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Hoon-Yung Hopgood
State
Representative
Michigan House of Representatives
Representative Hoon-Yung Hopgood has been a resident of
Taylor for the past 25 years, since 1976 when he was adopted by
Diane (Chris) and the late Rollie Hopgood. He was successful in
a five person Primary Election for State Representative on August
6, 2002 and went on to win the General Election for the 22nd
House District on November 5, 2002. Mr. Hoon-Yung represents the
cities of Taylor and Romulus and serves as the first
Korean-American to hold state office in Michigan.
Representative Hoon-Yung was
born in Inchon, South Korea on December 8, 1974.
Mr. Hopgood
attended Holland Elementary School, Hoover Junior High School,
and Truman High School where he graduated with honors in 1992. He went on to attend the
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor where he obtained his Bachelors
of Arts in 1996 while majoring in Political Science. He
currently is pursuing a Masters of Public Administration from
Northern Michigan University in Lansing, Michigan.
Mr. Hopgood
received an internship in the Washington, D.C. Office of
Congresswoman Lynn Rivers in the summer of 1995. After undergraduate college,
he
worked for the Michigan State AFL-CIO as a Labor Coordinator
during the 1996 campaigns. His candidate for state
representative won in one of the closest races statewide and
helped return the Michigan House of Representatives to Democratic
control.
At the beginning of 1997,
Representative Hoon-Yung
Hopgood started working for the House Democratic Policy Staff.
He was able to work on a variety of legislative issues but
concentrated on K-12 education. In 1999, he joined the legislative
office of State Representative Raymond Basham. While in Rep.
Basham’s Office, Mr. Hopgood was engaged in several important
legislative issues for the district, as well as the state.
He also provided many constituent services for the 22nd
House District.
Mr. Hopgood is a
member of the Michigan Democratic
Party, the 16th District Democratic Party, the Michigan Young
Democrats, the Democratic Club of Taylor, the Michigan Democratic Action
Network, the University of Michigan Club of Downriver, and the Advisory
Board of the Council of Asian-Pacific Americans.
Mr. Hopgood has
been engaged in several volunteer
efforts which included child literacy programs, holiday meal
deliveries, Angel Night patrols in the city of Detroit, and
low-income assistance programs.
In the Michigan House of Representatives,
Mr. Hopgood serves on the Education, Energy and Technology, and
the Regulatory Reform Committees. He is also a member of the
Steel/Mining Caucus, the Children’s Caucus, the Capitol Speakers
Bureau, and on the Board of Michigan Youth in Government.
Representative Hoon-Yung Hopgood’s late
father, Rollie, served as the President of the Michigan
Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel. His mother,
Diane, retired as the principal at Johnson Elementary School in
Taylor. His brother, Jung-Hoe, lives in Taylor and works
as an environmental engineer for Wade Trim, Inc. His sister, Mei-Ling,
is a Washington, D.C. correspondent for the
Dayton Daily News.
His grandmother and several other relatives live in
Taylor, Michigan.
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