By Matthew Inui, 2026 CLA Intern
As the intern placed at CAUSE, I’ve had the unique opportunity this summer to work on a wide variety of tasks. For the past three weeks, I’ve done everything from grant writing and social media work to cleaning the CAUSE office. That’s one of the reasons I love nonprofit work: unlike government offices, which are beholden to the needs of their constituents, nonprofits have the freedom to pursue a wide range of topics that are personally important to us. As the only CLA intern placed at a non-profit this summer, I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore the issues I find interesting and important.
That being said, perhaps the strangest, most frustrating, but also, surprisingly, the most meaningful task I’ve had this past week was compiling a list of every small-business resource offered by the 88 cities in Los Angeles County. In partnership with the LA County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), CAUSE is developing a wayfinding tool for small-business resources in LA County, and I had the opportunity to be part of its early data-gathering stage.
I won’t lie, it was difficult and grueling work. Most of the websites were not easy to navigate, and finding resources was frustrating. But as I clicked through seemingly endless webpages, I realized that my frustration mirrored that of every business owner trying to access these resources. In a way, my frustration with my work doubled as motivation to do better and to contribute to a tool that makes this resource-finding process easier.
Still, as I compiled my list, I couldn’t help but wonder what this has to do with CAUSE. Our mission is to advance the political and civic empowerment of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community, and I struggled to connect my small business research to this mission. That is, until I thought of my grandmother. Perhaps the strongest person in my life, my grandmother, does not speak English and didn’t even graduate from middle school, yet was a successful business owner for several decades. But thinking about her trying to navigate these resources put my work into perspective.
CAUSE’s work would not be complete if it started and finished with voting. As Jada, one of my fellow interns, said, “civic engagement manifests in all aspects of life,” and I realize now that this couldn’t be truer. Just because our small business resource tool doesn’t cover elections or legislation doesn’t mean the API perspective isn’tt important. Like my grandmother, many in our community are business owners with limited English proficiency and are exactly the population our tool is meant to help.
I’ve had such an incredible time working on topics that are important to me—language access, youth leadership, voting. But looking forward to the next six weeks, what I’m most excited for is tasks like these, where I can dive into topics that I’ve never touched before (never would I have thought I’d spend so long researching RFPs and fictitious name filings) and truly grow my understanding of the role the API community plays in community decision-making.