Everyone Is Welcome Here.

For years, I showed up to the Sioux Falls Pride Parade with a camera. This year, I walked it. This past weekend, my friend David Matadi took me to African church services across our city, and I sat down with local labor union members. Three different rooms. The same message in all of them: Sioux Falls is bigger than most people think, and its people deserve to be part of every conversation about what it becomes.

The Lens vs. the Street

For years, I showed up to Pride with a camera.

I was there. I believed in what I was documenting. But there is an honest difference between photographing a moment and being inside of it.

This year, I walked.

The families with their kids. The older couples who waited a long time to do this without hiding. The young people who marched like they already know exactly who they are. I walked with them. Not as a candidate looking for a photo op. As a neighbor who believes everyone in this city deserves to feel like they belong to it.

That is what showing up is.

What David Showed Me

This same weekend, my friend David Matadi invited me into something else.

David introduced me to several African church communities across Sioux Falls. Different congregations, different languages, different traditions rooted in different corners of the continent. The same warmth in all of them. The same energy of a community that has built something real here.

What struck me was not just the size of these communities. It was the generations.

Grandparents who came to Sioux Falls with little more than a belief that this city would give their family a chance. Their children, first-generation Americans, raising families of their own here. And their grandchildren — kids who know this city's streets and schools, its quirks and its promise, just as well as anyone born here three generations back.

These are Sioux Falls kids. Full stop.

The Workers Who Built This City

That same weekend, I sat down with local labor union members.

Trades workers. People who pour the concrete, run the pipe, wire the buildings, and frame the structures that make up the physical Sioux Falls we all walk through every day. They have been showing up — early, often, without much fanfare — to build a city that other people get credit for.

I listened.

What I heard was not complicated. They want a city that takes workforce seriously. That treats apprenticeships and career pathways as real economic infrastructure. That plans projects with enough lead time so local workers can compete for the work instead of watching contracts go to out-of-state crews.

They want to be part of the conversation before the decisions are already made.

That sounds familiar.

A Story I Know

None of this is new to me.

My parents moved to Sioux Falls in 1993 as Vietnamese refugees. My dad worked the lines at Morrell's. They opened the first Vietnamese restaurant in town, raised three boys, and after years of hard work, they own their own building in the city they chose to call home.

I translated as a kid for my parents and family friends. I watched Sioux Falls grow. I watched our community grow with it.

What I saw this weekend was that same arc playing out in different languages, different churches, different union halls across our city. Families who came here, built here, and raised children who are fully and completely Sioux Falls.

That is not a statistic. That is a thousand family stories woven into the same city.

What This Campaign Has Always Been About

I want to say something plainly.

Inclusion isn't a talking point for this campaign. It is a practice. It means showing up in every room, inviting every voice, and making sure the people of Sioux Falls are part of the conversations that shape their daily lives.

All of them. Not just the people who already know how to navigate City Hall. Not just those whose first language is English. Not just those who have lived here for decades. Not just those who are connected.

All of them.

No matter where you are from. No matter how long you have lived here. No matter who you love. If you call Sioux Falls home, this city is yours. You should have a voice in what gets built, what gets funded, and what kind of place this city decides to become.

That is what equal opportunity looks like at the local level. Not a framework. People, in the room, at the table, before the decisions are made.

Growing for Everyone

We talk a lot about growth in Sioux Falls. We should — growth can be a gift.

But growth only becomes responsible when we ask: who is it for?

A city that builds new infrastructure without investing in the neighborhoods where immigrant families live is not growing responsibly. A city that creates economic opportunity but makes the pathway invisible to first-generation entrepreneurs is not growing responsibly. A city that plans projects without enough lead time for local workers to compete is not growing responsibly.

Responsible growth means growing with intention. Sidewalks that reach every neighborhood. A permit process that does not require a lawyer and a lucky break. Infrastructure timelines that give local trades workers a real shot. City communications in more than one language, because the city's people speak more than one.

A vibrant community is not one kind of person in one kind of space. It is a city that holds all of it — the parade and the pew, the union hall and the restaurant, the family that has been here a hundred years and the family that arrived last spring.

That is what makes Sioux Falls the Best Little City in America. Not any one thing. The accumulation of everyone who chose it. Everyone who built something here. Everyone raising their kids here and hoping the city will be worthy of them.

You Are the City

To everyone who walked in that parade: I see you. You are Sioux Falls.

To the families in those church services — the ones who came with nothing and built something, whose kids are now raising kids of their own here: I see you. You are Sioux Falls.

To the union members and trades workers who built this city with their hands and never asked for a parade: I see you. You are Sioux Falls.

To every person who has ever wondered whether the growth happening around them is also happening for them: this campaign is for you.

The door is open. The table has room. The conversation is yours to be part of — always.

It's always been our city, and now is our moment. Let's rise together. ☀️

— Vince Danh

Candidate, Sioux Falls City Council At-Large | Runoff June 23, 2026