After a very successful fund raising for the flood victims in Vietnam in 2001, a group of Vietnamese American in the Des Moines area recognized the community strength, the importance and necessity of having one solid voice representing the Vietnamese American living in the metropolitan and the surrounding area; many Vietnamese community leaders, young and old working together, began to push forward the idea of a more unified Vietnamese community in 2003. Their effort received a community-wide support from all Vietnamese associations in Des Moines and the surrounding areas; the “Vietnamese American Community in Iowa” (VACI) was finally born with that ideology in early 2004. Vinh Nguyen was selected by the community at-large as its interim president from 2005-2006 to formalize and create the organization’s bylaws and it was incorporated in 2007.

 * Mr. Cang Phạm served as its first VACI president in 2007-2008;

 * Mr. Vinh Nguyễn: 2009-2010;

 * Mrs. Jennifer Shedd: 2011-2012;

 * Mrs. Kim Nguyễn: 2013-14; 

 * Mr. Vinh Nguyễn: 2015-2016 and got re-elcted 2017-2018; 

 * Mr. Phước (Michael) Lê: 2019 - 2020 and extended to 2021 because of COVID 19; 

 * Mr. Vinh Nguyen once again came back to serve the community 2022 as VACI interim president in transition for the election year 2023-2024.

 * 2023 - 2024

The ultimate goals of the organization are:

* To work cooperatively with all Vietnamese associations and religious organizations in the Des Moines and surrounding areas so it can build a stronger Vietnamese American community to support, promote, and advocate on issues of vital interest to the Vietnamese and their community in the political, social, cultural and economic areas in the state of Iowa.  

* To collaborate with other organizations in the community to promote Vietnamese culture, customs and language.