Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

This week I got to try my hand at a couple new skills that I never thought I would have a reason to try. Early in the week I borrowed a nice camera from the Hilltop YMCA, which runs a photography club for kids, so that I could attempt to take photos of the inside of the Hoover Y facilities for our website and social media. My photo taking experience is limited to quick snaps on my phone, but I think for being a complete novice and not having any lighting equipment the pictures I took turned out pretty well!

On Wednesday one of our facilities staff came into the office and surprised me by offering to teach me how to drive a tractor. It was a little bit of a nostalgic moment for me since my grandmother had a tractor that she let all the kids ride on when we were little. I had always been too young to drive it, though, so I of course jumped at the opportunity. I was caught off guard by how many controls and steps there were to just getting it started, but I think I was a natural in the end.

I’ve been working on pulling a fundraiser together for the Learning Garden this past week as well. I had a really encouraging meeting with Chef Kuukua who owns Asempe Kitchen to organize a cooking demonstration to be held out in the park. From sitting down and talking with her it’s clear that she shares the same passion for the community building power of food that I and the staff at Hoover do, so a collaboration with her feels like a perfect match. We’re hoping to hold the event at the beginning of August and that it will bring folks out to see the Learning Garden who might not otherwise have known about it.

By: Kelsie Fields

Wow! What a busy week it has been at the Westerville Symphony. We have been moving to a new office which has been exciting!

On Monday, we had our annual end-of-the-year board meeting which is the most important meeting of the year. We discuss big goals for the upcoming season, our budget for the new year, and more! Because of the size of the Symphony, the board operates a little differently from the other nonprofits I have been a part of. That is one of my favorite things about nonprofit boards–they are all completely different but equally important to the organizations!

We also spent time this week preparing for the big move, which we completed today. It’s very interesting seeing all of the changes happening at the Westerville Symphony right now and even more interesting to be a part of them. Goodbye, old office!

This Sunday, July 2nd, we are hosting our annual Sounds of Freedom concert! Our amazing Conductor, Peter Stafford Wilson, has put together a compilation of patriotic popular tunes that everyone knows and loves. I’m excited to see our first event of the summer come to fruition! I have only actually been to a professional symphony orchestra performance once, so I am very curious to see how this concert will be different! The event is outside, and I know that this will give the event a very unique feel and sound.

Some may think that the symphony is stuffy or not accessible, but that is simply not true. Events like this make it possible for everyone to connect to symphonic music because it is outside, the symphony plays popular songs, and admission is free! The Westerville Symphony is unique in its approach to music because it is more than just a symphony–it’s a community organization that strives to bring people and families together, and this is the best part about it!

Stay tuned next week for updates about the concert and our upcoming fundraiser!

Hey, everyone! Katy here.

This week flew by for me and as I sit at my desk on the Friday afternoon of my 4th week working at CRIS, I am reflecting on how quickly time has gone by during this internship.

I started in the beginning of June and tomorrow is July.  I feel like I have done so much, but also feel like almost no time has passed.  Recently I’ve been recognizing how valuable this fellowship experience has been and continues to be for me.

On Tuesday of this week, we had our 2nd Fellows Learning Session at the Columbus Foundation about leadership.  Our summer fellowship program directors brought in amazing people to sit on a panel for us to ask questions.  Seeing them up there and listening to their wisdom about navigating nonlinear career paths and advancing in their fields was life-changing.

My notes from the Fellows Learning Session (6/27)

I feel so inspired by their stories and the way they live their lives for their passions and dedication to the nonprofit field.

Similarly, after 4 weeks at CRIS (Community Refugee & Immigration Services), I am able to reflect on what I’ve experienced in my workplace.  I am not exaggerating when I say my coworkers are some of the most passionate and caring people I have ever encountered in my life.  Working at a nonprofit means you care so much about a certain cause that you want to spend every day of your life dedicated to that cause.  That dedication is so up-lifting. Most of the employees at CRIS would probably laugh at me if I ever told them they were “inspiring,” but I speak the truth.

Even more so, the refugees I’ve have the chance to interact with also inspire me in a different way.  I am inspired by the courage they have to leave their homes behind and begin a new life in a brand new country, despite possibly not knowing English.  One of the biggest challenges of refugees, especially older individuals, in the United States is not being able to speak English.  I cannot imagine living and working in a place where I couldn’t communicate with the people surrounding me.  That takes courage.

My overall concluding reflection at the end of week 4 is that I am so grateful for the chance to work and learn about the refugee community at CRIS, and learn valuable leadership skills through the Columbus Foundation.  When I applied for this Fellowship, I didn’t know what to expect, but I am so glad I did.

Hey everyone! As week 4 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on how this week has looked very different for me in an exciting way. I’ve learned over the past few weeks that creating a communications plan is hard work. It takes planning, organizing, re-phrasing, refining ideas, collaborating……and then the process starts over again. After working extensively on my communications plan for the Vehicle Donation Program for the summer and fall, this week I was finally able to take some more concrete action steps. I met with Lynne, our graphic designer, to discuss my ideas and to ask her to help me by creating some graphics that will tie the campaign together. Once she creates these visual components, I’ll be able to add them to my written pieces and “launch” the marketing and communications campaign.

I also learned quite a bit about brand standards this week. As I got into the nitty-gritty details of writing suggested social media posts and thinking about the kinds of images I wanted to use, I took a look at the RMHC brand standards handbook, and I was thoroughly impressed! I learned a lot about how to read that kind of document, and how detailed and comprehensive the standards must be in order for the brand image to remain consistent in all forms of advertising and promotion. Familiarizing myself with the RMHC standards really helped to inform the ideas included in my communications plan and to point me in the right direction moving forward. (Oh, and I got to hang out with Matt Barnes from NBC 4 this morning to promote our Food Truck Friday event-have I mentioned that I have the coolest job ever?!)

In other news, we had a learning session for the Fellowship on Tuesday of this week, and we were truly enlightened on a variety of topics surrounding non-profit careers and leadership development. We discussed the importance of prioritizing not only work but also relationships and other aspects of life, the uniqueness of the non-profit sector and some of the benefits and challenges that presents, the importance of taking initiative, and some important qualities that effective leaders possess. We also discussed the importance of being open to different roles and experiences and the fact that there are many avenues that can be taken in order to reach larger career/life goals, and that we shouldn’t worry too much about the details. One of my favorite quotes was “There is more than one path to your passion”. I think that is such a simple truth that we often take for granted. As a college student, I’m constantly thinking about what kind of impact I want to make when I get into the workforce, how far I want to climb in my career, and what I want my life to look like in 10 years. Though those things are important to consider, it’s so easy to become overwhelmed by the big picture and to become so afraid of making a “wrong” move that I hesitate to make a move at all. Our discussion was a reminder to me that sometimes I need to focus on the next step instead of the next 20. When I only look at the massive goals they feel so far away, but when I take a moment to zoom in, I realize that I’m taking baby steps to reach them every day. Now, for example, I’m interning at an amazing organization that gives back to the community in a meaningful way, I’m surrounding myself with like-minded young and old professionals who are incredible resources, and I’m part of a program that is teaching me so so much about non-profit organizations and serving others through community development. I’m humbled and excited for the opportunity to have such a unique experience, and I look forward to seeing what the next steps are in the path to my passion.

-Courtney

Week 4 at the Worthington Resource Pantry has been super busy but also super fun at the same time! As I have said before, I cannot believe I’ve only been working here for this short amount of time. My coworkers are simply the BEST and we all work so well together, it feels like I belong.

We had another Learning Session at The Columbus Foundation this week- which was great like always! I love being able to catch up with my fellow fellows (see what I did there?), keeping up with their projects, and being able to emphasize with their struggles. In addition, we were able to learn from some amazing community members who have made serious moves in Columbus through their nonprofit careers. Being able to talk to two former fellows was so inspiring because they know what we’re going through and because of that were able to give great advice to all of us regarding the navigation of our nonprofit lives! On top of all of that amazing news, they gave us EXCELLENT advice on leadership. One quote that stuck with me, and has played out for me here at the pantry, was,

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

That is the honest truth! This week at the pantry, we got blizzards donated by Dairy Queen for our neighbors to enjoy while they wait to shop for food! What an excellent example of going farther together- and the ice cream was just a bonus! Inventory of the whole pantry had to be done this week as well, as we come to the end of the fiscal year. It took all of us working on just that for almost two days, but we got it done (in record time, might I add) and with smiles on our faces. My major take-away from Week 4 is that nobody accomplishes anything alone, you truly go farther together.

With individuals taking on the work here as one staff, with neighbors in Worthington giving their time volunteer, and with Columbus as a whole working towards a better future, we will go far!

Until next week,

Natalie

Hi there! Honesty time. Writing this blog each Friday morning is always overwhelming for me at first , how am I supposed to sum up 40 hours of life in a few paragraphs!? After settling into the fact that it does not have to be eloquent nor incredibly in depth, I find myself thankful for this time of reflection towards the week.

All too often, I go through life -specifically transitional times- always looking forward to what is next. What will my life look like when I am finished with this fellowship? Where will I work? Where will I be in 5, 10 years? All of these forward questions can put me in a state of focusing so much on the future that I fail to enjoy where I am now and appreciate all of the goodness that was in the past week. I used to love to journal when I was a kid but somewhere in college that became a “waste of time” to me. Reflecting and writing again feels familiar but somewhat unsettling at the same time because now I am not the only one reading it. So thank you, to whoever you are that is reading this, for helping me reflect and write again. Please excuse (or embrace) the sap.

THIS WEEK.

Here we are, what this blog is actually supposed to be about. The planning process for my vertical upcycled herb garden is in full swing. I got to meet with a Board member named Lori who is a master gardener and is thrilled about helping me with the project. We are going to turn it into an educational program for the community so that anyone can learn how to have a little garden made out of materials they might already have laying around (plastic or glass bottles, wooden pallets- easily found at home improvement stores etc.). I love projects like this that create something beautiful and functional but I would not call myself a gardener in the slightest, so I am very thankful for the support of people like Lori and all my wonderful coworkers.

These are what the gardens will (hopefully) look like when it is finished in August! Except it will be filled with yummy summer herbs like cilantro and basil!

In addition to planning my project, I am continuing to help out with social media outreach, which is a realm I have had some experience in, but would not consider myself a natural at sharing everything with the world so it has definitely been a learning process! I also got to read for preschool storytime this week (every Thursday and Saturday at 10am!) which was refreshing for me. I love the energy that the little kiddos bring to the center and to my day.  This week was filled with some other “bright spots” that included:

• Building my first workbench
• Riding my bike to work
• Finding a praying mantid
• Getting to meet some baby monarchs (aka caterpillars)
• Hearing from some amazing speakers that the Columbus Foundation brought in to share their stories and wisdom with us!

Stay tuned for more (productive) shenanigans! Thanks for reading!

Peace and trees,

Tori

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow- especially when you work in a non profit. I learned this during this past week. As a recent college graduate of a school in which students were very competitive, “stress” has been second nature to me, whether I wanted it to be or not. Fortunately, these past few years I have learned to only focus on competing with myself, striving to produce better outcomes than I did the previous day. However, even this strategy does not save me from “stress.”

So, if you recall during Week 1, I mentioned how I was assigned the duty of putting on a large-scale fundraising event for my organization. Well, at this point, I have less than 2 weeks until the event! When I noticed the calendar date during the middle of Week 3, I immediately felt overwhelmed. I had been working on the event everyday, completing licenses, making several calls, emails, and even visits to businesses, trying to get them to participate in our event. I even made the uncomfortable trip of trekking to the Columbus Police Department in the pouring rain to get something signed. Nevertheless, I am not sure where the time went. I felt as though I had been doing everything right, trying my best to tackle the most urgent priorities.

Nervously, I went to my supervisor and told her my feelings. I even came prepared with a sticky note that outlined a Plan B and Plan C in case every thing was not solidified for the event by its date. When I explained to her what I was feeling she immediately replied, “Welcome to event planning” with a laugh. To my surprise, she told me that she was okay if everything does not work out for Plan A and that it can still be a successful event. She assured me that she was not worried and her response quickly alleviated any feeling of being overwhelmed that I was carrying.

Being open and candid with my boss about my work experience helped me to freely enjoy the rest of what CCH offers outside of my day to day duties. For instance, one day after work on Week 3 I stayed after and watched our Transit Arts youth program perform dance, spoken word, and do live painting. I also attended an info session about the new playground that is about to be built for the children and even told my supervisor that I was willing to help build it! (I do not know how to build anything.)

I am grateful for having a supervisor that is so easy to talk to and knows the importance of going with the flow. There are too many opportunities of learning at CCH for me to put off because I am “stressed” about another agenda item. I put “stressed” in quotations, because sometimes I am not truly stressed. Sometimes, I just need to step back and re-evaluate my purpose. My goal is to move forward with planning this event with the same tenacity that I possessed in the beginning, but being gentle with myself when things do not turn out according to plan. Dealing with the unexpected is the best way to sharpen my event planning skills as well as add excitement to the work I do.

After my talk with my supervisor, I saw her in the parking lot after work and she asked “Still overwhelmed?” I confidently replied “No.”

(Attached, is a picture of a blueprint for the playground that one of the youth drew. Notice the bongos in the right-bottom corner!)

This week I got a better sense of the project, which data points are available, and some of the possible implications that may arise in analyzing the data. For example, someone may be paying their rent on time but could still be evicted for over occupancy, property damage, poor housekeeping, causing nuisance, and more. This could skew the analysis of the Gifts of Kindness program, as a Gifts of Kindness grant may have successfully prevented someone from a non-payment eviction, but not a different type of eviction. As I listen to people involved in the process, I’m beginning to understand how truly complex the issue is. There are so many factors and circumstances that are specific to each person, which will cause challenges in evaluating the success of the program.

I also had the opportunity to attend one of the home readiness workshops that Homeport provides. Homeport offers a variety of classes related to financial health and home ownership to help people become financially stable and attain permanent housing. The home readiness workshop that I attended focused on the initial steps in preparing to buy a home, and was followed by a one-on-one session with a housing advisor to discuss the client’s current situation and needs. The client who attended the workshop expressed that she had never learned this information before, and that it gave her a whole new understanding of what she could do to move towards owning home.

Each day here comes with an immense amount of new knowledge. Even in passing conversations throughout the office I am able to learn more about people’s experiences at Homeport. Keeping an open mind and a listening ear is essential to learning and serving, and remembering the people behind the data I’m using will help to build a complete picture of the struggles that too many Columbus residents face.

This week I’d like to share with you a few events where I was able to permeate the operations of a small non-profit. To refresh everyone’s memory, my name is Jake and I am working with Green Columbus throughout the duration of the Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship. This week I was able to participate in some small, yet very important events that define how a small non-profit operates.

First, I was able to sit in on a meeting with a potential future partner for Green Columbus’ Earth Day celebration: COSI. My supervisor and I met with some representatives of COSI to discuss a potential partnership moving forward. COSI has an amazing facility, and is currently constructing a new park outside of their organization; not only will this space be perfect for hosting Green Columbus’ Earth Day celebration, but also COSI’s partnership will further the education aspect of the event. This meeting was an incredible experience for me, as I was able to participate in the beginning of a promising sustainable partnership between two organizations.

Second, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity of sitting in on an executive board meeting for Green Columbus. By participating in this meeting, I was able to see the “backbone” of the organization at full working capacity. It was awesome to see young professionals collaborating to create an effective agenda in respect to moving forward with the organization.

Third, I had the chance to attend an event to celebrate the merging of the county and city’s Land Bank departments. The event was an excellent experience for learning how to professionally network with environmental leaders in the Columbus area. A lot of times, we only learn how to network; but it was nice to put what I’ve learned into practice at an actual event.

All-in-all, this past week was filled with great experiences and opportunities for learning about the operations of a non-profit. I hope next week is just as informational.

– Jake

The theme of the week: productively waiting.

This week felt pretty stagnant at DSC. The two weeks prior were dedicated to preparing for the 2017 Buckeye Golf Classic and to sending out our Request for Proposal (RFP) to prospective marketing firms. This week, however, felt very in-between. I attended a couple meetings and discussed future projects with my supervisor, the Director of Development, Amy. It included a lot of, “Ok what does DSC need?” and, “How can I practically help?” Amy and I came up with some filler projects for me to work on: social media, the brochure, data integration, and shadowing other departments.

The biggest challenge has been being productive in marketing before working with a firm. The RFP included a request for a marketing evaluation as well as a branding campaign. I do have a background in content marketing, but I am definitely not a designer. After recently transitioning to a new website platform, there is a lot of work to be done. I reached out to our Marketing Director, Marsha Moore, and asked her permission to begin copy-editing the website content. She agreed and I began editing the text of the website.

I learned a lot about how work consists of projects and the space in between. I could just spend my time curling my hair between my fingers before we begin our marketing project… or I could find ways to kick start the process. From the beginning of week one at DSC, I knew I wanted to offer as much of myself as I could during the time I am here. Ten weeks is truly not a copious amount of time, but I want to make a lasting difference somehow. That mentality takes a lot of work, and creativity, to insure my work is meaningful. For now, this means learning DSC’s website and brainstorming ways to improve. Wording, and rewording content. Collecting and condensing information.

There are some weeks that move fast and some that move slow. It is all about finding ways to do quality work, even when work lacks quantity.