[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12181-12182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO DR. JOON BANG

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 9, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge Dr. Joon Bang. Dr. Bang 
is president of the Korean American Youth Foundation, a non-profit 
organization dedicated to improving the lives of Korean American youth. 
He has been involved since 1993 with foundation.
  The foundation's mission is to help Korean American youth develop a 
positive, healthy identity through self-awareness, career planning, and 
mentoring. Every year, the foundation sponsors an essay contest titled 
``What America Means to Me'' for Korean American youth that awards 
college scholarships to the winners. In 2001, the foundation 
collaborated with WNET Channel 13 to expand the contest to include 
young people of all backgrounds.
  The foundation raises money to create an annual career forum for 
Asian American youth presented by the Flushing branch of the YWCA and 
the Korean American Network. It also sponsors Korean cultural events 
and performances for the community that attracts performers from across 
the country. Dr. Bang is also a member of the Advisory Board for Youth 
Affairs for the Institute of Korean-American Studies, Inc. (ICAS in 
Philadelphia).

[[Page 12182]]

  Dr. Bang has devoted his time to introducing positive images of the 
Korean American community to the metropolitan area through public 
television. In 1994, he founded ``Korean Friend's of Channel 13'' and 
served as president until 1999. In this capacity, he helped WNET 
Channel 13 develop a number of fundraising events to assist the March 
1999 production of ``Korean American Spirits,'' a documentary featuring 
the lives of Korean Americans in the tri-state area. The program raised 
more than $140,000 for public broadcasting. For his contributions, Dr. 
Bang was named the 1997 recipient of the National Friends of Public 
Broadcasting and Elaine Peterson Distinguished Service Award.
  Dr. Bang was born in Korea and graduated from the Medical College, 
Seoul National University, in Seoul, Korea in 1970. He came to the 
United States in 1973 and became a board-certified internist in 1978. 
He is an internist at the New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.
  Dr. Bang is the recipient of the 2001 Caring for Children Award. Mr. 
Speaker, Dr. Joon Bang has continuously demonstrated through his 
humanitarian efforts to improve the lives of the people in his 
community that he is more than worthy of our recognition today.

                          ____________________