Anyone wondering why Escondido attorney Tri M. Luu has become so involved with the local Vietnamese community can find his motivation by understanding his childhood.
Tri was a toddler in 1989 when he and his grandfather embarked on their perilous journey into the waters across the South China Sea. He became part of a historic, two-decade exodus of boat people that saw some 2 million Vietnamese refugees fleeing economic devastation and a repressive communist regime.
After landing in Thailand and later being joined by his parents, Tri and his family settled in a community of fellow refugees in a crime-ridden neighborhood just east of downtown San Diego.
“When we came here, we had nothing at all. We basically had nothing but the shirts on our backs,” says Tri. “My dad was always going to school, so I only saw him on weekends, and my mom was always working, so the community raised me. That’s just how it was.”
“Everybody was looking out after each other. That’s the reason I do everything I do today. The community helped me out. The community raised me. And I resolved while I was growing up that I would always pay it forward.”
Which is why Tri was among the first donors who committed to further supporting the region’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community by becoming involved with San Diego Foundation’s AANHPI Fund at a December 2024 launch event.
Says Tri: “I saw this fund, I’m already involved in the community, and I said, ‘How can I help? What can I do?’”
A Pressing Need
Home to the seventh largest AANHPI community in the country, San Diego County’s AANHPI community is projected to continue growing to the point where most foreign-born residents in the region will be from Asia by 2030, according to the SDF San Diego Economic Equity Report.
The community is as diverse as its need. The local AANHPI community is more than half a million residents strong and includes 151,000 people of Filipino descent, 141,000 who are multiracial, 59,000 of Chinese descent, and 55,000 Vietnamese, according to the SDF State of San Diego AANHPIs Report developed in partnership with the Policy & Innovation Center. In total, the AANHPI community makes up 16.2% of the county’s population, which is up from 12.4% of the population in 2005.
The challenges are many, but one in particular stands out: suicide is the leading cause of death among AANHPI youth ages 15 to 24 in California and 30% of community members reported difficulties accessing health care.
That led the AANHPI Fund to focus its inaugural year on providing grants to nonprofits and programs that increase access to mental health and well-being support services for AANHPI youth and young adults.
Tri knows all too well the complexities involving mental health; he has lived with ADHD all his life, but was only diagnosed around the time he turned 29.
“The reason SDF and the AANHPI Fund appealed to me is because mental health is something I’ve always grappled with,” he says.
The care he received was critical in his becoming a star student at California Western School of Law and setting out on a career that has led him to becoming a managing partner at Skaja, Daniels & Luu.
A Focus on Giving
The Van Lang Center at Bayside Community Center (above) focuses on teaching Vietnamese language and culture to school-age children.
Tri, 37, has been giving back to the Vietnamese community since he was a teen. He secured his first job with Bayside Community Center in the heart of Linda Vista, where he helped build a thriving youth program in the predominantly Vietnamese enclave.
His involvement grew through his work with the Van Lang Center, which at the time was based at Bayside Community Center. The Van Lang Center focuses on teaching Vietnamese language and culture to school-age children.
Among Tri’s priority projects is the Legendary Lion Dance Association, which is spreading the culture of lion dance across different communities. He’s also the legal advisor, a board member, and the sponsorship coordinator for the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance, which helps coordinate the San Diego Tet festival. He also assists the Union of Pan Asian Communities, a nonprofit providing a comprehensive array of health and social services aimed at improving the overall well-being of San Diego’s underserved neighborhoods.
“Knowing the culture is extremely important,” he says of his work with the Vietnamese community. “If you don’t understand the culture, if you don’t speak the language, you’re not going to be able to connect with the people.”
In addition, Tri serves on the boards of the Village Social Society, a nonprofit organizing events for the Harmony Grove community where he resides, and the Escondido Chamber of Commerce.
Build Your Community
The AANHPI Fund is among the initiatives launched during SDF’s Fifty & Forward Campaign, which has set a 50th anniversary goal of granting $500 million to realize our region’s greatest opportunities in three key areas: education, children and families, and the environment – and raising $1 billion to help shape our community’s future.
“The Vietnamese and AANHPI communities are growing here, and I want to help it grow,” says Tri. “You have to be involved in your community.”
