Aung comes to Children’s Defense Fund after previously serving in roles of leadership for the youth civic engagement organization Generation Citizen and the New York State Education Department.
Media Contact:
John Henry, jhenry@childrensdefense.org, CDF Media Relations Manager, 708-646-7679
NEW YORK, NY—The national youth advocacy organization Children’s Defense Fund has named Khin Mai Aung as its state director of the Children’s Defense Fund New York (CDF-NY) office.
Ms. Aung’s appointment to the position follows a nationwide search. She most recently served as the Mid-Atlantic Executive Director for Generation Citizen, a youth civic engagement organization working to reduce the civics education gap and increase access to high quality civics education for marginalized students. In that role, she oversaw Generation Citizen’s operations in both New York State and the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ms. Aung also previously worked in the New York State Education Department’s Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages, where she led efforts to protect immigrant students’ civil rights. Children’s Defense Fund President & Chief Executive Officer Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson said Aung’s experience serving young people in New York will serve as an invaluable resource toward realizing CDF-NY’s ongoing efforts to improve child well-being in the state.
“Khin Mai will help us realize our mission of building community so young people in New York State grow up with dignity, hope, and joy,” Dr. Wilson said. “She has established herself as a leader in youth advocacy issues in both her professional work and volunteer efforts. I am delighted to get the opportunity to work with her going forward to address the important issues youth in New York face.”
CDF-NY State Director Khin Mai Aung said she is excited to work with the CDF-NY team as it continues its work to address issues related to youth justice, guaranteed income, and foster care.
“CDF-NY has a long track record of creating positive change for young people across our state, as proven by its recent groundbreaking work to help establish an unconditional Direct Cash Transfer pilot to support youth who have recently exited foster care in New York City,” Aung said. “I am excited to lead this team and its efforts to improve life for the roughly six million young people who currently live in New York State.”
Ms. Aung holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. She also does extensive volunteer work for the Burmese American community and international Burmese diaspora, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three children.
