Alan Wong

Asian Community Services and Mental Health Expert

Alan Wong was the epitome of a professional social worker who engaged in mission and vision through his roles as social justice champion, change agent, policy advocate, educator, and practitioner. His lifetime of work met all considerations for induction into the Hall of Distinction.

Wong earned both his BA in social work in 1958 and his MSW in 1974 from what is now San Francisco State University. He modeled civic engagement through his service in public office and the US military. He became a leader in economic development and political empowerment through grassroots activities within San Francisco’s Chinese American community. He engaged significantly in city-wide partnerships with other communities regarding education, local funding for schools, advocacy for women and minority-owned small businesses, affordable housing development, job training and political organizing. His work always included the recognition of his guidance of God, the presence of his Christian family, as well as many individuals of different faith traditions and practices.

Wong was a Chinese American activist who used his community, political, and faith-based networks to advance well-being and civil rights. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was instrumental in moving the National Conference of Chinese American Churches to join the War on Poverty. He linked his efforts as an Asian American leader with the Black Student Union to launch the Third World Liberation Front’s strike at San Francisco State in 1968, marking the beginning of the Asian American Movement. As part of those protest efforts, Wong was arrested while demanding the establishment of an ethnic studies department. Such student empowerment of ethnic communities led to the origin of the first Asian American Studies college department in the nation. Later, Wong became an adjunct professor at San Francisco State and Hayward State Universities, teaching the subject matter his work had brought forth.

Wong’s efforts enabled him to launch or strengthen several programs and initiatives such as the Asian League, the Chinatown-North Beach Credit Union, Chinese Cultural Center, Self-Help for the Elderly, and the Chinese Hospital. He also challenged oppressive systems and stereotypes to combat gang violence, gambling, and poverty in the Chinatown community. His many formal leadership positions included: Executive Director of Self-Help for the Elderly, the Chinatown YMCA, Chinatown Economic Enterprise, and as a San Francisco Community College Commissioner. His political and policy influences included: Board Member for San Francisco Community College (elected and also appointed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein), President of the San Francisco Chinese American Democratic Club, and Research and Evaluation Assistant for Ron Dellums’s San Francisco Economic Opportunity Council. He was also appointed to various organizations such as the San Francisco Social Services Department, San Francisco Commission on Aging, and San Francisco’s Council of Churches.

The impact of Wong’s accomplishments was truly unique, ground-breaking, and extraordinary, given his activity during the Civil Rights era, important historical periods of local and state politics, and attention to the needs of Asian Americans as well as other marginalized and oppressed communities.