Chaiwon K.
Biography
Chaiwon Kim is the first Asian American woman to serve as CEO / President of the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Inc. (CPACS). CPACS is the first and only multi-service community center in the Southeast serving the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. Her efforts have grown CPACS from a volunteer-run organization formed to help local Korean Americans, into a multi-service organization with a diverse staff of more than 25 full and 60 part-time employees with the ability to speak 15 different languages (Asian and non-Asian). Under her direction, CPACS capacity has grown from 791 clients served per month in 1999 to 3,000 clients served per month in 2017.
A Registered Nurse (R.N) by Profession, Mrs. Kim recognized the need for a clinic in 1990 when she began working at CPACS as a volunteer receptionist. Soon after, she spearheaded the development of CPACS free clinic which provides basic health checks and immunizations for the immigrant community. In 1999 she initiated the Asian Breast Care program--a comprehensive program aimed at providing culturally and linguistically appropriate, affordable breast cancer screening to uninsured and underinsured API women. Out of the Asian Breast Care Program Mrs. Kim developed the Korean and Chinese cancer support groups, the first and only in-language support groups of their kind in Georgia. In 2000, CPACS became a certified HIV testing and counseling center and in 2006 Mrs. Kim secured funding through HUD to develop the first Georgia senior housing complex --only the second for Asian Americans in the nation. She graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 2001 and become a state certified addiction counselor (GACA) in 2003. In 2008 Mrs. Kim opened the RICE (Research Institute and Counseling Education) Center, a CPACS satellite office, to provide mental health counseling. Finally, in 2009 Mrs. Kim opened DOWA clinic, another free clinic, staffed by bi-lingual, bi-cultural volunteer physicians.
