The Vietnamese Youth Development Center (VYDC) empowers Asian, Pacific Islander, and urban youth by developing leadership, supporting academics, providing job opportunities, and strengthening relationships. In the 1970s, families fled war-ravaged Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. They settled in the Tenderloin district, one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods. Between 1975-1991, over two million Southeast Asian refugees came to the United States, with large numbers resettling in California. Refugee and immigrant parents faced limited support for trauma, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their children confronted acculturation, assimilation, limited parental involvement with school, language barriers, and isolation. In 1978, Lam Duong led a group of Vietnamese refugees to found VYDC, first housed at Glide Memorial Church through the support of Reverend Lloyd Wake. VYDC has expanded from a one-room office offering translation services, English as a Second Language, and vocational classes into a nationally-recognized multi-service center serving youth of all backgrounds in San Francisco.