After a few weeks adjusting into the routine of CAUSE Leadership Academy, the different speakers and projects are finally synthesizing. Each session we have had feels like a piece of a puzzle in an expansive vision CAUSE is teaching us about civic engagement, and there are finally enough pieces placed to smoothly situate our recent sessions. As our Summer Soiree and the culmination of our mock campaign closely approaches, I look forward to experiencing the payoff of our work, discussing the knowledge of local issues we’ve learned with attendees and seeing the results of our mock campaign.
Throughout these weeks, many of our speakers have been a part of campaigns, including government or nonprofit positions. The cohort went to Los Angeles City Hall and heard from Director of Commission Appointments & Special Projects at the Office of Mayor Karen Bass Adam Ma, who was a part of Mayor Bass’s election campaign. His insight on the appointed positions after an election was very insightful. To me, the campaign itself wasn’t just a movement to elect your candidate and their values, but also a proving ground for oneself to show they are capable of performing a job related to community engagement, a key area in both campaigning and public leadership.
We also went to the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles (KAFLA) and heard from their president, James An. James did not originally intend to become the leader of a community nonprofit. Originally a restaurant owner, his involvement with personal challenges he cared about eventually led him to care about the challenges his community faced, even enough to run for KAFLA president. His journey showed us how individual issues are community issues, and emphasized the power of a community, like Koreatown or even more broadly Asian Americans, to invigorate their members to advocate and give back.
Towards the end of July, we went to Sacramento to meet with professionals at the state capital. One speaker we had was Bill Wong, a former political consultant who helped elect one of California’s largest ever legislative supermajorities. Compared to the previous speakers, Bill had a much larger emphasis on pragmatism. Making the change you want to see won’t happen purely from community engagement, but also from intense work and compromises with other legislators. To make that change in the political world, others need to see the personal sacrifices to truly comprehend the gravity of these issues for one’s community.
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.