KACS was founded in November 1979 by Hee Shik Kim, a County social worker, and Young Ja Kim, with the help of Michael Kim, another County social worker. Because of their background in social work, the three Kims understood the social and economic challenges that Korean Americans faced at the time. With the help of 20 generous volunteers, they embarked on a mission to provide the much needed social and community services to the approximately 10,000 Korean Americans then living in Santa Clara County. While KACS has no religious affiliation, its first office was located in a small bank office at the West Valley Korean Presbyterian Church located at 460 S. Cypress Avenue in San Jose. 

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In the early years, KACS focused on serving the needs of recent immigrants and first-generation Korean American seniors. These two groups were particularly vulnerable because of their limited English language proficiency and social isolation from mainstream American society. Now, 42 years later, we have more than 500 members and serve Korean lunch to over 60 seniors daily and more than 35,000 people annually.