Grace Lyu-Volckhausen, Honoree

Ms. Grace Lyu-Volckhausen is a founding Board Member of KALCA. In fact, the idea of KALCA was born in Grace’s living room in her Brooklyn brownstone home. Grace, her late husband Bill, Jun Choi and few others were discussing the lack of Asian Americans involved in the last presidential election campaign and started to brainstorm how to get more Asian Americans civically engaged. The rest, as they say, is history.

Grace has been a community activist in New York State and City for over 35 years. She is the President of the Tiger Baron Foundation and has supported numerous Asian American non-profits as well as projects in the arts, education and the environment in the tri state area and abroad. Grace currently serves as a New York City Commissioner on Human Rights and was the Chairwoman of the Asian American Advisory Committee for Governor Mario Cuomo, an advisor to Mayor Edward Koch, and most recently as a Senior Policy Advisor for New York City Councilman John Liu.

Grace's other leadership roles include being an advisory board member to the Legal Aid Society, a Trustee of the Public Theater, and serving on the board of the Asian American Federation, the Citizens Union Foundation, YWCA of New York City, the Prospect Park Alliance, the YWCA of Queens, and New York City Bar Justice Center.

Grace received her B.A. in Political Science from Yonsei University and her M.A. in International Relations from New York University. While she has many important titles and roles in New York City, her proudest title is grandma for her two beautiful granddaughters.