My name is Charlene Wang (王夏琳). I'm a 33-year old East Bay native who has dedicated my life to working within government on social issues including homelessness, education, healthcare, and environmental justice. My desire to create opportunity for others is shaped by my own experience with family violence and its consequences, like my mom being left in poverty--and the recognition that my access to a high-quality public school education has given me opportunities that others should have too.

I live east of Lake Merrit in the San Antonio district of Oakland. My love of Oakland started with visiting Oakland every week as a kid, going to Laney College, visiting my grandparents living in low income housing in West Oakland, and taking the bus into Chinatown. My grandma lives in a nursing home in Fruitvale now. I'm also a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

I currently work on environmental justice and civil rights at the Environmental Protection Agency, with a focus on Native American tribes. While I feel fortunate to work on issues at the national level, with so much going on right here at home, I want to also spend my energy investing in and helping build up Oakland.

I was previously appointed by the Biden-Harris administration to the Department of Transportation, where I launched a $4 billion national program to reconnect communities segregated by highways--a program from which the California Department of Transportation is now receiving a grant to reconnect West Oakland to Downtown over I-980. I also updated regulations to better compensate people displaced by highways and other projects, removed red tape for cities interested in building temporary shelter under highways to address homelessness, laid out new ways of conducting civil rights investigations, and created a workforce training pilot program to help people leaving prison get jobs in construction.

Previously, I also:

• developed a program for the State of Massachusetts to help teens and young adults get off the street and out of homelessness

• advised Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on her drive for better public transit, including free public transit, and walking and biking in Boston

• rolled out universal, free preschool and Headstart programs for low income and homeless children in New York City

• reformed Harvard's graduate school financial aid policies to expand access to more students from low-income background

• advised various organizations on implementing healthcare laws and regulations, such as President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid

• worked with mental health organizations serving rural, underserved communities in California

• modeled climate change at NASA

I sit on the Board of Directors for the Family Violence Law Center, a non-profit organization in Oakland providing services like legal aid to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I also serve Alameda County as a Consumer Affairs Commissioner and volunteer as an English teacher for immigrant women. I love to volunteer, travel, learn about different cultures, eat good food, and spend time with my dog, Galvi.

About Me