On Monday, Kyle and I headed over to Cupertino to interview Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto, the executive director of West Valley Community Services. What her organization does is provide basic needs(i.e. food, shelter, rental/utility assistance, etc.) to low to no-income families and individuals. She explained to us that there is a large homeless population; however, they "couch hop" from relative to relative, so we might not necessarily see them out in the community. Naomi then told us that WVCS offers below market rate housing for those who qualify, as well as connect people to services that can help stabilize their lives. In her experience, Naomi found that families of Japanese descent typically take care of their own, which meant that she didn't see as many JA in need of WVCS's services. However, she did say that there is a common misconception that all Japanese are affluent. While she hasn't seen many, there have been a few cases in which her organization has helped Japanese Americans. After our interview, Naomi showed us around the WVCS and even took us into the pantry. We were able to see the process in which people are able to obtain food at no cost.
Once we finished our meeting with Naomi, Kyle and I headed back to Japantown and ate lunch at Yu-Ai Kai. After our lunch break, we were given a few jobs to help out with, which we happily completed.
Tuesday, June 28
Tuesday morning, Kyle and I had an interview with Richard Konda of Asian Law Alliance. Asian Law Alliance was started in 1977 by a group of law students from Santa Clara, and their aim was to provide Asians with the legal services they needed. They did this by connecting their clients to organizations that could help them. Later on, they began taking on actual cases, ranging anywhere from criminal cases to family law. Currently, however, they solely take immigration, citizenship, and domestic violence cases. Talking to Mr. Konda, I learned that legal services are indispensable to the immigrant community. In many cases, immigrants are unable to speak english, and therefore are ignorant to their rights. The ALA gets many cases of domestic violence from immigrant women without citizenship, who report abuse from their husbands who refuse to help them gain citizenship. They use this is as leverage to ensure that these women obey their orders.
 |
| Richard Konda |
Wednesday, June 29
Today, Kyle and I met with Maria Solis, who is in charge of the social services department at the Yu-Ai Kai(YAK) senior center. Maria explained that 80% of the seniors at Yu-Ai Kai are Japanese or Japanese American and the remaining 20% are African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, and other ethnicities. In order to better serve their clients, most of the staff at Yu-Ai Kai are bilingual, speaking english and Japanese. Maria explained that social services are important to the elderly in order to ensure that they are getting proper nutrition, as well as mental health aid. The Senior Day Services at Yu-Ai Kai allow seniors to interact with their peers, which helps to prevent dementia.
After meeting with Maria, Kyle and I cleaned tent poles that were in the back area. While the job was a bit dirty, we were happy to help out in any way we could. Then, we helped out with Senior Bingo. It was really fun getting to see the seniors play bingo, some of them got really excited! After bingo, Kyle and I concluded our day by making "Japantown Prepared" posters.
 |
| Bingo |
 |
| Japantown Prepared! |
Thursday, June 30
Thursday was our first Intern Day of the internship! Kyle and I made an early drive to San Francisco Japantown, the trip being both of our first times visiting. We met up with the SF interns at the Japanese Cultural Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) and then headed over to the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC) for a meeting with the executive director, Jon Osaki. He first showed us a video that was made for the JCYC's 40th anniversary and then gave us some background information on the JCYC. Jon told us that the organization was started by a group of young people our age, who felt the need for their generation to get involved in the community. We the had a discussion about youth involvement in the community, an issue that many organizations are facing. Jon had us brainstorm ideas on how to get the youth not only involved, but excited to participate in the community.
Some ways that we came up with to attract youth involvement were:
- Offer scholarships/internships
- Connect with collegiate groups
- Advertise volunteer opportunities
Although there were many more ideas, the ones listed above were ones that stood out to me.
After our meeting with Jon, we met with Bob Hamaguchi at the JACL building. Bob talked to us about the state of San Francisco's Japantown and some of the issues the community is facing. He mentioned the need to attract a younger generation while still maintaining the "mom and pop" shop feel. One of the ways this could be made possible is by placing larger businesses at the ends of Japantown and smaller ones in the middle, which would increase foot traffic to these stores in order to reach the larger ones. Our conversation with Bob was mainly from a business standpoint, which was an interesting contrast to our earlier conversation with Jon.
Before leaving San Francisco, we decided to explore SF Japantown as it was me and Kyle's first time visiting. We walked around the smaller business first, then went to the New People store, and later headed over to the mall. It was amazing to see so many Japanese stores! SF Japantown definitely has a different feel to it, but to be honest, I think I prefer the atmosphere of San Jose Japantown. San Jose Japantown has much more of a community feel, which I like more than the more commercial, business feel of San Francisco. Then again, I'm probably just biased :)
Friday, July 1
On Friday, Kyle and I met with Wes Mukoyama, the former executive director of Yu-Ai Kai, and Darcie Kiyan from AACI, or Asian Americans for Community Involvement. Wes and Darcie both agreed and explained that depression is the most dangerous condition affecting our elderly, and places like Yu-Ai Kai and AACI are essential in combating the issue. Wes talked to us about cultural values, such as gaman or enryo, that might make it difficult for people to help Japanese seniors. Darcie then told us what AACI does, which is provide Asian Americans with medical, psychological, and nutritional assistance. She explained that AACI has the resources to treat depression, which allows them to help many seniors in the community.
After our meeting with Wes and Darcie, Kyle and I helped out at the Senior Day Services. We talked with a group of ladies and played table bowling with the seniors. It was really good interacting with the seniors, they seemed very excited to talk with us. Also, it was funny watching them bowl as many of them rolled the ball straight off the table. It was a fun and relaxing way to end the week.
What are the social services issues facing Nikkei in our community?
The number of elderly in the JA community is increasing, and the social service issues facing the Nikkei in our community reflect that. Senior citizens are at great risk for depression and other serious health problems. When the elderly seek help, it is important that they are tended to by personnel who speak their language and understand their culture. The lack of culturally competent facilities and programs is an issue facing not only Nikkei but other ethnic groups as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment