09-05-2025
Vietnam 50 Years Later: 35 years of the Hmong American Partnership
On the Minnesota State Capitol grounds, near the memorial that honors the Minnesotans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, there also lies a memorial to honor the Hmong soldiers who fought during the Secret War.
The monument is a bronze statue that resembles a sprouting bamboo shoot. Each petal depicts images of life, war and relocation.
Not only is the Twin Cities metro home to the largest concentration of Hmong in the U.S., it's also home to the largest Hmong-serving organization in the nation: The Hmong American Partnership (HAP), which is marking 35 years of service in 2025.
WCCO's Pauleen Le sat down with several of the organization's current and former leaders — Dr. Christopher Thao, Lee Pao Xiong, May Yer Thao and Kou Vang — for some food for thought at the cultural and culinary gem known as Hmong Village in St. Paul.
"This is what the Hmong city would look like if we had a country. I mean, it's everything," said Vang, HAP's director of finance and administration from 1993 to 1996.
Hmong Village in St. Paul
WCCO
"I think having something like this proves to the community that we not only survive, but we are a thriving community," said Pao Xiong, HAP's executive director from 1992-1995.
"Yes, it is still home. It doesn't matter how professional or successful I've become in life, I still come back here," said Yer Thao, HAP's current executive director for the past three years.
It's a shopping center where you can find a traditional fit with Hmong flare; plenty of fresh produce to please; and a sprawling indoor market to tempt your tastebuds.
Since 2011, it's served as a microcosm of the Hmong experience in Minnesota, an experience that these four leaders know well.
"I came in Sept. 3, 1976," said Thao, the organization's founder
"Oct. 22, 1976," said Pao Xiong.
"My family came in 1976 as well. I was born in California in July 1977," said Yer Thao.
"We landed in Chicago (on) June 12, 1976, so I got here before all of you guys did (laughs)," said Vang.
All four have made lasting contributions to the local community through the nonprofit. Together, they are largely responsible for the organization's 35-year growth, and evolution into what it is today.
"You know, as immigrants you have shortcomings," Thao said. "But it was in the goodness of the people living here in Minnesota that that is the kind of people that they are, and so when we talked about it they said, 'Yeah, this is what we needed. This is what needed to take place in order to them to grow here in Minnesota to succeed in their lives.' Not just the parental generation, but their children and their grandchildren."
"I think what's unique about HAP is truly a partnership between the Hmong and our American friends. I think that's why the logo itself has hands holding, and so it's a very unique organization, whereas other organizations is all Hmong. We're here, we say we're going to use some of the resources within the larger community to help the Hmong community move forward," said Pao Xiong. "I think that we know the needs of the community. But the other people bring to the organization the resources, not only monetary, but this is how, they've been here before, they've done this before, so to be able to combine those two, that's really what attracted me to go to HAP."
From left the right: Dr. Christopher Thao, Lee Pao Xiong, May Yer Thao and Kou Vang.
WCCO
It may all sound rosy, but there were certainly some challenges along the way.
"There were some issues with integrity. As refugees resettled in this culture, we don't know the culture, they don't know how nonprofit organizations are to operate, how you maintain your financial papers so that anyone and everyone can see. Those are the issues that are there but are not spoken," Thao said. "The work that I did was to really bring people in the community into the board so that out of the board we can manage and make decisions for the organizations well. You have to bring former executives from 3M and other big Fortune 500 companies here, a couple on the board to help us and to really speak on behalf of Hmong American Partnership to the general public and to the foundations, saying that we are doing something new."
"One of the key things during my administration was really focusing on data, and so you have the passion and the commitment from the previous administration now, and so really how do you put all of that together and say, 'OK, let's have this continuance of services, how do we serve the whole person?" Pao Xiong said. "We have a youth program, we have self-sufficiency program, we have a parenting program. If young people are struggling, the parents may be struggling, and so how do you help the parents? And so how do you take care of the whole person in a sense, right? Instead of fragmentation."
From figuring out how to make a budget and keeping records of financial statements, to being self-sufficient in funding program services and more.
"It's that credibility. When you don't have it, you need it," Vang said. "Because when you don't have it, then you're always going to be seen as somebody to kind of oversee, and I think that's kind of one thing that I'm the most proud of for HAP is when I left, there were a number of contracts where we were the primary contract and we didn't rely on anybody else."
"My direct predecessor, Bao Vang, couldn't join us because she's not feeling well, and she led HAP for 14 years," Yer Thao said. "And she, I think, her legacy, one of her many legacies she left behind was the start of the social enterprises, which helped diversify HAP's revenue so that we were not so reliant on grants. And those were unrestricted dollars, so we could actually cover administrative costs the grants wouldn't cover. And so that was what was handed to me. Unfortunately, also during COVID, many of our social enterprises had to be shut down, so when I came into HAP we had one social enterprise left. Bao had retired almost a year earlier and so when I came in, it was almost, 'How do we rebuild post-COVID?'"
Rebuilding, but also continuing to evolve for the future.
"When I came into HAP, we had a $12 million budget," Yer Thao said. "So when Kou left in 2006 and Lee Pao, that was a $3.3 million budget. When Bao left, we were at $12 million. We are now currently at $18 million, and it's been this continual building of the foundations that were created. The next direction that HAP is headed, because we truly think about where our community needs are now in the next couple of years, five to 10 years, it is how do we drive economic prosperity? Because that is the next step for our communities. How do we help our communities build wealth and sustain it?"
Hmong Village in St. Paul
WCCO
"We go through three stages in our lives: the stage of dependency, the stage of preparatory and the stage of contributions," Pao Xiong siad. "And so when you look at it, we have many people in our community now who are doing very well and contributing back to the community."
Growing, but also helping others grow, too.
"Even the three to four years we were there was significant partnership with Vietnamese Social Services, Lao Assistance Center, the Women Associates of the Hmong and Lao, Advancement for Hmong Women," Vang said. "There's an affinity to making sure that, and I mean in those three to four years HAP went from a startup to probably the leading Hmong social service, refugee social service in the Twin Cities. But there was also a need to not have everybody else get killed off, right? Everybody else had to kind of come together. And so we were partnering with everyone. I remember being fiscal agent, writing checks to all those people. What are we doing? Why are we paying their bills?"
"As a grandfather, I look back as a grandfather of HAP and I'm proud that HAP is not only serving the Hmong community, but that we are able to give back," Thao said. "And giving back to the community and to other people in need, it really brings tremendous joy."
The HAP leaders say another principle to making the program grow was to paying all employees a good working and living wage.
This story is part of the WCCO documentary "Vietnam 50 Years Later: Reflection on a War that Changed Minnesota," by reporter Pauleen Le and photojournalist Art Phillips.
Watch the full documentary below, or on our YouTube channel.
