It is with heavy hearts and deep sorrow that the District 3 and Alameda County community continue to mourn the sudden passing of Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan.
Supervisor Chan was a fierce leader and devoted champion for accessible and affordable health care, child care, housing, immigrant rights, senior services, and ensuring people’s basic needs were met.
Over her illustrious 40 year career in public service, Supervisor Chan was steadfast in her commitment to uplifting community voices and fighting for social and economic justice. Supervisor Chan broke numerous ceilings throughout her career as the first Asian American elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and as the first woman and first Asian American to be Majority Leader in the California State Assembly.
A trailblazer and a passionate leader, Supervisor Chan leaves behind a remarkable legacy of groundbreaking policy and community-based initiatives, including:
- Saving San Leandro Hospital from closure, preserving the emergency room, saving numerous jobs and protecting a safety net hospital in central county
- Launching ALL IN Alameda County, an initiative that calls upon the entire community to tackle barriers that prevent individuals and families from achieving financial self-sufficiency and upward mobility
- Launching ALL IN Alameda County’s Recipe4Health initiative, an integrative model for healthcare that addresses the social determinants of health (specifically food insecurity and social isolation) and chronic disease
- Founding First 5 Alameda County, an innovative public entity that supports a county-wide continuous prevention and early intervention system that promotes optimal health and development, narrows disparities and improves the lives of children from birth to age five and their families
- Leading a Board action that secured $90 million to invest in unincorporated Alameda County
- Securing funding to provide stipends to eligible people diagnosed with COVID-19 to stay home and self-isolate, and developing the Alameda County Communities Connect strategy that prioritized the areas most impacted by the pandemic
- Serving as Board champion for successful $580 million affordable housing bond measure which will build nearly 3,000 homes including 1,000 for the homeless
- Authoring groundbreaking bills in the Assembly, including one that implemented a no-lead standard in drinking water pipes and fixtures, another that made California the first state to ban toxic flame retardants, one to end the practice of hospitals overcharging uninsured and underinsured patients, and one to cover California’s 800,000 uninsured children
Supervisor Chan’s passing is a tremendous loss to our community and she will be sorely missed, but her extraordinary legacy will endure.
With Gratitude,
The Office of Supervisor Wilma Chan
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