About Us
Our purpose
In 2017, we noticed that not enough effort wasn't being put behind helping Ethiopian Americans deal with the challenges associated with adapting to American life. We decided to take on the task of organizing efforts to build up the Ethiopian American community's capacity to deal with these challenges.
Mission
Our mission is to assist Ethiopian American community members in becoming well assimilated and proactive members of the broader population by providing an apolitical platform for members of the local community to use in order to solve local observable problems. We pursue our mission by focusing on three facets of community work: building capacity in our community; education is practical subjects; and personal improvement.
3 Focuses
Capacity building
Capacity building
Capacity building
We don't just invest in events and programs that improve people's lives directly. We invest in our community's ABILITY to respond to service demands in the most effective way possible.
Education
Capacity building
Capacity building
We conduct workshops and other educational events that focused on practical knowledge.
Personal Services
Capacity building
Personal Services
Every single individual matters, and that means that the personal lives of those individuals matter. We do projects that focus on helping people in their personal lives.
Meet Our Team
Esayas Asefa
Esayas Asefa
Esayas Asefa
Our Executive Director is a graduate of SJSU, where he obtained his degree in Economics. Inspired by Ethiopian-Americans in his local area he co-founded the organization for the purpose of positively effecting the culture of Ethiopian Americans.
Selam Beyene
Esayas Asefa
Esayas Asefa
Our Funds Director, a graduate of San Jose State University he majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and where he was heavily involved with SJSU's HSA acting as the Treasurer. Notable accomplishments include being part of a team managing a fund of $60,000 and helped reach the goal of $100,000. He enjoys traveling, playing sports and is a long time warriors fan.
Elias Ketema
Esayas Asefa
Elias Ketema
Director of Student Relations spent most of his high school years in Addis Ababa and is now a Junior at San Jose State University studying Aviation Management with a minor in Business. At SJSU he is in charge of student outreach for the Habesha Student Association and is an Operations Supervisor at Spartan Bowling Center. He was recognized as a rising star in the Addis Ababa basketball scene as a high school student.
Mewael Tekle
Huruy Zeratsion
Elias Ketema
Our Events Director he has nearly 12 years of experience in organizing and promoting events in the San Francisco Bay Area. His experience and knowledge is an asset to the efforts and mission of the Ethiopian American Development Foundation. He is an avid urban style dancer, and loves playing basketball. His light-heartedness, humility, and comedic inclinations make him an enjoyable person to be around.
Huruy Zeratsion
Huruy Zeratsion
Huruy Zeratsion
A native of Tracy, California, is a soon to be graduate in Economics at SJSU can best be described as a “Renaissance Man.” An avid runner, he is a competitive Cross Country athlete for SJSU. He is musical artist, photographer, founder and owner of his own business (Blkkngs), and cryptocurrency investor and advocate. Needless to say he is a true asset to our team and community.