Jimmy Kim

Jimmy Kim is the General Manager of LA’s Department of Recreation and Parks where he overseas the department’s recreational, social, and cultural programming. Raised in Koreatown, Jimmy recalls his youth as one challenged by street life in a rapidly changing neighborhood, telling us that he often ran with the wrong crowd. It was through his sister that he learned of the city’s summer youth employment program, which not only kept him occupied (and away from bad influences), but piqued his interests in a career working for the city’s park district.

That summer, Jimmy worked as a junior lifeguard. When the park entered its off-season, he landed a job as an attendant at E.G. Roberts Aquatic Center. Soon thereafter he again found lifeguarding positions, and, despite not being the strongest swimmer, worked tirelessly to make sure he could fulfill what the role required of him. Along the way, he rallied young folks in whom he saw bits of his own difficult past, encouraging them to join lifeguarding (as he himself had) to change their trajectories.

In 2005, Jimmy stepped into emergency management, having learned through his role in the aquatics division how to create and act on emergency planning, and in 2015 he became an emergency manager for the park district. He played a critical role in the city’s disaster response during the COVID-19 pandemic; when much of the city’s operations slowed down, his department remained open, providing sheltering, critical care, as well as third spaces for children who needed access to online services for remote learning. In 2022, Jimmy became the first Asian American to serve as General Manager, and he remains driven by the conviction that the services provided are essential to the survival and growth of the city’s most vulnerable communities.