Kaylee Cho

Kaylee Cho is the Climate Resilience Specialist at Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC), where she works with KYCC’s Environmental Services Unit to address challenges at the intersection of public health, environmental justice, and community advocacy in Los Angeles. For Kaylee, a lifelong Angeleno who has been involved with the organization since her youth, working as a climate resilience specialist has been, in her words, a “full-circle moment” where she could leverage her personal interests and education in the service of her community.

Her work is deeply informed by personal experience, having witnessed the impact which environmental and systemic stressors has left on her own family. Whether through her research at Breathe Southern California or her advocacy for tenant rights, Kaylee has serves as a voice for those living in Koreatown’s high-density, renter-heavy landscape, where invisible dangers like mold and poor air quality often go unaddressed due to a lack of resources or fear of landlord retaliation.

By focusing on the social determinants of health, Kaylee pushes for systems-level change, from the electrification of aging infrastructure to the creation of accessible green spaces. Her approach is rooted in empathy: a commitment to meeting community members where they are, ensuring that the pursuit of climate justice is realized and reflected in the health of community members. She hopes to one day go to graduate school to undertake research in community health before returning to the nonprofit sector.