Misael Enamorado - COVID-19 Response

Hi everyone, 

My name is Misael Enamorado. I recently graduated from college where I studied Marketing and Sociology. I am still figuring out what truly interests me as a career and being an AmeriCorps VISTA member has been helping with that. In my free time, I enjoy going out with friends, thrifting at my local thrift stores, and scrolling for hours through TikTok. I am currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member for Success in Challenges, a social service agency in Long Beach, California.

Recently, Success in Challenges was awarded a $25,000 grant from the city of Long Beach. Being a part of the grant writing process for this grant was truly a great learning experience for me. I figured out what my strong suits and weaknesses were when it comes to grant writing. My strong suit being able to write a captivating narrative/story and my weakness being the project/program budget section of a grant. This grant helps hard-to-reach populations, especially communities of color (most impacted by COVID-19) access free hotspots, free computer devices, free bilingual digital literacy classes, a free bilingual digital literacy hotline and much more. Success in Challenges hopes to use this funding not only to help in closing the digital gap and digital divide in North Long Beach, but to also give the community extra resources, along with the digital resources, that they may currently need due to COVID-19. These extra resources may include diapers, grocery gift cards, gas station gift cards, COVID-19 vaccine and testing information and other needs that the community may be asking from us. We’re using this funding and project as a way to conduct community outreach in hard-hit zip codes and to hold outdoor events to distribute these resources to residents and small business owners. We understand that the pandemic has only worsened the community's access to reliable internet and technology; thus, we want to be able to break that barrier.