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Internship at Park Street Business Association

For my ACLC Internship, I worked over the summer at the Park Street Business Association in Alameda. PSBA is the association of local businesses in Park Street, the major 'downtown' district of Alameda, as well as the neighboring streets. I worked under Robb Ratto, the current head of PSBA. During my time at PSBA, I trained in organizational skills, managing and entering data in a computer database, and some light public relations. My daily duties consisted of organizing documents and files in the office, making sure that everything was up to date, and every now and again going up and down Park Street and checking in with the actual businesses, seeing if everything was running well and keeping their information up to date.

 

Over the course of the internship, I learned how to keep track of all of the different members of the Association, and got a glimpse into the behind the scenes of Park Street, seeing a part of what keeps everything working smoothly. One of the tasks that I had that I remember fairly clearly was walking around Park Street to the different businesses, and giving each of them a stack of cards that advertised a survey about parking, which was an issue in the area. It made me see how this wasn't just a bunch of shopkeepers working together, it was the city's government that was working with them, trying to work out a solution that benefits everybody. I wondered just how many people were all working to improve the city, their home. I gained an appreciation for the people working in the city, and a respect for their livelihoods.

 

A challenge that I encountered during my internship was one day, when I had to edit some data on the computer for some contact info. I didn't have much instruction on how get up-to-date info, so I was stumped for a while. Fortunately, I was able to figure out a solution by simply walking over to the businesses, and noting their contact information, then inputting it into the database back at the office.

 

When I began the internship, I didn't really know what to expect. I expected to help out at the office for a bit, try to make things more efficient, but I ended up doing a lot of hands-on work, becoming a part of the operations of PSBA and helping the community of Alameda. I enjoyed my time working at the Park Street Business Association, and I think it was a valuable experience in my life.

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