Under the sweltering 91-degree heat at Little Tokyo’s Terasaki Budokan, Team Gomez gathered to set up two events: a press conference and a town hall. I had the unique opportunity to be there as both an intern at the district office as well as with my CLA cohort.
CLA interns selfie while waiting for the event to begin.
We first helped set up the press conference, where Congressman Gomez presented a check of $1.5 million to the Little Tokyo Service Center for the construction of new affordable housing units in Little Tokyo. It was hot and we were all sweating, but the CLA cohort got to work to set up the chairs, canopies, and tables. Soon enough, the registration and lunch tables were set up, the canopies provided shade for the audience, and media outlets began rolling into the venue. Since this was my second press conference with the office—my first one being at AltaMed—I was already familiar with the procedure.
Congressman Gomez presents a check of $1.5 million to the Little Tokyo Service Center.
After the press conference was over, we ate the catered lunch from Rice and Nori (which I helped facilitate) before transitioning the setup for the town hall. This town hall was specifically designed for youth, with a range of youth groups in attendance. Some youth were part of leadership and work programs while other youth were from LTSC’s summer programs. I was surprised by the level of engagement from the youth, as I had expected most of them to have been begrudgingly dragged to the town hall, especially in the heat. While the younger children were less engaged with the presentation—as expected, considering many of them didn’t even know what a congressman was—many of the older youth took the initiative to ask questions and seemed excited to engage with the congressman. Initially worried that youth engagement would be low at the event, I found myself inspired by my fellow peers in attendance and their participation.
Audience view of the Town Hall.
In today’s world, I find that most youths find their voice through social media platforms, and while I do think that these platforms are extremely effective in generating discourse and engaging youth, I think that it is also important to have youth be civically engaged through many of the systems and platforms already in place through government. You can be as loud as you want on social media, but at the end of the day, it is often the politicians representing us in office that are passing legislation that will impact us. Thus, we need more youth in government, running for office, standing at the podium, and engaging youth through these events, such as the press conference and town hall, is a great way to expose youth to a potential future in politics.
CLA Intern Angel Yuan with Congressman Gomez.
As I’ve mentioned before, I entered the political realm apprehensive and cynical of the political processes and structures in place, and while the system is of course flawed, attending these events has also given me greater insight into how these representatives are servicing their communities. It can be hard to see the impact of their work when we often see laughable debates happening in Congress or viral memes of politicians, but for me, and hopefully the other youth in attendance, this event opened my eyes just a little bit more into the need for youth to be civically engaged politically.
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 Angel Yuan, 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.