Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, John continues to cultivate what he has learned from the legacies and infrastructures left by justice and equity pioneers of the past and present into accessible, approachable, and active actions for positive and transformative restitution as change. As a Bonner and McNair Scholar, John has worked within his community and the broader communities he serves by expanding community capacity concerning political action and civic engagement while focusing on identity, place, and policy. Previously, John has been a 2022 Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute fellow, improving his quantitative and qualitative skills toward public policy. John was also involved with the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, United States Department of Agriculture, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, and more. John recently graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government.
Field placement: Hunger Free Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
John's main focus has been collecting and researching best practices, solutions, and resources from non-congregate sponsors and sites all over the country to improve and further advance non-congregate operations in Oklahoma, to ensure rural Oklahoman communities are getting the access they need to combat food insecurity. Their other work projects include supporting the formation of HFO's pilot lived experience cohort, auditing key public-facing data on Oklahoma food insecurity statistics, strengthening HFO's coalition work with numerous partner organizations and communities, and other community initiatives overseeing program and policy implementation to make progress one step at a time towards a future where all Oklahomans are food secure into frutition.
Policy placement: RESULTS
John Hoang is working with RESULTS’ US Public Policy team to build and generate political will for housing policy. They will will assist RESULTS in the development of their programming and campaign with the Renter’s Tax Credit (RTC) and various other policy implications related to anti-poverty and housing through blogs, social media posts, webinars, and tangible actions to engage, energize, and excite RESULTS’ grassroots volunteers. In addition, John is working on a long-term research project about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). They are looking into how states utilize their TANF funding and how TANF can be reformed into a cash transfer or assistance program to progress anti-poverty efforts through policy.