Jason Adulley ’19

Center for Community Change, Washington, DC

This summer, I was privileged to work as a Public Policy Intern with the Center for Community Change. The Center for Community Change (CCC) was established in 1968 and its mission is to build the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change their communities and public policies for the better. It rose out of the chaos of 1968: assassinations of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy; the civil rights, voting rights, and peace movements; the Poor People’s campaign; and many more movements. As a result, it has fought for social change for many issue areas like immigration, climate justice, the care economy, and economic justice. My first assignment was to help organize a congressional briefing for immigrant families affected by ICE raids in Iowa and Tennessee. It was a touching moment for me to see the immigrant Latino families fighting for their right to exist in a country so torn on their rights. It was also moving to see previously detained individuals talk about their own aspirations in America with their families and their lives. I was able to contact a number of congressional staffers and press members and at the briefing—the room assigned for the briefing was over capacity before the event even began. I was considerably proud to help these families have their stories heard, and the rest of my time at the Center for Community Change was filled with moments of pride in my involvement with such an impassioned movement.

Pictured here is me at the childcare convening, getting to know my fellow interns by rotating around the room discussing our involvement with childcare economy.
Pictured here is me at the childcare convening, getting to know my fellow interns by rotating around the room discussing our involvement with childcare economy.

As a Public Policy intern, I was tasked with detailing reports and webinars that were related to the issue areas that CCC involved itself with and to distribute that information to partner organizations for their own movements in their local constituencies. I listened to a number of webinars on climate sustainability and justice. For example, I documented practices done on the state and local levels to adapt governments to sustainable climate polices. Like in Michigan, research was conducted to inform local city governments on how best to implement green jobs, and I was able to circulate that information to CCC partners in Detroit. I also wrote a report on the ways in which incarceration affects women with family members in federal prison and I circulated that information as well. Along with the webinars and reports, I was able to attend and organize events like the congressional briefing. I helped to organize a congressional briefing on the childcare economy and invite Senator Pat Murray (D-WA) to speak on how Congress is acting to improve the childcare economy. Hearing so many different activist and childcare laborers talk about the importance of their work and its intersection in education and healthcare gave me an important perspective on undervalued jobs that help to drive America as a society. My time at the Center for Community Change was made even more fulfilling by my personal project: researching ways to address gentrification and more importantly, the displacement of low-income residents. Gentrification and displacement refer to low-income citizens, businesses, and homes getting moved out by an influx of higher-income individuals and establishments. As a result, these low-income citizens are unable to benefit by the influx of economic prosperity. I was privileged to put together an annotated bibliography of ways to mitigate low-income displacement and I learned about a bunch of different important mechanisms like inclusionary zoning, rent control, and community land trusts that can be implemented in communities facing displacement like my own in the South Bronx. Again, I felt proud of my work and the knowledge I gained from it. CCC’s atmosphere and my coworkers were absolutely phenomenal. All of my coworkers were impassioned about the work they were doing. From my supervisor to the Board of Trustees, each individual had a personal stake in the community organizing movement and I felt privileged to be a part of it. While I listening to webinars and reading reports on a day-to-day basis, I was constantly reminded of the importance every day when I would see my coworkers talking about their latest projects in team meetings or over coffee. It was great to see how their passion became their career, which is something I have been afraid I would be unable to see in my own career. My supervisor allowed me to pursue events that I was passionate about as well. For example, I was permitted to go to a congressional briefing on incarceration and how to rehabilitate formerly incarcerated individuals back into society. Aside from this, when we would discuss food stamps or community land trusts, it was refreshing to see how ready my coworkers were to learn about the best practices to implement these in CCC’s partner organizations. It made me not only hopeful for my own future but also of the future leaders of our society. At the congressional briefing and the childcare convening, I saw a number of young people around my age who were pursuing issues that affected them and I felt proud to stand with them in their efforts.

My supervisor and Assemblyman Michael Blake, meeting after the congressional briefing and discussing the best strategies to currently help immigrant families.
My supervisor and Assemblyman Michael Blake, meeting after the congressional briefing and discussing the best strategies to currently help immigrant families.

As I return back to Williams, I feel empowered to embark on a career where I feel passionate about my work on a daily basis. My coworkers and my work at CCC helped me understand the value of working for a cause that I care about, especially one that affects people and places I have inhabited. I want to return to Williams with this passion and continue my Political Science major asking myself how I can make America’s politics more inclusive of low-income people of color. I want to learn more about the effect of organizers in this year’s midterm elections. After my time at Williams, I now have interest in becoming a community organizer around housing equity back home in the South Bronx. My time at CCC has fueled my passion at becoming the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development. My research at CCC has helped me understand the shortcomings of HUD and how people like me can improve that agency for the better. I hope to continue choosing classes that allow me to look at housing equity and other issue areas that CCC focused on; and I hope I can bring my experience this summer to the classroom, particularly in classrooms that do not necessarily engage with this material.

I cannot thank my alumni sponsors enough for their generosity and their assistance for me to intern in a place that inspire my future work. It has fueled my career aspirations and made me more knowledgeable about issues affecting Americans that look like me and have grown up in parts of America that look, sound, and breathe like mine. The members of the Class of 1966 have provided me with an experience that motivates me to be an impassioned professional, a more knowledgeable student, and, in my own opinion, a better citizen. Through ASIP, I can pursue this dream all the more relentlessly and I can look for work environments like CCC’s. I will forever cherish this internship and I cannot thank the Class of 1966 enough for their funding, their belief, and their generosity. I am endlessly grateful and humbled.