The Cost of Living in OC
Alan Woo
Alan Hing-Ying Woo is a long-time community activist who advocates for the poor and disenfranchised and has a long history of organizing in low-income communities and empowering disenfranchised groups to seek social justice. Mr. Woo was born in Toisan, China and immigrated to the United States in the 1950’s. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles near the Crenshaw District and attended Manual Arts High School. Mr. Woo holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Colorado College and a Masters in Public Administration from California State University, Long Beach.
Mr. Woo is currently the Director of Planning and Program Development for the Community Action Partnership of orange County (The Partnership). The Partnership is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit organizations in Orange County. Founded over 30 years ago, the Partnership is the County’s only designated community action agency whose mission is to alleviate poverty and its root causes. The Partnership operates two Family Resource centers that provide a wide array of human services designed to help low-income communities and family become more self-sufficient. The Partnership operates the Orange County Food Bank that serves over 260 food pantries and feeding programs that serve the poor and hungry. The Food Bank also operates the Commodity Supplemental Food Program that serves seniors, women and children as well as weatherization and utilities assistance programs. The Partnership provides a wide array of nutrition education, consumer education, health care access, information referral, and capacity building services. Mr. Woo was instrumental in creating programs to insure the uninsured, mentor at-risk youth to succeed, and rebuild community centers to help families out of poverty; developing more resources to fight hunger; creating a childhood lead poisoning prevention program; providing seed money for the first Arab Muslim Community Organization in Orange County (Care R Us/ ACCESS California); and providing seed money to help find solutions to community problems.
As Director of Planning for the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, Mr. Woo directs assessments of community and agency needs, conducts program evaluations and outcomes research, develops programs, writes grants and proposals, and develops collaborative partnerships to bring resources to alleviate the root causes of poverty. One of his responsibilities is to monitor welfare reform and its impact on low income communities and to develop resources to enable the community help welfare recipients overcome barriers to self-sufficiency and move out of poverty. These efforts have resulted in Computers for Charity, Community Mentor Partnership, Family Resource Centers and First Things First of Orange County (Medi-Cal Outreach project to uninsured low-income families). He also administers the Board Discretionary Fund that issues RFPs to local community groups to respond to community problems.
Mr. Woo has chaired the California Public Utilities Commission Low Income Oversight Board representing the Asian and Pacific Islander Low-Income communities and was trained by the Pacific Institute for Community Organizing and Center for Community Futures. Some of his organizing assignments were in low-income Afro-American neighborhoods in Inglewood, Latino neighborhoods in Santa Ana, Cambodian neighborhoods in Long Beach, and Vietnamese communities in Orange County. He is currently the President of the Asian Pacific Planning Council of Orange County that advocates for policies that build stronger communities by removing barriers and empowering the poor and disenfranchised to move towards self-sufficiency.
Mr. Woo has over 25 years of experience in executive management of such diverse nonprofit organizations as Inglewood Neighborhood Housing Services, Santa Ana Neighborhood Organization, Asian Rehabilitation Services, United Cambodian Community, Asian Pacific Community Services and United Way. Mr. Woo is a faculty trainer with the Center for Nonprofit Management in Strategic Planning and Developing Services for Diverse Communities. He was the founding Executive Director of Inglewood Neighborhood Housing Services and served on the Board of Directors for the Santa Ana Neighborhood Housing Services that provided over $7 million dollars in neighborhood revitalization and community development services to deteriorating communities, benefitting over 1200 low-income homeowners.
At Asian Rehabilitation Services, he turned around an organization on the verge of closing and built it into a nationally recognized employment training and development service for persons with disabilities in the Asian Pacific Community. He obtained the first federal contract that employed persons with disabilities. He was instrumental in representing the needs of the Asian Pacific disability community in advocating for the passage of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). At United Cambodian Community, he operated a community center, managed job training programs, developed a 12-unit low-income housing project in Long Beach, oversaw the implementation of a three-year grant to use cultural arts to implement community development strategies, and expanded youth enrichment programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy and improving education outcomes.
In his community life, Mr. Woo is a founding board member for the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance and currently holds the position of Chair of the Public Policy Committee. He serves as a board member for the Affordable Housing Clearinghouse of Orange County and is currently the President of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council of Orange County. He is a member of the Kennedy Commission, Orange County Immigrants Rights Alliance, and Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development. Mr. Woo was the founding President of the Asian Pacific Community Fund and served as Vice President on the board of directors for the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles. He was appointed six consecutive terms to the Orange County Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board and served on the Ethnic Advisory Council for the State Department of Developmental Services and Department of Rehabilitation. He was a founding board member and Vice President for the Democratic Associates of Orange County.
Over the years, he has created successful model collaborative partnerships to solve community problems such as Stone Soup Child Care, an innovative low cost school age child care partnership with schools. He is the Co-chair of the Artesia Pilar Neighborhood Organization in Santa Ana.
Mr. Woo has published papers on Empowering the Asian Pacific Disability Community and employing the disabled.
Mr. Woo has reviewed grant applications and made recommendations for funding for United Way of Los Angeles, County of Orange Social Services Agency, City of Santa Ana, Office of Substance Abuse Prevention, and Office of Community Services.
He is the President of Mega Group, a management consultant group specializing in turning around troubled organizations and conducting futures planning.
Currently, Mr. Woo is the President of the Asian Pacific Islander Planning Council of Orange County (APIPC), Chair of OC Black Chamber Business Development Committee, member of the OC Black Chamber Advisory Board, and Secretary of the Orange County Presidents Council.
