Field Placement: Filipino American
Service Group, Inc.
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Maria Lourdes Nocedal
Student Name: Jocelyn Medina
Year: 2003
Filipino American Service
Group, Inc. (FASGI) is a social service agency located in the heart of Historic
Filipinotown, a few miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. FASGI’s mission
is to empower Filipino Americans and others through culturally and linguistically
sensitive advocacy, education, social services, social action, research and
leadership that are also gender- and age-appropriate. My internship began June
26, 2003 and continued to September 5, 2003 (11 weeks). My objectives at FASGI
were to assist the case worker and case manager for the Elderly Services Consortium
for Asian Pacific American (ESCAPA) Project, create resource books for FASGI
housing participants and community members as part of the Transitional Housing
and Emergency Shelter Projects, plan and facilitate a education workshop for
FASGI participants of the Food Distribution project, and redesign the FASGI
website.
The ESCAPA Project is funded by the Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging
Office as part of a county-wide effort to provide comprehensive, long-term services
that utilizes care management to link clients with appropriate services. I was
assigned one client for the duration of my internship and coordinated referral
services for her that included having a wheelchair ramp built in the front of
her house.
The Transitional Housing and Emergency Shelter Programs provide board and lodging
to homeless individuals in their 22-bed on-site facility. Their main goals are
to place clients in permanent housing and increase their money management skills,
save money, and increase their sense of self-determination and self reliance.
I was assigned to create resource binders for FASGI housing staff and resource
handbooks for FASGI housing participants and community members to aid in their
referral process as well as to give clients their own means of contacting social
service organizations.
The weekly Food Distribution program gives over 700 grocery bags of food to
low-income and homeless clients every month. Conducted every Friday morning
on-site, low-income Filipino seniors come to FASGI to socialize, hear speakers
on various health topics, and collect a grocery bag full of food purchased from
the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. My original objective was to conduct a mental
health workshop for FASGI participants, but due to lack of communication, a
workshop was planned by the housing staff without my knowledge. Instead, I was
able to plan and facilitate the food distribution speakers every week for months
of August and September.
Finally, because I had some experience in web design and management, I was asked
to update their web site to have a cleaner look and make it easier to navigate.
The website can be seen at www.FASGI.org.
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