Cathy Cha

Cathy Cha is the Haas, Jr. Fund’s senior program officer for Immigrant Rights and Integration. In this position, Cathy manages the Fund’s efforts to promote equal opportunities for immigrants to become fully engaged citizens.

As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy is deeply committed to improving the lives of immigrants and their families. She has more than 15 years of experience in economic development and community rights work, with a focus on low-income and immigrant communities.

Before managing the Immigrant Rights and Integration program, Cathy worked for five years as a program officer in the Haas, Jr. Fund’s Neighborhoods and Strengthening Families programs. She previously served as a program officer at the Hyams Foundation in Boston, where she managed the $2 million Community Economic Development portfolio. While in Boston, she helped develop the English for New Bostonians initiative, a model for providing language assistance to immigrants.

Earlier in her career, Cathy served as project manager at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation in San Francisco, developing affordable housing and starting the agency's first construction job training program for neighborhood residents. She also has worked for ICF Consulting in San Francisco, the City of Oakland, and the United Way in Seattle.

Cathy serves as the Board Vice Chair of the Chinatown Community Development Center and is on the board of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

Cathy has a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Washington, Seattle.