Growing up in a small, suburban community for more than half my life, I know that community connection makes a town feel like home. There is not much to do in Eastvale, California and when people ask me where I am from, I often find myself telling them that I am from Riverside County, which some people still do not know of. But Eastvale was and still is in some ways my home - home of one high school for the entire city, home of an annual Fourth of July celebration that is the event of the whole year, home of the one single Target store that marks the center of the city, and home of many lives, many of which are interconnected in deep ways. Needless to say, because most of my childhood was spent existing in a small town, being community-driven has become a trait that feels almost instinctual to me. I believe this is why last Friday’s community-driven agenda at CAUSE felt very emotional and empowering to me.
I think when it comes to the idea of civic engagement, I tend to overlook the idea of community service and more often think about voting or attending city council meetings. It was not until Nancy and James’ presentation on their own local involvement that I realized that being consciously engaged in your community can make a vast impact on the liveliness of the community. Nancy shared that she had experienced many different career paths that allowed her to recognize her skillset in communications and working with others towards a common goal. I found myself resonating with her instincts to help others, even when not asked. She notes that “If someone tells you that they don’t need help, you know that they do!” which I also firmly believe in. That someone in question that Nancy was specifically talking about was actually James, owner of Cafe Dulce across the street. James spoke more so about his experience in Little Tokyo as a small business owner and his upbringing as the son of an ambitious single mother. I found a lot of inspiration in James and his mother’s initiative to open a business and commit to cultivating its success; as the daughter of a single mother, I know firsthand the immense pressures a child feels to take care of themselves well enough that they can take care of their parent as well, and I feel truly inspired seeing James do so in a way that allows both him and his mother to pursue the same dream. What I found the most impactful about their stories is the interconnectedness of their journeys and how they intersected with giving back to the community; James depicted this connection in a perfect way, noting that they worked together to create a “tide that lifts all boats”.
The tide in question was a project that James and Nancy worked together with called Community Feeding Community which occurred during the pandemic. As the small businesses in Little Tokyo were struggling amidst the pandemic and shutdown, both Nancy and James worked to develop a meal-providing system where they would provide meals from small businesses to people in need of meals, with the help of donations acquired digitally. I was so inspired by both of their ambitions to help their community in two ways–helping feed businesses financially and helping to nourish the community. They truly emulated the idea of funneling resources back into the community and being community members that take care of their community; after all, if they don’t who will?
As a constituent myself, I believe that it is the community members like Nancy and James that make a town feel like home. I think back to all the community members in Eastvale who work to put together events that make our small-town feel so close, and the community members that also helped feed our community during the pandemic, and I realized that I too can serve as a community member that cares deeply about their community. I feel inspired even more so now to continue in higher education with the intention to not only make a difference in my future but also make a direct impact in my community.