The chief of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement (MOIA) has stepped down from her role effective May 5, reportedly to be closer to her family and to continue her education. Monique Tu Nguyen had served as executive director of MOIA since Mayor Michelle Wu’s first year in office, 2022.
No replacement is immediately in place, though a search is underway and candidates could be announced in the coming months, according to Mayor Wu’s office.
“I am stepping back to focus on my health, to be present with my aging parents, and to return to my graduate studies,” Nguyen, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote in a letter announcing her departure. “It is the right next chapter, even if the timing is never easy… My parents, who have sacrificed so much of our time together during these years of service, are calling me home. I leave with a full heart and the knowledge that this work is in good hands.”
The daughter of refugees from Vietnam, Nguyen touted accomplishments like stewarding millions of dollars in investments to grantees, including a network of 400 partners working on community mental health, mutual aid, legal access, ESOL, and community organizing.
An effort to train immigrants to be civic leaders by paying them to be involved in the community through Immigrants Lead Boston has an alumni base of more than 100, she noted.
“We helped implement the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, driver’s licenses for immigrant residents, and tuition equity,” she wrote. “And despite the federal government’s attempts to keep eligible immigrants from becoming citizens, we’ve helped almost 2,000 people complete their naturalization journey by hosting Citizenship Day.”
