Our second week at CAUSE brought about a quick beginning to our mock campaign season. About half of our time was devoted to getting our campaign off the ground and the other half was spent on further programming with experts in the public policy field. On Monday, June 26th, we heard from Dr. Raphael Sonenshein, who gave us insight into the inner workings of Los Angeles city hall. We were taught about how the city and county of Los Angeles operates, and I personally learned a lot about federalism at the local level in such a complicated, diverse city as LA. His extensive research and experience in our local government not only made us more knowledgeable about the policy operating around us, but also gave us more to think about as we approached our campaign strategies. We were able to introduce some of our initial ideas and plans to him regarding our plan, to which we were humbled by his knowledge of those particular strategies. What stuck with me most from our hour with Dr. Sonenshein was his approach to reverse engineering policy issues. It reminded me of the “root issues” exercise we did during our CAUSE orientation, in which we isolated causes, effects, and root issues of problems in public policy. Dr. Sonenshein helped us think about offering policy recommendations from a constituent’s point of view, factoring in bureaucratic obstacles and putting an emphasis on which parts of government you need to cooperate with in order to achieve specific policy objectives.
Liam sits and observes a table exhibit in the "Fighting for Democracy" exhibit at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
On Friday, June 30th, we began our day by walking across the street to the Japanese American National Museum where we were fortunate to view the “Fighting for Democracy” exhibit at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. We got the chance to speak with the director of the exhibit and its director of education, who showed us around the interactive stories displayed within the exhibit. Ensuing discussions about democratic values and the history of democracy were enlightening and collaborative, which ended up being the best part of our visit to the museum. It was a great exercise for me personally because I often find myself committed to a black and white view of democracy (especially in America), which isn’t always the most productive mindset. American democracy can be faulty but simultaneously see improvements over time, and having discussions where there isn’t necessarily a goal we’re striving for is helpful in expanding our minds outside of that headspace.
After exploring the exhibit we were able to hear from professor Sara Sadhwani about AAPI civic engagement and how current political science research is improving our understanding of the AAPI community’s behavior in politics. This was a great experience that combined one of my greatest interests in voter behavior research with the AAPI topics of CAUSE, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about that intersection in the professional world. As we have made our way through two weeks of CAUSE, I already feel that I’m being exposed to a plethora of new professional opportunities, and there’s tons to think about moving forward.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Liam Chia, Leadership Academy 2023 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.