7/17/19 – Wednesday
Today I was able to bond with several of the restaurant and store owners in the Chinatown community. In one instance, I visited a small restaurant and bonded with the owner about the college admissions process that I am going through. She mentioned her son and I may be coming back sometime on my own time and give her my used ACT book for his son.
After visiting salons, liquor stores, restaurants, gift shops, fast food chains, other franchises, health and account firms, libraries, etc, I have noticed that the responses I get from these stores tend to mimic stereotypes that these respective stores have associated with them. For example, libraries tend to be community centers, and resultantly libraries were often more open to my messages. Same with salons, who typically more aware of the neighborhood “drama” and issues.” They were also more receptive of my messages and more willing to relay social issues to me from the Chinatown communities. As can be expected, restaurants are often too busy to spend time to discuss the coalition, and fast food chains and franchises typically won’t even consider partnering with you unless their officers managing the franchise agree to do so.
Aside from this, various conversations with different people are what make this internship so interesting and appealing to me. I love talking to all the different people and hearing their different stories. I also enjoy bringing everything we discuss back to the mission of McKUDOS so that I will ultimately be able to try and convince them to visualize the importance of protecting our youth against the grasp of drugs and alcohol addiction.
I know that drug use among youth is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. After the past few days of meeting with business owners and becoming more aware of issues in the Chinatown community, I have cemented my goal of wanting to work in Social Policy. I wish to do my role in making health care more accessible to minority communities, but also to end issues in these communities regarding drug use and resulting crime rates.
