Originally incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1983, the Korean American Coalition advocates for the interests of the 1.3 million strong Korean American community. As recent immigrants and members of an ethnic minority group, Korean Americans face many barriers in their pursuit of full and meaningful participation in American society. KAC was established to serve as the vehicle to overcome those obstacles.

KAC's priorities have remained untouched since inception: advocacy,empowerment, outreach, organization, education and a multi-generational collaboration. As a bilingual and non-partisan membership organization, KAC has been able to bridge the inter-generational gap and galvanize multi-generations of Korean Americans into taking action.

One of the major turning points in KAC's history was the 1992 Los Angeles Riots when KAC emerged as the voice of the Korean American community. KAC represented the concerns of the Korean American community (devastated by inner-city violence) to the mainstream media,elected officials, and government agencies. With a $500,000 grant from New York Life Insurance Company, KAC provided relief assistance for affected businesses and increased advocacy efforts on behalf of the underrepresented and underserved Korean immigrant community. Since then, KAC has strived to expand its reach and capacity to address rapidly growing community needs and become the voice of all Korean Americans.

Throughout the years, KAC developed various programs aimed at empowering and educating the community. Some milestones that highlight KAC's accomplishments during the last 20 years are:

• Established the community's first citizenship program in 1994, which provides comprehensive naturalization services throughout Southern California;
• Co-founded the Black Korean Alliance in 1988 and eventually launched the 4.29 Center in 1997 to provide dispute resolution and interethnic outreach;
• Coordinated victim relief efforts after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots;
• Trained over 750 college students in leadership development and community organizing;
• Successfully lobbied the California Secretary of State for bilingual voter registration forms and the Los Angeles City and County for Korean language sample ballots;
• Spearheaded the acquisition of a 6-story office building in Koreatown, Los Angeles to establish the KOA Center, our community's first multi-agency, multi-service facility;
• Established the KACLA Census Information Center, one of 56 census centers designated by the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct demographic research and disseminate census information to the public;
• Established the Koreatown Information Technology Education (KITE) Center, a community technology center which offers 3 courses of instruction, and has served over 150 students since opening in October 2002.

In 1993, KAC took its first step towards national representation with the establishment of the Cerritos Chapter. It would take another four years for this dream to begin to take shape with the addition of an office in Washington D.C. and the launch of three additional chapters in Sacramento, South Bay, and Orange County. Shortly thereafter, KAC expanded its national network to include chapters in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, San Francisco, Colorado, Chicago, and Atlanta, with affiliate organizations in Seattle, New Jersey/New York and Houston.

On August 30, 2004, the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter was officially welcomed into the KAC family. Since then, new chapters have been formed in Seattle, Washington and San Diego, California and several metropolitan areas are working toward establishment of additional chapters. Currently, KAC is working with leaders in Boston, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Philadelphia, New York City, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seoul to establish new chapters.