Annie Zhao 2018 S2A2

The organization that I interned with is a small Philadelphia based non-profit by the name of
Asian Americans United (AAU). Founded in 1985 as a small group of socially minded activists in the
living room of Ellen Somekawa, the organization has since expanded and continued its activities of
organizing and building campaigns for justice as well as developing youth leadership among the local
Asian community. Asian Americans are the fastest growing immigrant group within Philadelphia but the
support networks for these communities have not grown at nearly the same rate. Over the years, AAU has
run campaigns against the construction of casinos, highways and stadiums through important
neighborhoods and historical sectors of Chinatown in Center City, as well as fought for justice and safer
school environments for students of Asian descent throughout the city. Additionally, the organization has
a number of programs that provide support for the development of youth leadership.
On the first day of my internship, I sat down with the ED Alix Webb and we went over a series of
tasks that I may have been interested in doing. Since AAU is run by a fairly small set of central staff, my
summer was an exciting and constantly challenging potluck of affairs. I assisted with AAUs 4-week
summer program, intended for local Asian American children from grades 1-8 (around 80 children are
enrolled) who are then taught primarily by local high-schoolers. The program provides a space for
discussion and field trips about social justice. Our topics included green spaces, food justice and other
community issues that are not taught within their own schools. I also helped the high-school teachers in
creating their curriculum and developing their classroom techniques.
The second facet was completing administrative duties for the day to day running of AAU. The
Executive Director, Alix Webb, does not have an official assistant so I served in that capacity for these
past 10 weeks. This has included basic donor management, cloud backup, creating presentation materials
for many of the meetings, receptions and workshops surrounding the Democratic National Convention.

The third major component, which is on-going, is the work around AAUs Annual Mid-Autumn
Festival. This year the festival will be taking place on September 24 th, 2016. Until then a committee of
volunteers work on various subcommittees to make sure things are falling into place. Im currently a part
of the Media and Financial subcommittees. As a result, Im creating posters, doing research into pricing,
talking to local business owners about potential sponsorships for the purpose of funding the festival.
This internship has seen me wearing a lot of hats and engaging in tasks that Ive never quite done
before. While the exact content and nature of the internship wasnt quite what I expected coming into it, I
cant even begin to estimate the various things that Ive learned. Ive learned so much more about the
day-to-day operations and budgetary limitation in working for a non-profit organization. Ive learned a lot
about interacting with low-income immigrant youth as well as their parents. Ive learned, even on the
most basic level, how to navigate the public transportation system throughout the city with confidence.
Weirdly enough, coming from suburban Florida, it feels like figuring out SEPTA transportation on my
own has probably been one of the more intimidating aspects of my internship.
Furthermore, these past weeks I have learned more about the Philadelphia community than I have
in the two years that Ive been at Swarthmore. The intellectual and academic at Swarthmore is not
inherently good nor evil, but it has prevented me from integrating and understanding the large community
a mere 20 minutes away from our school. But the expectations and adventures this summer have made
this experience one that I will remember for years to come.
None of this would have been possible without the generous support from donors to Swarthmore
College and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. My family have been through many
financial and medical hardships over the past year and I didnt have very high hopes in being able to do
socially responsible work this summer. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that the Summer
Social Action Award has provided me. The lessons that I have learned this summer will stay with me for a
lifetime.