{"id":83018,"date":"2017-10-12T01:31:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T01:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/portrait\/jessica\/"},"modified":"2017-10-12T01:31:11","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T01:31:11","slug":"jessica","status":"publish","type":"portrait","link":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/portrait\/jessica\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica was a case manager with the Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD)<\/a>\u00a0program at KYCC. GRYD was established as part of an intensive effort to foster youth development and reduce the influence of street gangs in the lives of youth ages 10-15 in the Rampart\/Pico Union area.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Where is your hometown?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Koreatown. I was born at Kaiser in Hollywood, but I went to Wilton Elementary School<\/a> and JB<\/a> (John Burroughs Middle School), so born and raised in Koreatown. I didn\u2019t go to college in Koreatown\u2014I went to SF State\u2014but I eventually came back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you live or work in Koreatown?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Both. <\/span>My family still lives in the heart of Koreatown, in such a central area that as soon as you leave, you can tell you\u2019re no longer in Koreatown.<\/span><\/p>\n

My commute to work is seven minutes. I work with at-risk youth in the Rampart-2 Zone, which is a part of Koreatown. We help them reach goals that we set together, raise their grades, improve family bonds, cope with trauma. We tackle all of that. As a family team, we work with the family as well as the youth themselves. You really are invited into their life story, you get to see how they were raised and how they got to be who they are now. I really enjoy diving into family dynamics. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of my first clients: I felt like we had built pretty good rapport. He had talked to me about things he had never spoken about to anyone else, such as mental health issues, suicidal ideation, family dynamics. To him, it was normal. He never saw it as an issue, the thoughts he was having, the feelings he was having towards his mom. He never thought there was help for him. He felt alone at school\u2014he was bullied. We got him the resources he needed. He was treated\u2014referred to mental health and mentor programs\u2014and now he\u2019s doing a lot better. He seems happier and none of that would\u2019ve been possible if he hadn\u2019t invited me into his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on Koreatown?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I LOVE Koreatown. I love it. It\u2019s one of the only pockets that I enjoy in Los Angeles. There\u2019s still a strong sense of family roots here. It\u2019s one of the only pockets where I still see mom-and-pop shops and little family-owned restaurants everywhere. I feel like I only see that in Koreatown and Torrance. It\u2019s a vibrant neighborhood. It\u2019s fairly safe, although it wasn\u2019t always like that. It\u2019s a wonderful neighborhood full of history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Koreatown is home. The Wiltern<\/a> is where I would get off from the bus after high school every day. I would hang out at coffee shops to study. Even now, I go to Caffe Bene<\/a> or Document<\/a> after work to do work. It\u2019s how I decompress after work: Go to a coffee shop and surf the internet. My family is here, too \u2014 my brother, my dad, my mom, my aunt, my uncle and my dog \u2014 and we all come together at night and for special events. Other than going to college, I\u2019ve never moved and my parents have lived in the same apartment since I was born. You just know there\u2019s family here, in Koreatown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where is your favorite place in Koreatown?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Baskin Robbins on Third<\/a>. I used to go there all the time, and the man who works there used to give us plenty of ice cream, so I was never left wanting more. Some Baskin Robbins employees are stingy with their ice cream, but this man would give me two and count it as one. I love that Baskin Robbins. I would go with friends and family, for all occasions\u2014birthdays, to celebrate good grades, PMSing\u2026everything.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica was a case manager with the Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD)\u00a0program at KYCC. GRYD was established as part of an intensive effort to foster youth development and reduce …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-83018","portrait","type-portrait","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait\/83018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portrait"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait\/83018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}