Alan Wong is a public servant, union organizer, veteran, and a living testament to the success of City College. As a City Hall Education Policy Advisor, he has fought for equitable, affordable, and accessible public education. For decades, City College has played a critical role in his life and the success of his entire family. Now, Alan wants to pay back the educational institution that has given him so much. He is running for City College Board because he believes in a College that provides opportunities for working and immigrant families like his own.

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Alan's City College story begins when Alan's father immigrated to San Francisco. Shortly after arriving here, his father was laid off from his factory job. Finding himself unemployed and with limited opportunities, Alan's father enrolled in English classes at City College to improve his language skills and increase his chances of finding a good job. While at City College, he enrolled in the college's culinary program, which eventually led to him becoming a Local 2 union hotel cook and sole provider for his family for two decades. The wages and healthcare that Alan’s father obtained enabled his family to afford a small in-law unit in the Outer Sunset and to live with dignity in San Francisco.

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Alan was born and raised in San Francisco, where he attended Hoover Middle School and Lincoln High School. As a teenager, Alan took City College classes for free with a low-income tuition waiver. The City College units Alan earned helped him to graduate from U.C. San Diego with a bachelor's degree at age 19.

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Upon graduating from college, Alan dedicated his life to public service. As a union organizer, he worked on initiatives to raise the California minimum wage and protect jobs from outsourcing. As an eleven-year veteran and lieutenant in the National Guard, he has been deployed multiple times to provide disaster relief and security during California wildfires.

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In Alan's current work as Education Policy Advisor for San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar, Alan helped draft and advance the 'Free City College' legislation at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to secure a decade of Free City College. Alan also brought the City College Sunset campus to his neighborhood.

 

In partnership with City College stakeholders, Alan wrote the City College Workforce Education and Recovery Fund (WERF) legislation in order to provide job training for workers, promote economic recovery, bolster student wraparound services, and restore City College programs that have been impacted by declining state funding.

 

Alan’s experience in successful government leadership, strong ties to the San Francisco educational community, and belief in City College’s mission to serve students makes him the right choice for City College Board.

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