- I was an intern at the Alameda City Hall for Public Information Officer Sarah Henry. I analysed documents for bias and did business outreach to find partners in the casual #loveourisland campaign. I went to businesses, trying to find partners that would create an Alameda themed dish as part of an effort to remind Alameda residents why they love living and doing business in Alameda.
- I worked for the two months leading up to the 2016 election for 21.5 hours.
- Journals
- Week of 09/19: I worked a booth at the launch event of #Loveourisland at city hall
- 09/26: Read mailers about multiple propositions, including rent control and updating tax code for bias
- 10/03: Wrote a report on what I thought worked and didn’t work with the City of Alameda website
- 10/10: Wrote a draft of an opinion piece about why I love Alameda
- 10/17: Began business outreach for the #Loveourisland campaign
- 10/24: Made a spreadsheet of the businesses I went to, went to more businesses, and reported back to my supervisor.
- 10/31: Reached out to schools about a photo contest for #Loveourisland
- 11/07: Finished my final draft of my opinion piece
I did my Alameda Community learning Center internship at City Hall in Alameda for the Public Information Officer Sarah henry. Even though I was in the public sector I learned about private sector skills as well. It started off with my interview, I had got a job before but I did not need to interview because they already knew me. When I was interviewing to become an intern I was selling myself to Henry. I had to tell her why I liked Alameda and why I wanted to intern in the public sector at City Hall. I had found out I got the internship. I was the first Intern that they have had at City Hall and I didn’t feel too much pressure.
My first real task was to man the booth at the launch of the #LoveOurIsland campaign. I had to give out the different things, smiling and seeming personable. It was my first day and I did not know anything about the campaign or the idea of it. All I was told is that it was about reminding people who live and do business in Alameda why they love it.
After my first day things became to get smoother, I began doing work such as reading documents and mailers for analysis. I didn’t have a project yet but my supervisor always gave me something to do. I reviewed the Alameda website and compared it to the city websites of nearby cities. I had to read closely, for the purpose of analysis and criticism, making positive changes. In mailers I wanted to make the information clear and eliminate bias. For the city website I made notes that would make it easier to navigate.
After 4 weeks of doing busy work I was finally given a project. I was finally given enough trust to lead up something. I lead business outreach at restaurants to try to find partners for the #LoveOurIsland campaign. I initially contacted businesses through email, to no avail. It wasn’t enough to convince these businesses, I needed them to create an Alameda themed dish for no money and receive a shout out on the City of Alameda Facebook page. It reminided me that I was interning in the public sector, I did not have anything to offer in the form of money so a lot of businesses were not willing to work with me. There was sometimes a language barrier and a general lack of interest. I learned that not everything will come easy when dealing with people. They all have their reasons for participating or not. I just had to ask to talk to managers at businesses, hoping that one would come back to me. Wescafe and Tuckers have both participated in the #LoveOurIsland campaign.
The internship lived up to expectations, it was a real work environment in the public sector. I learned that I do not want to work in the public sector because I am not as noble as the people I worked with. Only 5 co-workers with no help would be hard to handle but the experience taught me how to be professional and reach out to people.
- Week of 09/19: I worked a booth at the launch event of #Loveourisland at city hall