ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER NAMES MYRON DEAN QUON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) has named attorney Myron Dean Quon as its Executive Director, effective July 1, 2008.Mr. Quon will succeed Jayne Park, who has guided the APALRC from its origins as a volunteer organization to its current standing as one of the most highly respected legal services organizations in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.The APALRC operates the area’s largest legal services program specifically assisting low-income, limited English proficient Asian Americans.

As Executive Director, Mr. Quon will build upon the APALRC’s award-winning programs and advance the collaborations that Ms. Park has developed with several local community organizations.He will also advise regional public officials on the needs and priorities of the Asian American and broader immigrant community, and work with public and private program and funding partners.He will chart a course for the next iteration of services that will propel the organization to an even more effective and crucial role in the region.

“Myron has devoted his career to advancing the legal rights of Asian Americans and others who are challenged in seeking access to justice,” said Theodore D. Chuang, chair of the APALRC Board. “With his broad array of skills and experiences in legal services, advocacy, fundraising, and management, he is the ideal leader for the APALRC as it embarks on its second decade of service to Asian Americans in the Greater Washington, D.C. area.”

“Myron is precisely the kind of person I was hoping for to take over the reins when I announced my intention to leave the APALRC,” said Ms. Park.“While leaving this terrific organization was a tremendously difficult decision, I am delighted that the board conducted a national search and selected someone with such impressive credentials and commitment to social justice.”

“My entire career has been devoted to social justice, especially for those communities with the least access to resources.The Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center is highly respected in not only the Asian American community, but also the entire legal services and immigrant community, for its work this past decade,” said Mr. Quon.“I’m thrilled and honored to join this organization and look forward to working with staff, the Board, and the broader community to lead the organization to even greater heights.”

Mr. Quon currently serves as Legal Director of the Asian American Institute in Chicago and as an Adjunct Lecturer with the Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University.Mr. Quon has successfully led advocacy efforts to repair the presumptive exclusion of Asian American-owned business enterprises from Chicago’s public contracting affirmative action program.He also has coordinated poll watching for limited English proficient Chinese voters protected by the Voting Rights Act, and he has spearheaded data collection and analysis documenting language barriers that prevent Lao American seniors from accessing quality healthcare. Previously, he served as a consultant at The Chicago Community Trust stewarding grants for legal services organizations, and as Deputy Regional Director of the Western Regional Office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Mr. Quon began his legal career in the field of direct legal services, as a staff attorney and then managing attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County in Santa Maria, California.He holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.