Tom Izu has been involved in the San Jose Japanese American community for many years, including in the grassroots movement for redress during the 1980s. He served as the Executive Director of the Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, and Administrator for the Cannery Workers Organizing Project (the Japantown area was the site of one of the major canning operations in San Jose). Tom currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose as well as a volunteer on its public programs and grant committees. Tom also is a volunteer board member of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California. He is the immediate past Executive Director of the California History Center at De Anza College and coordinator of its civil liberties education project and continues to serve its board as advisor and volunteer interim director.