Caught this article down at the Dorchester Reporter and according to the newsbyte 26 year-old Hiep Q. Nguyen has confirmed that he'll be running for City Council at-Large and most think he's the first Vietnamese American to ever run for City Council in the city of Boston:
At 26, he may be the youngest candidate in this year's race. And according to many, he is the first Vietnamese-American ever to run for the council in Boston.And to all the people that say he may not be able to connect with the Vietnamese American community because of his age and experience - at some point - you gotta make way for the new, so why not now?
"I was very surprised when I went a community meeting and knew about his running," said Van Lan Truong, a long-time community activist who was also the Vietnamese liaison for Mayor Raymond Flynn in the 1980s and 90s. "I'm very happy to see the younger generation getting involved and doing work for the community."
Nguyen is considered a newcomer to community activism, though he grew up in the area. Reached on the phone Tuesday, March 24, he declined to comment on the race other than to say that he is running. Nguyen immigrated from Tay Ninh, Vietnam, a town 50 miles northwest of Ho Chi Minh City in 1991 at the age of 8. His father was a pilot in the South Vietnamese army trained by the U.S. Air Force.
He attended St. William's Grammar School in Savin Hill and Boston Latin Academy, and then moved on to undergraduate and graduate degrees at Bentley University in Waltham.
Since his recent return to Boston, he has involved himself in efforts to register Vietnamese-American voters in last year's election and also the resurrection of the financially troubled Vietnamese-American Civic Association where he has become the president of the board of directors.
