African American Community Service Agency

African American Community Service Agency (6th & Julian, San Jose, CA)

This is where I began my journey.  I decided to go to the African American Community Service Agency hoping to meet someone who would direct me where to go in the community.  At first glance, the AACSA looks like an old, rundown building.  That is exactly what it is.  After a few visits, I finally got in contact with Milan Balinton, Intern Executive Director of the AACSA.  Milan was born and raised in San Francisco and moved to San Jose when he began attending San Jose State University.  His mother struggled with drugs and alcohol, which led Milan to suicidal thought throughout much of his life. Though, he did not have the g.p.a, he did have the tenacity to get into college.  After Milan convinced the Equal opportunity program of why they could allow him to attend San Jose State, he realized he had a mouthpiece and could help and convince others.  As a freshman, he joined a black fraternity and this is when he saw famous black men who were part of the same fraternity.  This is when he believed he could succeed for the first time.

Milan Balinton, Intern Executive Director of AACSA

The AACSA was founded in 1978 in order to preserve the history of African Americans in San Jose.  Milan has been working at the AACSA for a few years now.  He served on the board for a few years, became President of an African American fraternity and now has many projects on his agenda for the AACSA.  Upon meeting Milan i realized he was a positive, motivated, hard working, humorous man.  Milan says that the AACSA is meant to "create programs and open doors for young people, while taking care of elderly 'torch bearers'".  The "torch bearers" are the older generations who have a wealth of knowledge to be passed down to younger generations.  The AACSA has old facilities, staff, technology, resources and even an old library that hasn't been open for years.  The library was opened by a founder and educator, Ms. Inez Jackson, and right now Milan is in the process of working with the Martin Luther King Library to reopen it.  Milan is in charge of getting new computer programs up and running, reorganizing the food pantry, getting rid of old chairs and bringing in new chairs, updating resources used for referrals, all while creating programs, attending meetings, working with partners and serving the community upon several other tasks.  Milan has a lot on his mind and when speaking with him it was apparent he was planning out several projects in his head.  

Side view of the AACSA

Milan says that even though the organization is called the African American Community Service Agency, their mission is to engage all communities and to make sure that what happened to the African American community in the past doesn't happen to other cultures.  Educational health, mental health, physical health, social awareness, and leadership empowerment are all goals and values of the AACSA, according to Milan.  Milan did share with me that more Latinos use the AACSA as a resource center than African Americans.  His biggest challenge right now is trying to revise old programs and update everything so that is is accessible for all starting with the computer lab and creating more resources on a new web page.  One thing Milan told me he does is goes out to different agencies as though he was the individual seeking help.  Then, when it comes time to refer people places he can immediately tell them what paper work they may need done or what signatures they may have to get first.  This way he saves them time and they are not mislead or deterred in any kind of way.  He deals with people coming in and leaving in tears everyday and he expressed how much it breaks his heart.  Milan and the agency try to help out who they can as best as they can.  One woman came in in tears during one of my visits because the government was taking her house away for one reason or another.  She had no job, an injured back, no family, no medical/medicare and did not know where to go other than to churches and ministries, so she came to the AACSA.  Milan directed her where to go and who to talk to and lead her in the right direction.  Seeing how upset and helpless this was made me want to help in some kind of way.  Milan does have other staff, but most are older and need to be trained as resources and software are updated and others are college volunteers.