Collective Efforts-It Can be Done.

As our internship comes to an end we decided to organize an massive voter celebration efforts to hopefully attract people to the polls. We had radio stations announcing the event; it was on facebook, in the newspapers. We had food, entertainment and lots of people power to staff the event. The only problem was the 118 degree weather that day. The celebrations were poorly attended and we’re not sure how many people came out to vote that day because of the even but we learned later on after the November elections that the Latino vote increased 500 percent, which efforts of other organizations such as LUCHA, Promise AZ and Team Awesome, si se pudo. In the end we had a lot of dedicated people come together and work towards positive changes for our community.

I'm now in a position where I can work and learn from policy makers as to how are community is impacted and what we can do for justice and equal representation.

Planning Next Steps

Planning next steps from an intense summer get out the vote campaign was a little exhausting for me. I loved working the long hours and had a strong support group of like-minded people. The topic at one of our last discussion prior to the last day of elections was next steps. Everyone got together and discussed whether or not what we had been working on all summer would continue onto the next elections and beyond. Many of us were starting school again full time for the fall and were happy to do what they could. For others, only half of the work had really been done.

 We still had the November elections and then so much more work to do, especially leading up to the 2012 elections. Personally, that internship gave me a taste of what has to be done and the tools needed to move forward in continuing to help empower or communities through voter engagement efforts.

Personal Blog 5

How important is it to live in the present? Cliche I know but lately, I have found myself trying a little to hard to not worry about the future when that is the only thing I can’t get out of my head. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll be graduating soon and my MPA was always the goal. Now, I have to get used to the ideaof working 8-5 which is amazing, I just don’t feel like a grown up yet… I’m 25! I feel blessed and grateful for working in an environment that allows me to help other people. I feel like I’m accomplishing everything I went to school for… I like what I do in constituent services, maybe I just have to challenge myself a little more. I love our team and I am still connected with those who helped empower others to get out the vote.

Being that I don't have a plan, I'm trying to enjoy the fact that there is now plan. I'm learning guitar, I'm not part of an indigenous dance group that danec for with the Catholic church for social justice, and I'm on my own.  My community is important to me and even though my education has cost me insurmountable student debt, I feel ready to do what I feel called to do, help empower others realize their potnetial through policy and civic engagement. Yay Arizona!

Working in Groups

As we come to the end of the internship I reflected on previous courses taken in the program, particularly organizational behavior. It’s interesting looking at different roles that a group of people take on. How one participates or does not participate. It’s important not to make people feel uncomfortable but be very inclusive and ensure that everyone’s input is heard and that people feel comfortable with the goals that have been met and also brainstorm as to how we can improve.

I found myself looking back realizing the importance of working in groups and making sure that if people did not agree with something we understood why. Naturally, after spending so much time together I really felt the people doing the internship with me were part of my new family. We spent time together outside of work and building that trust was a way for me to help me help them realize their potential. We had quiet members of the group I was among them in the beginning but challenging myself to speak up was one of the best ways I felt I could grow. I realize not everyone is the same but if we can all challenge in ourselves to grow in someone ways it can be very helpful to the person and to the overall organization.

Career Post 2

In meeting and networking with people throughout my internship I was encouraged to apply to work for a job with the City of Phoenix taking on a role in working with constituent services. I interviewed other people who had done the same job and worked for the City and found that this potentially may be something I would be interested in; particularity in district where I was very familiar with people and their concerns. I learned a lot about issues canvassing and talking to voters.

Working in government for people and bui9lding a bridge, closing the gap and letting people know that government works has always been a dream of mine. I love being able to demonstrate to people the power of their voice and their role in making our communities a better place to live for all people.  My organizing experience, my volunteer experience and my internship led me to my dream job, which is where I am today.

Career Post 1

On March 28, 2012, I attended ASU's career fair and was pleased with turn out of organizations and students that attended the event. Fortunately I have a full time job waiting for me beginning in September that was closely related to my internship last summer. I still felt it would be important to go to the internship to see what is out there and to keep an eye out for colleagues and friends who are also looking for a job.

There were a lot of government agencies with worked in foreign affairs which rekindled my aspirations to work internationally. I did some research with the State Department, but quickly was reminded by why I am here, why Phoenix and why Arizona. This is where it is for me and where I feel like I can make the most impact.

I noted that the internship had recruiters and eager to hire people as there were eager and excited people applying! It seemed promising for those people interested.

Personal Blog 4

I try to read as much as possible when I am not in school. When I have that opportunity I like to read about love blah blah and faith. El Salvador’s Archbisobps Romero is the epitome of living your faith through social justice. This man never took sides and lived out his faith 24/7 in the most loving and humble way. These passages, his homilies, the readings, other people’s analysis of his work is so uplifting and gives me hope, it gives me strength. Voice of the Voiceless is a collection of his work and provides detailed examples of his work and how he actively lived his faith. Check it out!

Personal Blog 3

Through hard work and the blessing of community and opportunities to  serve.. I’ve been pretty happy with life and have been able to fulfill every major goal I have set for myself. My MPA was always the goal and now that I’ll be receiving in a few months I have a full time job lined up. I’m so lucky, I just don’t know how not to be in school or how things are going to work out. What are future goals? I guess that’s what my question is. The only thing I can think of is for other people to be able to achieve their own. I’m not trying to sound like Mother Teresa or anything I just feel really blessed and grateful for opportunities that not many people may have had. I’m not trying to save anyone.. really. People just sometimes forget about inistutionalized forms of oppression, a system in which people are left behind and profit means more that figuring out how to end poverty. I’m having a conversation with myself J I’m blessed and everyday I will challenge myself to work so that all people have the opportunities achieve whatever makes them happy.

Personal Blog 2

So I’m realizing more and more especially lately, that moving to Phoenix was such a bold move. I’ve studied abroad, traveled to different countries not knowing what to expect. I didn’t have a place to live in Brazil until the day I got there- it kind of just worked out. I’m a Cali native and I am utterly and irrevocably almost the way Bella loves Edward in love with where I am from. My family lost their home due to foreclosure and moved to Texas, where the cost of living was much cheaper. I decided to stay in California for a year and did Americorps. I knew I was going to graduate school and I had an idea I was going to go to ASU. It’s in between Cali and Texas, right? I came here and it’s been great ever since. I quickly made friends, found a community of movers and shakers who are passionate about social justice and I feel like I belong. I guess I see myself settling down here. I have a home here; I just need to visit California once in awhile.

Conflict

Disagreements with leadership isn’t something I’ve come across too often in my experiences whether it be in work, school or in organizations that I have been involved with. At a certain point during my internship I found that others vehemently opposed certain practices that were being done in terms of how the organization was running and where it was heading. I did not see it at the time, but later I did realize the need and importance for collective goals and decision making. I think the campaign just got so intense that people were not practicing self care, were maybe afraid to quit and walk out due to being burnt out or what. I wasn’t in a top leadership position but I assisted in leading discussion. I found out that my own peers could not come to me with problems because of the very reason I mentioned before, I didn’t realize there was an issue. I felt hurt and disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to read my peers and that they couldn’t come to me for help or advice. They care engouh about me to talk about it eventually and I then advised to have a discussion about the next steps.

Personal Blog 1

Public service has always been my dream and I am currently blessed with a position that allows me to serve and work with people everyday through local government. It was my experiences before, during and after this internship that I did last summer that allowed for this opportunity to occur in my life. I find myself in verymany of the same situations I found myself during the internship in terms of conflict with others, working as a team and overcoming hardships. The end goal is always the same. The sense of purpose remains I just hope that everyday I’m working, no matter how hard it is, I am motivated to give it my all.

repressing your beliefs for the greater good?

In this last election, while progress was made it was clear in my heart that people I thought had what it took to represent our community and had the right intention to do so. Because we had received a grant, the work that we were doing had to remain non partisan. This meant that we could not endorse a candidate or party, we were strictly out there to get out the vote and increase voter participation. When people asked who to vote for I had to recommend to they look up the candidates and their platforms online, even though I knew who had their best interest.

I found myself torn and confused because I worked so hard and I felt like simply getting out the vote was not enough. Fortunately, the people I thought should win, won and it was fine. I also realized now that the more one is involved in government the less vocal one could be in local politics, especially if you work in the city. There's the Hatchet Act and other rules and regulation that prohibit employees from being involved in local politics. That is understandable, the fact is you're serving and helping people everyday. I just had to learn to keep quiet a bit which is something I struggled with but learned to handle.

The root of our campaign to increase voter participation was heavily volunteer based. There comes a certain point however that the longevity of an organization or campaign must rely heavily on funding and monetary resources. I found it hard to sometimes motivate others and convey my passion to other as much as possible. Unfortunately, on some bad days people did not find that enthusiasm helpful. It's understandable that people need to put food on the table and pay their rent and I myself have been in those positions of sacrificing my needs for a cause. I almost felt a sense of guilt when realizing that there were so many others not even close to the position where I was in that I could have a decent place to live with food in the fridge.

The income gap in this country, in this state is widening and while voting does not directly put food on the table, it's a start. The difficulty is finding ways to empower people to see that and instill in them a sense of hope. I'm just rambling; I hope this makes some sense.

Coaltion building and networking or two great opportunites I found to be very useful in this internship. In collaboration with other organizations, the goals that we each set to reach in having a set number of contacts with voters were actually reached. Instead of having one organzation accomplish one service we had several helping do their part in voter outreach. This is safe to do with one goal but not too many for it may result in burned bridges and conflict.

While there can be some disagreement among the leadership of different organziations, having formed a coalition with defined goals helped in understanding one another and even help each other in some instances whether it be with supplies, people power or brain storm sessions. There are also other organizations that promote social justice at different capacities, whether they be through education, direct action (protests and marches) or through civic engagement. They may not always see eye to eye but the beauty of this community is that amount of support and feedback that we have to not only improve ourselves, but also improve the communities that we serve.

During the internship we had to split up into groups. Each organizer lead a group of teams with their own goals to reach a certain amount of contacts with voters. Instead of having our supervisor talk to us about goals and we had to reach there was more of a significant impact when we split up and came up with our own goals based on our capacity.

The organization still had the same goal but it was not until we factored in the size of the group and the commitment that each group could make. This was different all across the board but only disadvantage was making up numbers for other groups due to their limited capacities in people power. Generally though, everyone was very supportive of one another and accomplished goals that were set.

Our stories

Voter engagement and civic participation is one of the only ways to improve our local communities and obviously the rest of the country. Having representation at a level where policy directly affects a community in their own backyard was something I explained regularly when talking to voters. It was as though hearing it from someone in the working class, just like they were seemed to have had a greater impact and ultimately increased the chances of them voting (after several courtesy calls and reminders). I think my story definitely resonated with folks. I shared my experiences as a student, an older sister and a daughter of immigrant parents who worked hard and continue to do so for the ''American Dream'' but for lack of a better word got screwed over by big banks. Communities and dialogue are slowly changing this for the better followed by action, of course.

Beyond voting, people should be able to have a say/influence in local policy and it should be written so that people understand it.


Communities and people inspire me!

Non Profit or Local Government?

Going into the MPA program I knew that I would be given the tools needed to learn how to manage and lead and learn how to implement or create policy. I always struggled though with how I would best serve our communities. I have always had a profound respect and admiration for several non profit organizations that serve a very specific group of people for a specific purpose. During my time in the program I volunteered for the IRC (International Rescue Committee) helping refugees with job placements, I also worked for St. Vincent de Paul which is one of the largest, if not the largest non profit organizations in the world! This organization also provides the opportunities not only to serve but to help so many low income families. 

I've also always had a passion for government and the ability to engage people through voting and empowering communities to use their voice whether it be to shape policy and go to forums or through giving ideas. While working with CASE I was able to do both. As a nonprofit that passionately and diligently works to have working families, workers whether they work in hotels cleaning 35 rooms a day when they're only supposed to be cleaning 12 I was able to see that this fight against the working class could be won. Not only active representation but through the elections. Combined with other groups known as Team Awesome, the Latino vote also consists of SEVERAL working class majorities in all fields increased 500%. 2012 is going to be  big election year and I'm so happy that I was a part of that process.


CASE offered the perfect opportunity to explore non profit services with a combination with local government  to ensure that working people are indeed represented. 

Leading

I can give speeches... I think. I enjoy public speaking and consider myself to be a social person. However, when I am in a group in charge of leading discussions or brain storm sessions, I freeze. I can't just think on the spot and I almost feel like it is a sort of phobia. I will never speak up in class, never ask questions because of some type of insecurity that I have.

During the internship I was encouraged to start taking more of a leadership role in our daily meetings. I immiedately, turned down the opportunity but was tirelessly encouraged by my supervisor to take that risk and face my fear. While I still refuse to speak up in class I found that with time, preparation and some guidance I was able to lead discussions. The discussions we had were not your typical "dinner talk how was your day? or what are you doing tonight?" it was figuring out how to win and did youdo your best if not, why?

They were intense but sometimes I feel that because I was challenged I was able to positively challenge others and it became an incredible growing experience for us all.

Civic Engagement

And so the magic begins! In the heart of an Arizona summer, the LAST thing you want to do is walk and walk and walk in 118 degrees of blistering heat. However, given what we were trying to accomplish and for each of us in the group it was quite different, yet similiar in so many ways became to be so worth it. We wanted a voice, for ourselves, our family and for our community. We were specifically talking to voters in low voting precincts, West Phoenix to be precise. While it has been said time and time again that Latinos don't vote were were determined to defy that stereotype.

If we want to be heard and represented unfortunately sometimes, those representing us sometimes   look at who's voting and where and all they care about sometimes is being re-elected. The inequities were so blatant! Lack of sidewalks, broken street lights, unkempt parks. It stared at you in the face when you walked the streets of these neighborhoods. The disparities between low voting neighborhoods and the north east corner of the district that consistent voters was so obvious-( I could go on forever about that).  Walking in the heat didn't even phase me. It was the conversations I had with people about why I was volunteering my time in the summer to do this. It was listening to their stories and then making connections about why I was out there and why they should vote. It was all worth it and after the elections we proved it.

It was such a powerful transformational experience for me and we did the same thing, every single day for the movement and to improve the quality of life for all people. I still get excited thinking about what we accomplished.... more to come!

My first taste of activism and civic engagement in Arizona began the summer of 2010;right as I was about to start my first year of graduate school. My political activism became more and more a daily part of my life earlier last year in a partisan campaign then onto working with CASE for a non partisan get out the vote campaign.

Organizing grassroots political campaigns is not something most people can manage. The stress (does positive stress exists? If so, that's what I'm referring to), time and efforts required to execute tasks and reach goals can lead to a little bit of anxiety. When I say anxiety it's not because I thought I would get in trouble if a goal wasn't met but because what was at stake. Not only in Phoenix, but nationwide people are fighting for economic justice, more locally it may be policy on a contract negotiation that could help hundreds of workers. We were fighting for better representation in our communities, we're a little closer now but we have a long way to go.

I found that the key to being able to manage the stress that came with the job was having a strong support system and daily check-ins with people. I feel so blessed to live in a tight knit community of organizers, activists, allies and supporters. In the begining stages of my internship I had to really inspire people but I became more and more inspired by others working on the campaign with me which then allowed me to inspire those under my supervision. I can talk about my own experiences when talking to people but it wasn't until I learned about people and what their visions looked like that I felt more like an effective manager. Even though we had different skin tones we had so much in common as far as injustices experienced, life paths and ideas. In a sense, I felt like in order to serve others I had to find myself and find what made me feel so passionately and why and also get those answers from others.

People trust you more if they can relate to you, I think.

Complicated but doable

Finding people to be fully committed as you are was a bit of challenge. I think I learned that understanding people and their interests of the changing world was the first step. We all ideally can see  how our communities could be a better place but drawing similarities is such a valuable tool.

The best way to work together was finding connections and building trust with people to help one another out in carrying our or duties and tasks as we collectively worked to achieve our goal. At the time our goal was to increase voter engagement which increased significantly due to strong partnerships with other groups and organizations- very crucial in movement building.

CASE really helped me solidify my skills as a community organizer and gave me the experiences to lead teams of people and empower others to do something in their community. In the beginning stages of the internship I was challenged yet also really encouraged by the leaders or rather more experienced organizers  of the organization. They helped me understand the concept of leadership in an interdependent model. It was really useful for me to see that not one person was the leader or manager but rather multiple people having that role and having to depend one another to figure out and understand tasks and the ability to reach our weekly goals. The key was leading others to work their way up to have the same knowledge and skills to help train others.

Day 1

The first day of my internship with CASE (Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy) gave me a real life perspective at what the situation is throughout the state of Arizona. Working people, migrants, LGBTQ folks are continually being marginalized. Corporations make millions at the cost of employees literally breaking their backs. What can we do? Can anything be done? While there are numerous and great ways to organize our community I agree with CASE and the Unite Here's goal of increasing voter engagement especially for Latin@s is the best way to win Phoenix, and eventually the state of Arizona.


The first day we were assigned a task to turn out as many volunteers as possible for a workshop and the power of community organizing through an interdependent leadership model. No hierarchical structure here! It was the community, the group, all of us untied each for our own reasons, our own goals but ultimately to change Phoenix so that special interests were not at the forefront. It was time to make a decision to choose to be better represented. We had about 150 turn out to this workshop that would kick off our summer campaign.