Kim-Khanh Van is an attorney, small business owner, a mom of two small children, Renton City Councilmember, and a JAG with the United States Army Volunteer Reserve, Joint Services Command. She also serves on the Renton Technical College Foundation board expanding career pathways for students and serves as VP of Membership at her child’s school PTA.
Kim-Khanh was a child refugee when her family and she left for the refugee camp in the Philippines after the Fall of Saigon, South Vietnam. She resettled in King County with the help and sponsorship of charitable organizations and a Lutheran Church community in Ballard, Seattle. Because of her lived and professional experience, Kim-Khanh continues to make sure that government is accessible by everyone. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and with the uptick in anti-Asian sentiment, violence, and hate, she along with youth leaders, non-profit leaders and Asian American Hawaiian Native and Pacific Islanders came together to co-found AAPI Against Hate to raise awareness of the “hate” incidents, support survivors, and hold elected officials and leaders accountable to co-create community-based solutions for public safety with community. Kim-Khanh advocates for human rights, racial equity, environmental justice, equality in education and promoting children with learning differences, and accountability and transparency in government. She sees her work as a public servant as a way of “paying it forward” because of her upbringing with family, community, and non-profit organizations helping her and her family, and where she is today professionally in life is because of the help from so many others.
Kim-Khanh currently lives in Renton with her husband and two small children. She enjoys attending cultural and religious events, going on hikes, engaging in community service, learning, and reading with her children.
