Alisal Interns Tackle Public Health for Safer Salinas

A 21-year-old business major and a 34-year-old tattoo artist: Neither seems the ideal candidate for an internship in public health.

But that’s taking the narrow view of health care. In Salinas, a city reeling from the ills of gang violence, advocates say tapping hard-working local leaders is a step toward community well-being.

Fernanda Ocaña, who studies business at Hartnell Community College, and Raul Tapia, who enrolled last year to pursue graphic design, were two of 11 interns taken on by Health Career Connection, a national nonprofit that connects students – particularly those from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds – with opportunities in the health field.

Earlier this year, The California Endowment, a private health foundation, awarded Health Career Connection a grant to expand its internships to some of the endowment’s partners, including East Salinas’ Building Healthy Communities. The nonprofit helped facilitate the summer internship program, which lasted from June to mid-August.

Salinas internship sites and programs included the Alisal Center for Fine Arts; La Cultura Cura, a program to instill cultural pride in youth; and the Monterey County Health Department. Interns were paid $3,000-$4,000 stipends for the summer.

“We’re definitely taking the holistic health approach,” says Carmen Gil, manager of Salinas’ Building Healthy Communities. “If your mind, body and soul aren’t all aligned, we don’t think you’re going to be completely healthy.”

Advocates say Salinas officials need that kind of wide-angle look to identify the underlying causes for youth violence, rooted in everything from hunger and poverty to family problems.

“Public health doesn’t just happen in the health department,” says Mai Mai Cantos, vice president at Health Career Connection.

The interns addressed those issues through their work across the city. Ocaña, for example, is helping organize Ciclovía, a Salinas campaign to flood the city streets with pedestrians and cyclists for a day, bridging neighborhoods.

What’s more, Gil says, the program grows local leaders. Tapping the community’s potential involves taking on intern candidates who don’t fit the typical mold, he says.

Tapia, who worked for years as a tattoo artist, says he almost didn’t graduate from Alisal High School. Now, in his second semester at Hartnell, he has a 4.0 GPA. What he’s learned through his internship with La Cultura Cura, where he mentors young men, has changed his entire plan for school.

At first Tapia focused on a career in graphic art. But after enrolling in the internship, he realized he wants to broaden his goals. “I had no idea I was going to be meeting a bunch of folks from a professional standpoint that I would have never come across,” he says. “I think there are bigger dreams I need to wake up to and actually start performing.”

Gil hopes the internship is renewed next year. Three of this year’s interns were offered jobs following the program.

“In Salinas we really need these opportunities,” Gil says, “and they’re really scarce.”