Dr. Ma is the Founder and President of Korean Community Center, Englewood, NJ.
She has served Korean Community Center as a fulltime volunteer for the past 13 years. She had a dream of creating a Korean Community Center similar to the Jewish Community Center she passed by every day where she lives in Tenafly. She founded the nonprofit organization of Friends of Grace Seniors, Inc., now known as the Korean Community Center (KCC) in 2000. The inception of KCC was motivated by a group of seniors who saw an increasing need for immigrants and families to have a place where they can share and learn together and overcome language and cultural barriers. From those humble beginnings KCC now has an annual $1 million budget and is the only broad-based Korean community center in the metropolitan area. The mission of KCC is to promote healthy and independent living for all individuals in the community and integrate the Korean population into the greater community through culture and education, outreach, health and social services, and civic advocacy. The vision of KCC is to provide practical tools and assistance for Korean immigrants to live in US, and to preserve and promote Korean cultural heritage and social identity through self-empowerment and spirit of giving while building bridges to American society. Annually, KCC has about 12,000 individuals utilize its one-stop and multi-services center for all ages from children to older adults in the community.
Dr. Kye-Eun Ma is a board certified internist who came to US in 1971 after graduation from the Medical College of Yonsei University. She retired early in 1997 and served for community senior program as a volunteer. While she was volunteering for senior program, she found a desperate need of retirement housing for Korean elderly immigrants and a Korean Community Center.
She received many awards, Korean Prime Minister Award for community services, Bergen County’s Outstanding Volunteer, Bergen Community College’s Asian Leadership Award, Dae Sang Award from the Korean American Association of Greater New York, The Russ Berrie Award for Making a Difference, and Community Service Award from the Association of Korean American Medical Graduates, etc.
She and her husband Dr. Dong M. Ma reside in Tenafly, NJ and have two daughters, an allergist in New York City, a vice president at Louis Vuitton, and son with Ph.D. in physics serving US Dept. of Energy.