Charlene Wang represents District 2 on the Oakland City Council. She chairs the Public Safety Committee and is committed to improving public safety, housing affordability, and vibrancy in Oakland.
Biography
Charlene Wang is the Oakland City Councilmember representing District 2, including Chinatown, Little Saigon, Eastlake, San Antonio, Bella Vista, Trestle Glen, Crocker Highlands, Lakeshore, and Jack London Square. Her commitment to public service is rooted in lived experience — growing up in the East Bay amid family violence and economic instability, spending weekends in her grandparents’ affordable housing in West Oakland, and riding the bus into Chinatown. Those experiences shaped her belief that government must work urgently and competently for people in crisis.
Charlene holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Environmental Engineering from Columbia University and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. Her career spans local, state, and federal government, where she has led complex reforms across housing, homelessness, transportation, education, public safety, and environmental justice.
In the Biden-Harris Administration, Charlene led the $4 billion federal Reconnecting Communities initiative, a landmark infrastructure program repairing the damage caused by highways that displaced and divided working-class communities and communities of color nationwide. Earlier in her career, she restructured homeless response systems, helped implement universal preschool and Head Start programs, advised cities on fixing broken service delivery, and advanced environmental justice and civil rights enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Shaped by firsthand exposure to gender-based violence, Charlene has made combating violence against women and vulnerable people a core focus of her work. On the City Council, she chairs the Public Safety Committee and chairs Oakland’s anti-human-trafficking task force. Charlene is fighting for safe streets and improving 911 response times. She believes that public safety is a human right, and that Oaklanders in crisis deserve fast response, no matter their zip code.
As a Councilmember, Charlene’s priorities are clear: public safety, ending illegal dumping and graffiti, addressing homelessness and housing affordability, and building inclusive economic opportunity — with a focus on small business ownership and quality jobs for Oaklanders who are too often left out of the economy.
Charlene centers community, especially voices that are often left out of policy spaces, in her work. Her mission is clear: to help build an Oakland where safety, opportunity, and justice are lived realities for every resident. She lives in Eastlake and is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.