Rachel Choy: My Big Learning Opportunity with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara
My first experience with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara (CCSCC) was familiarizing myself with their various programs. In one of my first meetings with my supervisor, they discussed how CCSCC operates 30+ programs ranging from family care and emergency relief packages, to public benefits assistance. My first outing was to Washington United Youth Centered where I toured the location and learned about the services they provide targeting youth that were incarcerated or affiliated with gangs. My second outing was to Lady of Refuge Parish where CCSCC held their food delivery. Both of these experiences demonstrated how my local community is in need, and despite CCSCC’s efforts, there has to be more done to sustain and assist those who can’t meet basic amenities.
What surprised me while working at the office was the variety of tasks the Communications department is responsible for, and in particular my supervisor. She is the main contact point for all the programs regarding advertising and marketing, manages social media, and coordinates with the press. Moreover, she takes the time to mentor me. While one supervisor has a large breadth of tasks, the other has tasks that revolve around a very niche topic: email marketing. I was pleasantly surprised to see how in-depth email marketing can be. My supervisor explained how CCSCC is trying to convert non-donating volunteers into donating volunteers in their email campaign. At the moment, CCSCC segments subscribers into categories such as donors which is split by the top 30%, top 50%, and general allowing for personalized messages and more relevant, probable asks. I learned that it’s also important to cater the contents to specific demographics as well as when the last donation was.
I hope to contribute my visual communications skills and knowledge to help spread awareness and connect those in need with the services CCSCC provides. I also want to target donors by conveying the disheartening circumstances our neighbors live in in order to support CCSCC's programs. Most importantly, I want to connect with my community and work towards a united society that’s supportive and loving of each other.