Frances Kitagawa Leadership Development Program |
By Sharon Kumagai
The Venice Culver JACL believes in the development of our future leaders. In honor of Frances Kitagawa and her many contributions to the community, the Venice Culver JACL in 2001 established the Frances Kitagawa Leadership Development Program for young adults.
Craig Ishii (top right) with his parents, Steve and Joanne, and sister Traci, pose along side of Frances Kitagawa's portrait. |
Frances was a charter member of the Bay Cities JACL which later became the Venice Culver JACL. She was a Chapter President and served on various committees in the Regional and National JACL organizations. Frances not only was active with JACL but she took time to organize and chair the Seniors Hot Meals Program, oil painting classes and bridge classes at the Venice Japanese Community Center. Since 2001, the Venice Culver JACL has sponsored 5 interns. While previous interns have worked at the Japanese American National Museum, this year’s recipient, Craig Ishii, worked at the JACL District Office in Los Angeles. |
Following is an excerpt of Craig’s thoughts on his experience:
In retrospect about my Frances Kitagawa Fellowship, I must say that the experience was nothing short of amazing. I knew that I wanted to work in the Japanese American Community, but I wasn’t quite sure exactly what I wanted to do or where I was going to do it. I knew there was a community and I knew I wanted to do something that made a difference, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about that task. So through BJ Watanabe I heard about this Frances Kitagawa Fellowship sponsored by the Venice-Culver Chapter, and decided that maybe I would give it a shot.
One of the reasons why I believe that the internship is such a brilliant program is because it has the potential to keep its interns involved within the JACL. I am currently in my third year at the University of California, Los Angeles and incoming Internal Vice President for the Nikkei Student Union on campus. After going through this internship I am dedicated to creating stronger ties between our student organization and the JACL. I think that not enough people know about the organization, and because of this ignorance they won’t get involved. I believe that by educating the members of my organization it creates a body that can easily partner with the JACL for events, workshops, etc.
The Frances Kitagawa Leadership Development Program offers an opportunity to experience working with various organizations in the community. The Venice Culver JACL’s hope for the future is to develop the future leaders for not only the community in general but also for the Venice Japanese Community Center.
Visions for the VJCC
Interviewed by Ryan Sharp - Article by Gail Sharp
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Karen Sorensen was a busy lady on the day she ran into one of the stealth interviewers we set loose at the VJCC Festival. For the second year in a row, she was involved in al the planning, this time as the VJCC Festival chairperson. Karen has been an active parent supporter of the Venice Judo Club and the VYC through the involvement of her sons, Eric and Andrew. Despite being so busy, Karen did have time to offer up a few answers to our list of questions. When asked what services or programs would be good additions to what is already offered at the Center, Karen volunteered that she would like to see more after-school classes and activities for the school-aged members |
of the VJCC. Right now, a few of the VYC basketball teams are able to hold practice from 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. Some of the kids not involved in basketball might enjoy classes similar to those taught for adults in the morning, early afternoon and evening.
