Welcome our New AFC Director!

IRCO would like to welcome our new director of the Asian Family Center, Ms. Côi Vũ!

Côi is the human rights commissioner for the City of Portland, co-vice board president for the United Nations Association of Portland, a member of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Portland Advocacy Committee, and has served as a long-term board member for IRCO’s Asian Family Center. She is also one of the lead organizers for the semiannual Refugee Adjustment Day, an event that connects new refugees to a volunteer network of legal, medical and community services, as well as assisting in the green card application process.

Côi served as the program director for Open School, a nonprofit educational organization serving underprivileged youth throughout Multnomah County. She also oversaw system-wide public programming for all 19 Multnomah County Library locations. Côi worked at Impact NW for 14 years, managing programs for seniors and adults with disabilities, and programs for youth. Côi holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Portland State University and Master’s degree in education from University of Phoenix.

Côi was born in a refugee camp in Malaysia and is a first-generation refugee from Vietnam. She has lived and worked in Portland for almost four decades. Raised by her single mother and her aunties, Côi has dedicated the last 20 years connecting communities together, cross-collaborating with organizations to provide services to underserved groups of all ages in nonprofits, educational, private and public settings.

Côi has lead equity and social justice workshops and conversations for many years. She presented at the Theatre Communications Group conference event “Refugee State” and at the Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Association event, “Beyond the Bookstore Walls: Multicultural Outreach.” She was also the keynote speaker at the Muslim Educational Trust commencement ceremony this past year. Côi recently co-authored the ALA National Programming Guide for the “Ken Burn’s Vietnam War” documentary and was a national adviser to the National American Library Association’s American Dream Civic grant.

Her identity and background continue to be the catalyst for her passionate work with communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities and youth in education. She is dedicated to promoting equity and achieving social change at a local, national and international level.

Again please join us in welcoming Côi as IRCO's Asian Family Center Director!