David and his siblings were raised by their immigrant parents. His mother, Mee, was a typist at Irwin Memorial Blood Bank in the Richmond District for decades.
His father, Ken, was a proud Galileo High School graduate, a U.S. Army veteran, and a U.S. Navy civilian electrical engineer. His parents struggled to raise their family in San Francisco while caring for more extended family members.
David grew up serving his community as a crossing guard, delivered meals to senior citizens, and helped to clean up Chinatown’s alleys.
David attended public schools in San Francisco. He went to Jean Parker Elementary, Marina Middle School, and Wallenberg High School. In high school, David became interested in government and public policy while volunteering for State Senator Milton Marks. David went on to earn a MA in political science and a doctorate in educational leadership from San Francisco State University.
David and his wife, Jing, have raised their two children on the west side of San Francisco.
Since 1993, David has served as the Executive Director for the Chinese American Voters Education Committee (CAVEC), building it into a recognized and respected organization for the Asian American community throughout the San Francisco Bay Area especially in the Sunset District (where CAVEC’s first neighborhood office was located). In that role, David has trained hundreds of volunteers and staff to register and educate more than 100,000 Asian American voters in the region. He has also served as Chair of the U.S. Census Information Steering Committee.
In 2005, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed David to serve on the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission to help carry out his administration’s plans to revamp the aging park system. He led the redesign and renewal of new recreational facilities that have become cornerstone public spaces in the Sunset, like McCoppin Square Park, West Sunset Playground, and Sunset Recreation Center. One of the notable projects he worked on as a Commissioner was the renovation of Sava Pool. David spent many hours listening to community concerns and different stakeholders in the design of the pool. The Sava Pool was such a success in the Sunset, it became the City’s standard of renovating pools across the city.
David was also Chair of the Capital Committee and managed millions of dollars in bonds to build and refurbish dozens of playgrounds, recreation facilities, and parks. He fought for the Parks Department to establish more open spaces and parks for residents, as well as expanded efforts to plant trees, create urban forests, and improve streetscapes.
As a first-generation college student, David strongly related to the struggles of immigrant students and became an educator to help young people succeed in school and find their passion in life. As a lecturer of political science at San Francisco State, he has taught generations of students how to organize, mobilize and engage in civic life. Many of his students have gone on to participate in voter registration drives and pursue careers in public service.
David was the former director of Laney College’s Asian Pacific American Student Success program, which supports immigrants, undocumented students and English second language students with academic counseling, mental health support services, peer mentoring, and multilingual support.
During the pandemic, he wrote and was awarded the first Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) $2.5 million grant from the US Department of Education to support mental health services for Asian American and immigrant students at Laney College and Berkeley City College.
