 In 1973, he joined Special Services for Groups (SSG), a non-profit health and human service organization dedicated to building and sustaining community-based programs that address the needs of vulnerable, richly diverse multi-ethnic communities.George Nishinaka, the head of SSG at the time, helped Kim become more involved with community service by nominating him to be a board member of United Way.Kim was the first person to serve on the United Way board for a total of 10 years.