Badon affirms exit from race for N.O. mayor - Page 2

. . . . . . .

INSTANT CONTEST: With his announcement, Badon injected some competition into the District E race, which drew its first candidate earlier this week in eastern New Orleans activist Cyndi Nguyen.

Nguyen, 39, first attracted notice as a volunteer at the Versailles Arms Apartments in eastern New Orleans. As director of the complex's community center, she helped adults navigate the road to homeownership, taught English to Vietnamese immigrants and counseled students.

She later started a nonprofit group called Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training, or VIET, and after Katrina helped establish Einstein Charter School in the Michoud area.

A mother of six children -- including 4-month-old triplets -- Nguyen said she intends to run a grass-roots campaign. Her guiding goal in office would be to improve the community that her immigrant parents claimed as their adopted home in 1975, she said.

"My goal is to make District E stronger, to open opportunities for working families," she said. "We need to recognize that they're a working force for us. But as working parents, we feel like we always run into barriers.

"With an open seat, I thought this is the time that I can take my work that I have been doing for the past eight years to the next level and help more people," she said.

Nguyen, who like Badon is a Democrat, stressed that she sees the district seat as a political end in itself and has no aspiration for higher office.

With a bachelor's degree in social work from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and a master's degree in management from the University of Phoenix, Nguyen describes herself as a defiant youngster who found new affection for her hometown when she moved back home in 1998 after nearly a decade away.

"As a child, I was a rebel," she said. "But when I came back to the community, I felt like I owed something to the community. That's why I want to run for office."

Previous 1 | 2 | 3 Next