This week we had our Capitol Summit where we traveled as a cohort to Sacramento for two days. We had a jam-packed schedule of speaker sessions, networking, and tours of the California state capitol. We met with Asian American Legislative Staff including Legislative Directors, Legislative Aids, Interns, and Chiefs of Staff. We had a lovely and entertaining tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the building and everything within it. She pointed out a bunch of small details in the architecture and art that we saw. She told us that there was real gold in the capitol, and showed us around various historical offices. It was really interesting seeing how different art in the Capitol was made, and I think we all appreciated the in-depth and detailed tour. We even got the chance to walk around the Assembly chamber, which is rarely accessible to the public. Leg. Director Erika Ngo, who joined us on the tour, had the main screen display “Welcome 2023 CAUSE Leadership Academy” when we walked in, making us feel invited and of importance.
CLA cohort on the Assembly floor.
We had a networking lunch with the Asian Pacific Islander Capitol Association which gave us the opportunity to connect with their organization’s interns who were the same age as us, giving us a sense as to what possible opportunities there are for us at the State level. Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen joined our lunch and was able to share her experiences and knowledge with us as an Asian American woman in the Assembly. She shared the struggles she has with making everyone from her community happy, especially since a lot of the Vietnamese community tends to lean more to the right and she is a Democrat. She had a very relaxed, relatable, and transparent personality and attitude. I really admired her desire to create a fun and enjoyable environment for her staff, which she does through activities like river rafting and making TikToks with her team.
CLA cohort with APICA intern Arali Seneviratne and legislative staff Byron Briones and Amy Ho.
Every Legislative staff that we heard from during the summit shared the sentiment that they work very long hours and dedicate a lot of their free time to carrying out their responsibilities in their roles. While they enact real change and hold very powerful and significant positions, I do not think that I would necessarily want to follow in their footsteps due to the time commitment and sacrifices that they make like moving to Sacramento. I was also disappointed in the lack of PI representation during the Summit. Given that they are an API organization, I was expecting some PI representation from their group or from any PI legislative staff. However, I appreciated the opportunity to go to the Capitol in person and meet with staff and elected officials to hear from them. There was definitely Asian American representation, but there was a lack of visibility of PI’s, which made me feel that representation is all the more important for my community. I left the summit with a lot of the confusion and mystery that I held surrounding government at the state level cleared. I now have a better understanding of some of the work that is done at the Capitol and have access to connect and communicate with many legislative staff which I find highly valuable.
Communications team: interns Olivia Anderson and Erika Au in front of the Capitol Building.
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 Olivia Diaz Anderson, 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.