The first Chinese American to teach at a public school, she was a founding member and first president of the Square and Circle Club (方圓社), and was a prominent leader in the San Francisco Chinatown community.

The family's eldest child was a son named Theodore, and Fong Yu's younger siblings were Minnie, who often went by Mickey, Taft, Helen, Albert, Marian, Leslie, Martha and Lorraine.

[4] After many years of running the mine in Washington and making improvements, Fong Chow lost the lease when its owners decided to take it back for themselves.

[3] Unable to support his family, Fong Chow relocated to Vallejo, California where he opened The Oriental Market on Georgia Street.

The Presbyterian church first sent a Sunday school teacher to the Vallejo Chinatown to teach the community's children, eventually leading to the Fong's joining the larger, majority-white congregation.

[3][5] This was unusual for the time, and Fong Yu has praised the congregation as “ the ones who accepted us in the early days... [and] gave us a chance to intermingle with other races.

[3][6] Fong Yu, frustrated because “”[She'd] faced so much discrimination’”,[3] told Dr. Burk that she has no intention of staying in the US, and was instead planning on moving to China to “’teach my people’”.

[16] During her time at Commodore Stockton, Fong Yu worked to help her students navigate the bi-cultural experience of being Chinese American as her family had done for her.

Seeking to help her son face the challenges of his condition, Fong Yu enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and took courses in speech therapy.

'”[16] In addition to her work in the San Francisco public school system, Alice Fong Yu was a noted community leader and activist.

She was involved with many Chinatown organizations including the Square and Circle Club,[4] Chinese Needlework Guild, the YWCA, and the Lake Tahoe Christian Conference.

By the time Fong Yu was in her early 30s, she had already developed a reputation as a community organizer who was ready and willing to take on whatever project San Francisco Chinatown had a need for.

[19] However, the founding members had long spoke about ways to better their community and perform public service, and also organized the club to serve these more long-term objectives.

[20] Fong Yu advocated for the women of the Square and Circle Club to be allowed to perform community service work that was previously the domain of Chinatown men's organizations.

'"[21] In this way, Fong Yu was a vital part in starting the Square and Circle Club's tradition of community service, leadership, sisterhood and pride that has impacted several generations of Chinese and Asian American women.

Alice Fong Yu was a prolific journalist, writing many opinion and lifestyle articles that spoke on many political, social, and day-to-day issues of her time.

During this time, the “Jade Box” praised Chinatown merchants who “submitted to the coercion of group conscience and have openly stopped their trade with the Japanese”[25] and admonished women who did not join the “Non- Silk Movement”.

This was because she felt women in wartime experienced the “piecemeal” and heart-wrenching deaths of their sons and loved ones over time, while men are often sold the myth of the glorious sacrifice of war.

[5][20] Fong Yu has described the guild as a place where she and other Chinese women “'got together to sew and talk about things,'” and that “'whenever [the group] found out about an impoverished family, we would help them to get on welfare'”.

[6] In her adult life, Fong Yu became highly involved in the San Francisco Chinatown YWCA, acting as "forum leader, fund raiser, and den mother".

[29] In her role as the YWCA's first house mother, Fong Yu ran a Friday breakfast club and started a Bible class for Sunday School teachers.

[20] She also participated in and facilitated activities to help second-generation women acclimate to life in the United States, including language classes, social dinners, sports, and group discussions on topics such as race prejudice, Chinese culture, current events, marriage, and parenting.