For my placement, I am an intern for the LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis who oversees the First District. With almost 10 million people and a budget this year of over 45 billion dollars, the nation’s largest county is governed by the Board of Supervisors each representing a district of almost 2 million people. Supervisor Solis specifically, was the predecessor and mentor to Congresswoman Judy Chu, as well as President Obama’s first Secretary of Labor, before she ran to become First District Supervisor.
The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Hearing Room
Coming into work at the Supervisor’s office, I was immediately thrown into the deep end, researching and writing a document about a state assembly bill I had zero knowledge of at that point. Going through the assembly bill and writing a document that was going to be read by significant people, the task was simultaneously jarring and fulfilling. I felt trust from my supervisors, that they believed in my capabilities enough to give me these substantive actions to work on. With each subsequent task, the jarring feeling dissipated while the fulfillment remained, as I not only got to gain a much deeper understanding of salient issues in the county, such as homelessness and resources for immigrants, but also do my part in helping change the county for the better. Despite having countless pages to read and synthesize into memos, I somehow find myself eager to complete each new task to the best of my ability, with my attention span unwaning as I ardently complete each item in front of me.
Intern Jianhao Cui engaged in a deep conversation with his peers
As an immigrant who moved multiple times within LA County’s First District, ultimately ending up in West Covina before I went to college, it has been deeply rewarding to work on issues affecting the areas I have grown up around. Although my role in reading board letters and writing memos is a small part of a much bigger process that the county takes toward alleviating these issues, being part of that process still allows me to give back to the communities where I was raised.
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 Jianhao Cui, Leadership Academy 2024 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.