District 9 Supervisor candidate Roberto Hernandez thrilled to have Jon Wu join his team to reach out to Asian voters

SAN FRANCISCO — Roberto Hernandez has been a community leader and executive director of a number of nonprofit organizations in the Mission District for almost five decades. He is running for District 9 Supervisor on November 5 and hoping that he will have an opportunity to play a different role to continue serving a bigger community.

Hernandez, 68, was a friend and political ally of Chinese community leader Rose Pak. In an interview with Wind Newspaper, Hernandez remembered Pak as a leader who realized the significance of diversity by working together with all ethnic communities in political campaigns.

"When Rose Pak was planning a campaign for Art Agnos running for mayor in the 1980s, she reached out to me to form a coalition supporting Agnos' campaign together," Hernandez said he represented the Latino and Mission communities in the coalition. There were African and other communities joining the Asian community to elect Agnos.

Now almost 30 years later, Hernandez runs for a public office, D9 Supervisor, for the first time in the upcoming November election. He shares the same values with Rose Pak to recruit Jon Wu to his campaign as a team member to reach out to the large Chinese and Asian communities in D9.

Hernandez was born and raised in the Mission District and has never left the district. His family’s immigration story began with his grandmother, who moved to San Francisco from Nicaragua in 1955. His mother was six months pregnant when she came to San Francisco on a one-way ticket. Hernandez became the first child to his parents born in the United States.

"I was born just about two blocks away from here and near the San Francisco General Hospital," said Hernandez on the 24th Street in the Mission District close to his campaign office which is also located on the 24th Street.

As a child of an immigrant family, Hernandez grew up with his whole family living together in an apartment on the corner of 24th and Florida Streets in the Mission District. In the old days, more than a dozen of Hernandez's family members, his siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins, shared an apartment.

Eventually, Hernandez's grandmother saved up enough money to buy two flats on York Street in Mission for the entire community. "Her vision was to find stable housing for all of us, and I came of age witnessing her achieve her dream," said Hernandez.

Hernandez learned from his father to get involved in community organizing at an early age. In the summer of 1970 as a teenager, his father sent him at Delano in California to volunteer with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, leaders of the labor movement.

For the past 48 years, Hernandez has been a community leader and executive directors for a number of nonprofit organizations including Mission Food Hub, Carnaval San Francisco, CANA - Cultura y Arte Nativa de Las Américas, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, Real Alternatives Program, and Mission Economic & Cultural Association where some of them were founded by him in the Mission District.

As a lifelong community leader in Mission , Hernandez was asked by his community members to run for D9 Supervisor. "Now, after more than six decades investing in my beloved community, I’m eager to take on a new leadership role as District 9 Supervisor," Hernandez wrote in his campaign material.

Hernandez said he has formed deep relationships with officials and communities across all city departments and political alliances. He has learned how to be inclusive and work effectively with all communities including the Chinese and Asian communities.

"As both the Asian and Hispanic communities have been the largest immigrant communities in San Francisco, we share many of the same values," said Hernandez when he introduced Jon Wu to join his campaign.

Nine candidates including Hernandez are running for D9 Supervisor which is also most competitive among all six supervisor races in the November election.

District 9 comprises three major neighborhoods, Mission, Bernal Heights and Portola. According to the census data, White is D9's largest group with 36.6% district wide, Hispanic or Latino comes second with 34.1%, Asian the third with 22% and Black 3.2%.

In Portola, Chinese and Asian residents have made up 53.2% of its population and is one of the largest Asian neighborhoods in San Francisco. There has been no Asian ever elected as the Supervisor to represent D9. Hernandez said he was thrilled to recruit Wu for his team to reach out to the Asian community.

Wu is an immigrant coming to the country with his parents when he was 13 years old. He is the only child of his parents and inspired by his mother to get involved in community events. "My mom is a good friend of Roberto's family. My mom is also helping out at other political campaigns as a supporter," said Wu who is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Wu has a career in the financial industry for over 10 years. This is the first time for Wu to participate in any political campaign. Wu said once he has grown older, he has learnt the significance to get involved in political movements to advocate for the best interest for the community.

In addition to supporting Hernandez, Wu sees it as a learning process to know more about the city and his own Asian community.

Public safety is Hernandez's top issue for running D9 Supervisor. Portola is listed as a high crime area where frequent anti-Asian violent incidents have occurred for over a decade. Hernandez supports a community-based public safety plan with neighborhood ambassadors, coordination with first responders, and increased trust among police and residents.

Hernandez has been active in housing for decades. He supports building enough affordable, mixed-income, and workforce housing for the missing middle, with options for first-time home ownership opportunities. He also supports getting unhoused residents out of tents and RVs into supportive housing with wraparound services.