Vote Campaign in 2002
- being an intern for U.S. Congressman Mike Honda in 2000
- serving on the board of the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (2004-2008)
- leading a team of 7 volunteers in Florida to engage APAs during the 2004 Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign where we reached over 10,000 voters in one week
- serving as California Democratic Party API Caucus Northern California Vice-Chair (2006-2008)
- serving as Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area
- being an active volunteer with API Equality, an organization working for equal marriage rights and fair treatment of the lesbian and gay community
- serving as Pro Bono General Counsel to APIA Vote, a national non-profit organization aimed at mobilizing the APIA community.

Previously, Steve was a budget consultant for the California State Assembly Budget Committee, where he advised legislators on $3.1 billion worth of spending proposals. He served in state government as a recipient of the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship.  He continued his public service as a law clerk for the California Attorney General’s Energy Task Force, a specially formed group that pursued price gouging and other unfair business practices claims against energy companies.

Steve was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He received his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles. He later received his Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and a law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, where he was elected Student Body President and founded the Hastings Vietnamese American Law Society. Steve, a son of Vietnamese refugees, was the first in his family to obtain a college education.