California Interfaith Power & Light Spring 2015

March 01 2015

My name is Di Zhu (Judy). I am doing a double major in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Accounting. Due to a long lasting smog and air pollution in my hometown China, my goal is learning more about saving energy, find the best way to communicate with people that to use green energy and make energy be more efficient. I hope all people could realize the importance of saving energy and working toward a renewable energy future.

The organization I am working in is called California Interfaith Power & Light. What I need to do there is to outreach and communications support to Chinese American faith communities in the Bay Area who are members of CIPL, and those that might wish to join our work. And I work with Program Director on new Mandarin and Spanish website and other materials for congregations. Make visits to various congregations and their leaders in SF, Oakland, Peninsula, San Jose, etc.

The following image is the office I work in. It was the first day I started to work here. What mainly things I was doing were distributing those flyers and made a list of various congregations.

 

 

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March 23 2015

Till now, I have already familiar with CIPL office work. I have did some translate work which help Chinese better understand what the organization do, and let them easy to join this organization. As meanwhile, I have communicated with some congregation’s deacons, it let me know more about those congregations’ background which would allow me easier to touch and deal with them.

This is the first time I did translate work from English to Chinese. I saw it was so easy before I did it. But the reality was when I translated the English word into the Chinese word, it sometime even cannot match the mean using English to express. Then, I rephrased those words time after time to pick the most comfortable word.

I also have made a list of all the congregations in bay area. The lists include the person we can reach, the congregations’ location, and the contact information both call number and email address. Sometimes, the information I need is not in the website, then I need to call them to find their information in order to make us easier to contact with them.

Next week, I will start to have more physical activities connection with religious communities. I will learn more about our CIPL.

and here is some translate work i have done.

 

 

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April 13 2015

Those weeks, i am dealing with office work a lot. and i have attend a regular office meeting in CIPL. all of our CIPL sit together in the meeting, we shared about what we have done in the weeks, what we learnt all found about global warming issue and what we will do next. the key is everyone need to speak so that others could know what you have accomplish.

Recently i watched a video that care about Chinese air pollution problem and from what ways to cope with it well. it is called “under the dome”. it would be a good example for CIPL. we can made some speech like “under the dome” to attract people in congregations. we can made an activity in every congregations and let them watch it to feel about the importance of global problems as well. it would be helpful to make more people feel that and act to it.

I worked with some Excel documents. such as CIPL Member List document. what i need to do is to match people with right email address from database which is called salsalabs.com. there is different ways to get to know CIPL members’ information. such as last name, cell phone, street name, and congregation name. after put correct information into it and researching it, salsalabs.com will show me the people, and i need to pick the right one with right available email address and fill out to the excel document. the name list reach to around 650. I really feel that how importance the patience is in the office work task. it costs me two whole days to finish it without any mistakes. and i learnt that to deal with office task, i need to have a good rest as well if i already stare at computer screen for hours. then it could help me improve my efficiency to do the work.

Now, i am working with another excel document which need me take note of common cause website and find different congregations match with different house representative, state representative and state assembly. the congregation name reach 650 as well. i am being patient and doing it smartly.

 

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May 4 2015

In this period of time, i took participate in a lot of outside activities. such as had a presentation in PSIP reception event, visited and present in true sunshine church, went to earth day activities and handed out CIPL brochure.

in the true sunshine that day, there is the Chinese Christian Union. My supervisor Will Scott and i went to visit them. those people all came from Chinese christian churches in SF Chinatown. and they came for sharing what they listened what then did and what they will do. and i presented about my organization in the church in front of them, and let them join CIPL in order take an action to protected earth. and i also helped translate English to Chinese for better understanding.

in the next day, i went to Earth day event which is pretty amazing. there is huge amount of people from others churches and talking about how to protect earth efficiently together for example, build solar panel on the top of the churches, use green farming technology etc. i was handling our brochures and let people come to join us. when my organization presenting, i hand out our post which was called “take the paris pledge” to all the people who sit in the church and listen. later after that, i participated in Q&A part to help them manage their time and sharing ideas together.

in those days, i learnt a lot about how to do marketing, how to get into people and how to communicate well. and i met different people, i talked with people in different faith background. it was a great experience i have never had.

the following images were token in the earth day event. the first image is what brochures i am handling, the second is that passage look like, the last one is the presentation about earth day.

 

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May 15 2015

Due to there is a California Lobby Day come in June. i need to keep on filling in House representative, California Senator and Assembly Member in CIPL member list material. There is also some other things need to do such as deal with brochures, etc. And this is the last week I work in CIPL organization. I need clear up my office room for the person who will use my office next. And they give me a T-shirt as a gift! even i may not have chance working here next semester, i will keep paying attention on environment problem and make earth better!

 

Executive Summary

California Interfaith Power & Light

1.1 organization information

›CIPL is a faith based organization which working on global warming crisis through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy to mitigate harmful effects of global warming.

1.2 mission of the organization

• To engage California’s religious community for climate policy and energy efficiency
• serve for Congregations of all faiths
• Encourage people realize the importance of saving energy and working toward a renewable energy future (i.e. solar, wind, hydro)

1.3 approach ways

• Educate congregations of all faiths about environment, effects of global warming, the importance of saving energy and working toward a renewable energy future (i.e. solar, wind, hydro).
• Assists people in congregation in implementing programs to reduce greenhouse gas and be more energy efficient.

2.1 my role

outreach and communications support to Chinese American faith communities in the Bay Area who are members of CIPL, and those that might wish to join our work.

• Work with Program Director Will Scott on new Mandarin and Spanish website and other materials for congregations.
• Join earth day event through assisting Will and handling brochures, making registration.
• ›Make connections with various congregations and communicate with their leaders in SF and East Bay.
• ›Assisted with updating database member congregations list.
• ›Worked on national lobby day materials and help linking member congregations with legislators.

2.2 reflection

I really enjoyed work in there, colleagues are nice and i gained a lot in communication skill and business perspective during working here this whole semester. I helped grew the organizations capacity to reach multicultural congregations and help people to realize the importance of working together to fight global warming. I get to know about climate change policy and interfaith engagement which I never know before and I know that how the real work is in the office and outside office space, how to make a connection with others who you do not know but want to know, and do not be frustrated if no response. be confident and keep to do what you need do smartly. I feel that if a person who is really care about the company or the organization she or he works for, there is always lots of work. and we need to make a clear decision that which one has the most priority and then do it efficiently. This is a great opportunity i met during studying in university of san francisco. due to this impact, i will keep on making positive progress in the future both academy and career.