Jan. 27, 2025
The San Lorenzo Unified School District held a Jan. 23 grand opening for a newly relocated resource center that honored its naming for the late Wilma Chan, who served as a state assemblymember and county supervisor from 1994 to 2021.
About 60 people gathered to hear speakers, witness a ribbon-cutting and tour the Wilma Chan Family Resource Center (WCFRC), located on the campus of Royal Sunset High School in the Hayward Acres neighborhood. It serves the entire school district, which includes San Lorenzo, southwest San Leandro, Ashland and part of Cherryland.
“We are not merely celebrating the opening of this wonderful facility; we are celebrating a legacy,” said Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tam, elected in 2022 to the District 3 seat that Chan held when she died after being hit by a car. “The center honors the life and work of a visionary leader … whose lifelong dedication to the well-being of children, families and underserved communities continues to inspire us all.”
Over the past year, SLZUSD staff have outfitted the new quarters that fill an entire building wing shared with its lead agency partner, La Familia, which assists with public benefits enrollment and offers a variety of classes. Facilities include a spacious classroom, a food distribution area, a family reading room, a storage room and places for private and group meetings.
The center opened in 2020 to serve families disrupted by COVID, occupying a single room at the Lewelling Place school site on Fargo Avenue. Funds to prepare the new location were made available by former Supervisor Dave Brown, who was appointed to complete the final year of Chan’s term. Those funds were earmarked to serve the Hayward Acres neighborhood, east of Hesperian and between Bartlett and A streets.
In addition to maintaining a twice-monthly food distribution for hundreds of district families, the WCFRC provides diapers, toiletries, clothing and school supplies to families and individuals in need, with a special focus on families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Center staff, including La Familia, also offer guidance and referral for housing, health care and educational programs.
SLZUSD Superintendent Daryl Camp expressed gratitude to supervisors Tam and Brown and their staffs for partnering with the district and La Familia, and to the Chan family for endorsing the naming honor.
“I want to express my profound thanks on behalf of our school district and the entire Eden area to everyone who had a better idea and a willingness to make that idea a reality,” Camp said. “All of it has occurred in the caring, collaborative and cherished spirit of Wilma Chan.”