About Us
Our Mission
Ensuring Asian families and communities have equitable access to resources and opportunities to thrive.
Our Story
Unitedly was founded in San Mateo County to help identify and address systemic inequities, which have led to the invisibility of Asian residents and prevented them from accessing essential social services and the resources necessary for full engagement in their community.
Founder Alyson Suzuki noticed that many services in San Mateo County were not offered in a wide array of languages that reflected the diversity of the County. She saw the detrimental impacts of this firsthand when she supported her parents, who are disabled and monolingual Chinese.
As she helped her parents navigate the County systems and resources, she noticed that there were many other families like hers who were struggling because of the lack of services and resources available in their home language and culture.
This was especially apparent during COVID-19, when many resources were not offered in Asian languages even though Asians represent over 31 % of the County’s population.
These systemic issues are largely caused by the absence of Asian language access to resources and opportunities and the lack of authentic engagement and data collection methods to identify true community needs.
With the rise of Asian hate crimes, racism and xenophobia, these practices further separates and prevents Asian residents from participating in their community.
Alyson’s vision for Unitedly is to provide cultural and linguistic partnerships with Asian communities to heal racial trauma, provide services for unmet needs, and advance communities by bridging understanding and creating community-centered solutions.
Alyson and her mother, Lin. Lin was the inspiration behind creating Unitedly.
Our Values
We believe that all Asian families have the right to services in their community that are culturally and linguistically responsive to their needs.
We believe in amplifying the voices of Asian families so that all communities can fully contribute towards a stronger society.
We value inclusion and equity and believe that our diverse communities are strengthened because of our differences.
We believe in understanding the uniqueness, history and values of Asian cultures.
We believe that all generations can strengthen society if they have access, resources and opportunities.
We believe in partnering with others and working with cultural humility.
Unitedly’s Board of Directors
Unitedly has a dedicated Board of Directors with extensive experience designing, implementing, and leading nonprofit and business programs and supporting Asian and immigrant communities. Board members were raised in immigrant households themselves or supported families and community members with accessing similar agencies like Unitedly. Through these experiences, they understand the impact an agency like Unitedly has on families and the greater community.
Alyson Suzuki
Founder and President of the Board
AlysonS@Unitedly.org
Alyson is a first-generation Chinese-American community leader who believes in supporting families with limited resources. Raised in a low-income household by immigrant parents, Alyson knows first-hand the importance of resources, access, and community support. Through her experiences, Alyson understands the impact of societal inequities and strongly believes in enabling all families to have a voice. As the founder of Unitedly, Alyson’s vision is to create a central agency dedicated to supporting underserved families, so that they have equitable opportunities to be successful.
Alyson is from New York City (NYC) and served low-income families in the greater NYC area before moving to San Mateo County in 2000. Her work focuses on education. social service, and culturally appropriate support to immigrant and low-income families and children. She has over 25 years of experience leading complex organizations, advocating for systemic change, and delivering quality services to underserved communities. She has led multiple large nonprofit organizations and designed and launched new nonprofit programs. These programs include the Peninsula Family YMCA’s Child Care in South San Francisco and the Multimedia Business Program in NYC.
Currently, Alyson is the Principal Consultant of her own Advisory firm that is dedicated to supporting government agencies, funders, and nonprofit programs. In this role, Alyson supports leadership teams with agency-wide strategies. Alyson is also the Co-chair of the Chinese Health Initiative (CHI) of San Mateo County. As the Co-chair of CHI, Alyson partners with San Mateo government departments, community organizations, and residents in coordinating, leading, and advocating for health and mental services for Chinese residents in San Mateo County.
Alyson has also served on the board of the YMCA of San Francisco and Marin, and Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Strategic Human Resources Management. Alyson was a recipient and honoree of the California Governor’s Scholarship for Women in Public Service and a graduate of the Redwood City- San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute (APALI). She is a member of The National Society of Leadership Success and the San Mateo County API Caucus.
Cheryl Horney
Vice President
CherylH@Unitedly.org
Cheryl Horney lives and works in the Bay Area. She has worked in nonprofit organizations for nearly two decades. She has served as a Non-Profit Administrator for over a decade and has worked for Wu Yee Children’s Services in San Francisco for the past 13 years. Previously she worked with all families that were experiencing homelessness in Boston as an early education teacher. She has spent her entire career supporting families, many of them newcomer and immigrant families. She has listened to the stories of many families and community members and has worked to be an ally and co-conspirator in supporting them in finding their voices and their own agency.
She holds her Bachelors in History from Boston University and her Master’s in Education from San Francisco State University. She is familiar with the nonprofit leadership sector and has volunteered with nearly a dozen organizations over the past 25 years. She has served on 5 nonprofit boards including the California Association for the Education of Young Children, a state-wide membership organization, The Women’s Building of San Francisco, and the East Bay Association for the Education of Young Children. She currently serves as the Treasurer of the San Francisco Child Care Planning Advisory Council (SFCPAC), the Chairperson of the Workforce Committee for SFCPAC, and the Chairperson of the Title 5 Contractors Committee for SFCPAC. Additionally she is currently serving as the Treasurer of Lotus Bloom Family Resource Center in Oakland and the Vice President of Operations of Unitedly. She has a passion for supporting gender and racial equity.
Conny Zhu
Secretary
ConnyZ@Unitedly.org
Conny is a resident of San Mateo County. She has more than 15 years of experience working in non-profit agencies. Her expertise is with program startup, management, planning and implementation utilizing multiple funding sources. Her diverse experience also includes providing training and consultation services to family child care business owners. She is a certified trainer for the Preventive Health and Safety training as well as a national recognized business training series designed specifically for family child care business owners by All Our Kin. She has more than 10 years of experience in delivering training to monolingual Chinese speaking immigrants who are either parents or child care educators.
Conny is the Child Care Provider Services Manager at Wu Yee Children’s Services in San Francisco. Her current role is to support in-home child care educators to launch, operate, retain and/or expand their child care business. Conny holds a BA in Psychology from UC Davis.
As a first-generation college graduate raised by low-income immigrant parents, she is committed to serving underserved communities. Conny came to the U.S. when she was 18 years old and spent one full year learning English and working to support herself to live and adjust to the new environment. She felt very lost in her first year in the U.S. as she didn’t know what to do to plan for her education. Fortunately, she was connected to different community resources in San Francisco and received counseling services from the City College of San Francisco. With all the support she had from the community, she applied and received financial aid to complete her college degree. Because of her personal life experience, Conny has a deep understanding of all the challenges many immigrant families are facing and truly believes in how people’s lives can be changed with timely support from the community.
Unitedly’s Leadership Circle
Unitedly’s Leadership Circle serves as a critical community champion of the organization. Members of the Leadership Circle partner with Unitedly’s Executive Director and Board of Directors to serve as a volunteer advisory and working committee. Members are carefully selected for their expertise and community services. They play a critical role in uplifting Unitedly's mission through their professional expertise and diverse knowledge.
Dr. Melinda Day
When asked why Dr. Day wanted to join Unitedly, she shared, "I stand with Unitedly because I believe in Dr. Martin Luther King's quote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Unitedly is working to address the exclusion of Asian communities and the invisibility of these communities in the resources and opportunities needed to flourish. Language access and representation in education and health care is a fundamental human right. Until all families have equitable access to these essential services, we cannot honestly claim to live in a just and inclusive society. Unitedly's mission resonates with my core values, and together, we can create a world where everyone, regardless of their background, has an equal opportunity to thrive and succeed."
Dr. Day has over 20 years of experience in organizational development and nonprofit leadership.
A former resident of San Mateo County, she spent more than ten years working in the early childhood education systems in the Bay Area. Dr. Day has built comprehensive systems across government agencies and community organizations to address access and quality of early care and education. Her deep commitment to the children, families, and educators in the Bay Area has included serving as tenured faculty and department program coordinator at Cañada College, where she developed strategies to support student enrollment and retention in certificate and degree programs.
Dr. Day is currently the Chief Impact Officer at Food Bank of the Rockies. In this role, Dr. Day steers organizational strategy, developing benchmarks and key performance indicators to measure impact.
Dr. Day received her BA in Child Development from Tufts University and her Master's in Public Health focused on Maternal and Child Health from the University of Illinois-Chicago. She completed her Ph.D. in Child and Family Studies at Syracuse University. Her dissertation focused on race and ethnic stereotype formation and teacher training.
Sylvia Tang
Sylvia holds various leadership roles that include: San Mateo County Suicide Prevention Committee Co-Chair and Asian Pacific Islander Staff Affinity Group Core Team Member. She is currently a Community Health Planner at the San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Office of Diversity and Equity. She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Public Health from UC Berkeley and Master in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her passions also include singing, making photo books and being civically engaged.
Sylvia is excited to join Unitedly because she believes that with more basic needs met, Asian communities will have more capacity to heal from trauma, experience joy, and advocate for all marginalized communities.