Jeudy Mom

After his parents fled Cambodia as refugees in 1980, Jeudy Mom and his family landed in southern California. On Thanksgiving morning, he heard a knock at the door. He was eight and hoped Santa was delivering presents to good kids like him a month early. It was a present. Volunteers delivered a frozen turkey and boxed side dishes.

“My mother had no clue how to cook a turkey and wondered why people would eat boxed food. But a kind neighbor helped cook and introduced us to Thanksgiving.” That care and support when his family first arrived left a deep impression.

Mom decided to pay it forward through a career mobilizing people to support their neighbors, including for Open Doors USA and Orange County Rescue Mission. But he has invested most in his own community of Compton, California, known by outsiders for both its music scene and its crime. For eight years, he led the Compton Initiative, inspiring thousands of neighbors to support each other in reducing homelessness, increasing safety, fighting racism, and more.

“Problems are abundant, and people willing to tackle them are limited,” says Mom. “Yet people are about where they live and we can inspire a tidal wave of kindness and action.”

This work gained national recognition with an Atlantic Renewal Award in 2019. Mom shares his story with faith groups, community organizations, and government leaders in California and beyond. You can find him every Sunday morning at a homeless shelter leading services.