Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

                So about a week after my last organized activity with FLOW I am getting ready for a new adventure in my life. I start my law school orientation at Cleveland-Marshall on Monday and will be away from Columbus for some time after I attend tonight’s Crew game and begin to get settled in Cleveland. The Fellowship has proven to be a wonderful capstone of my four years of school and work in Columbus and I am glad to have concluded with both the Foundation and FLOW. Getting to know the many volunteers associated with FLOW has been a joy and pleasure just as it has been getting to know Dan and Melissa with the Foundation. Reading some of the other Fellows posts, I can tell that my experience was not singular, and that we have all gained a great deal from this experience.

                FLOW has taught me a lot about protecting and enhancing our natural resources and  has allowed me to see the positive effect organizations like FLOW can have on a community. As I wrote in my post about Toledo’s emergency, water might be our state’s greatest natural resource. But unless we take care of it, and make people aware that it must be taken cared of then we are no better off than many other places in our world. That is where FLOW has been a positive influence on my own personal awareness, but also has helped this area’s water literacy.

                Moving forward it may be necessary for the things that FLOW has done on a volunteer basis, become the action of municipalities or the state. Tree plantings, and rain gardens can do a lot to prevent and protect our waterways from degradation by both erosion and excess nutrients and are also cheaper than spending more money on retaining walls and at the water treatment plant.  In the meantime FLOW and other environmental organization will do their part to protect both the environment, and our freshwater.               

                Although I am moving on to a new stage in my life, I look forward to seeing the many people that I’ve met over the summer again and to comeback to meet future fellows as well as to be a part of FLOW events when I can. For any potential Fellows out there I strongly recommend this program and hope it continues to harbor and develop students dedicated to the city and its people. Likewise if you are looking to enjoy the outdoors while protecting our environment then please come volunteer with FLOW. Both have been an enjoyment to me and a valuable part of my life.

I cannot believe the fellowship has ended! This post is devoted to my top 3 take aways (in no particular order) of the summer.

1.) Summer Educational Programming-Coordinating the summer brain gain program was definitely one of the largest projects I have ever participated in. Working with the national organization to ensure we received solid data to evaluate the program was a valuable experience.  I am excited to receive the results and see how the students performed. This is only the second year the program has been in existence, so it will be important to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Additionally, the results of the member surveys will be interesting. I cannot wait to see if any of the students changed their opinion about learning throughout the summer.

2.) Career Launch- The Boys and Girls Clubs has several amazing programs that they run throughout the summer and school year. However, one of my favorites

Career Launch at Huntington!

is definitely career launch. One reason I love this program is because I was able to see it have a direct impact on students in just 8 weeks! I remember at the beginning of the program when the members had no idea how to fill out a resume, let alone a cover letter. They complained about the workshops, and were extremely nervous about the mock interviews. However, after visiting Bank of America in early July they knew what to expect. The next two trips to Nationwide and Huntington were even more successful than the first visit.

3.) Professional Development- I had many great experiences this summer. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Columbus gave me every opportunity to immerse myself in the true culture of a nonprofit. I wore many hats and learned how to adapt to an environment that always changed. Having the opportunity to attend and present at the board meetings was memorable. I am excited to see their plans for the future come to fruition. In my last week I was even given the opportunity to write and research a few grants! 

The Boys and Girls Clubs spot on the mural at the Columbus Foundation!

Wakeopolis! Definitely one of my favorite field trips!

Overall this was an amazing summer with great people in a great city!

Making finalizations to the patient healthcare savings guide and contact sheet, along with a patient survey were among my priorities last week. The development of the patient healthcare savings guide and the patient survey were well-received. After speaking and interacting with patients about the healthcare savings guide, they mentioned that receiving information on Ohio Medicare Savings Programs as well as contact information on various state agencies and entities where they can address and receive information on health insurance options is beneficial. Speaking with patients of the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio made me cognizant that many patients do not know what their health insurance options are. In fact, most of the patients I interacted with seemed to have no health insurance at all. All in all, patients mentioned that the information on Medicare and Medicaid is helpful, and provides them an opportunity of where to start and seek the information they need as well as how to enroll. Patients also were favorable toward the patient survey and thought it accurately assessed and gauged their opinion on health insurance. Suggestions included offering the healthcare savings guide to patients as part of the enrollment process, which the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio will be rolling out.

It was exciting to see patients embrace the patient guide and survey. I believe many patients realize that the process of retrieving information on health insurance options and the process of enrollment can be complex, and that receiving this information in a guide will be useful and reduce the amount of time spent to retrieve this information. Prior to the start of the fellowship, I knew of general information regarding Medicare and Medicaid, but I did not understand the some of the complexity involved with understanding Medicare Savings Plans and health insurance options available itself. Nearing the end of the fellowship, I now better understand details about Medicare and Medicaid as well as programs and places that can help individuals with application assistance and health-related inquiries.

Firefighters on site at the Charitable Pharmacy immediately after a patient passed out on my last day.

On my last day at the Charitable Pharmacy, a patient passed out in the waiting room. Firefighters were called immediately to assist the patient. The patient was dehydrated, and taken to a local hospital. The quick response of the Pharmacists and Staff at the Charitable Pharmacy are noteworthy!

My last post will include closing thoughts and a reflection about The Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship Program.

Yesterday was an extremely busy day at CRIS. There were a lot of housekeeping jobs that needed to be completed before I leave Friday. With the hiring of a new cultural orientation teacher and new case worker assistants, the resettlement office had to be shifted around to make room for new desks. I am used to this type of work at CRIS as Ruby Wolfe, the assistant financial director of CRIS, had me do lots of it last summer when I helped move CRIS from their old office to their current one. After the office was rearranged, Ruby and I went to the Byers Dodge and Jeep dealership on S. Hamilton to pick up a new van for the resettlement team. A brand new 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan, no bells and whistles but man that van is spacious and CLEAN for once. The rest of the day included putting together home supply kits for newly arrived clients and assisting a secondary migrant Algerian family who I have been helping out the past two weeks.

There were many farewells yesterday, but none of them contained an aura of goodbye forever. Working at CRIS this summer and last summer created the opportunity for me to get to know most of the employees who work there. These are people whom I not only work with, but am also friends with too. Although my time at CRIS for this summer is over, I know that I am always welcome to come back and help out once I complete my last year of college. This entire summer experience would not be as enjoyable or financially rewarding had I not decided to spend the extra time in January and apply for the Summer Fellows program. It has truly been and amazing experience and I cannot wait to share my experience with the Columbus Foundation later today!

This weekend, I had the privilege of visiting Columbus’ esteemed Park of Roses. While visiting, I got to learn a bit of history about one of the city’s most celebrated landmarks. The Park of Roses, previously known as Whetstone Park, has been a geographic and community staple of Columbus since 1944. The fertile land was initially used by local residents to grow victory gardens during World War II. After the war ended and Americans recovered, the needs and interests of the Columbus community changed, and the park adapted accordingly. In 1952, the American Rose Society decided to move from Pennsylvania to Columbus. A more central location as well as close access and partnership with The Ohio State University’s School of Agriculture appealed to the society, and thus, Columbus was the obvious choice for the American Rose Society’s new home.

Due to harsh Ohio winters, the American Rose society moved further south in the late 1960’s. However, that did not stop the Park of Roses from remaining a Columbus community fixture. The park became an experimentation area for “heritage roses” or naturally occurring roses that had fallen endangered since the commercialization of roses. The exploratory efforts sparked a new interest in gardening in the public, and soon Columbus citizens from all different backgrounds we coming together to garden as a community.

40 years later, the Park of Roses recognized our community’s newest issues concerning environmental sustainability and, once again, responded accordingly. An Earth-Kind garden was implemented so that gardeners and agriculturists could explore ways to restore roses’ natural cultivation processes to help them survive the changing weather with little maintenance.

So, what does this mean to me, a young professional exploring the non-profit sector? Why do I care so much about the 70-year story of a rose garden? To me, the history of the Park of Roses is largely about identifying needs in your community and adapting to meet those needs. In 1944, we needed victory gardens to support ourselves while the majority of our countries resources were being shipped overseas. Today, as climate change becomes increasingly concerning, we need to innovate ways to work with nature rather than against it. The Park of Roses is just one of Columbus’ attractions that aims to do more than provide a pleasant service; it consistently and impactfully responds to the needs of its own community.

I think that may be one of the biggest transformations I’ve made over the summer. Ten weeks ago, when I asked why I want to explore the non-profit professional sector, I would probably have given a vague description about wanting to help people and “do good.” While this is a good mindset, it’s a pretty weak goal. Watching successful non-profits and public services in action has made me realize I want to do more than simply “help out;” I want to have a significant hand in impacting and sustaining a community in which I want to live. I want to respond to the needs of my community and move it forward. I want to be a major player in a community that adapts and grows as needs and interests change. This type of leadership and initiative seems to be more often associated with high-level business executives, but why is that? Why is shaping a corporation called leadership when shaping and supporting an entire community is shrugged off as “helping out”? I realize now that working in the non-profit sector is much more than glorified volunteering – it means being a leader, an innovator, and a catalyst for positive change in the world you live in.

Something I hadn’t expected over the course of this internship was how much I would learn from the blogs of the other Fellows. While my main focus as a semi-professional is on health care, I know that there are a lot of other factors that intersect to make up health, including the environment, access to housing and nutritious food, and access to safe and fulfilling leisure and education. Seeing what other fellows are doing offered me an opportunity to develop my understanding of what other nonprofits are doing to address those factors.

The staff of the ALS Association have welcomed me with open arms, and I’ve been treated like a member of the team while here.  I’ve gotten to participate in the staff lunches and events, and last week they even had an office lunch for me to thank me for the work I’ve done this summer.  They gave me a card which everyone signed.

Signed by everybody.

(Evidently my chatting about the kitten I adopted this summer made an impression on them.)

You all can have a picture of Lily too.

I’ve been lucky to work with such great people, and it’s been nice while I’ve been here to be regarded as an equal with assets to bring to the office rather than a gopher.  I had a fantastic experience at my first year social work field practicum at Mount Carmel, but even there I was still doing a lot of shadowing and learning moreso than working on real contributions.  I’m glad that here I was able to learn while bringing something tangible to the organization.

I’m continuing on in a couple of weeks to my final year of grad school and my second year field practicum, which is at the VA hospital’s spinal cord injury clinic.  What’s extra exciting is that this is where our veteran ALS patients get referred for treatment, so I’ll be able to have a continuing relationship with some of those patients, and with my coworkers Leigh and Peggy too.  I’m happy to be able to carry the skills I’ve learned over the summer forward with me into my next chapter.

Next stop

When I reflect about my experience in The Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship Program, having the opportunity to receive insight and advice from various leaders in the community that are involved in the nonprofit and private sectors has been extremely beneficial, especially as I think about the start of my career, with graduating in December. Moreover, I have learned and received a plethora of valuable information about career development. During the summer fellowship experience, I had the opportunity to meet community leaders, including Ty Marsh. Mr. Marsh is Mayor Coleman’s first Chief of Staff, former President and CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and is currently the Executive Director of The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO). SWACO is the largest public landfill in the state of Ohio. In the meeting with Ty, I was excited to find out that he and Doug Kridler went to college together at the Ohio Wesleyan University and have remained friends since the mid 1970’s!

Ty Marsh and I. Mr. Marsh is the Executive Director of The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO), Mayor Coleman’s first Chief of Staff, and former President and CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. 

When I look back on my experience as a former intern at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, I realize that the skills learned and gained from that experience helped me to continue to develop both personally and professionally. Mr. Marsh has a background in public policy and government, like me. The skills learned and gained from being involved in public sector work has been easily transferrable to the nonprofit sector and performing duties at the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio. Moreover, after reflecting on the insight received from both Ty Marsh and Doug Kridler in a Learning Session, it is evident that they have similar values that they have attributed to their success as leaders in the community. Mr. Kridler mentioned during a Learning Session earlier in the Fellowship that a successful nonprofit is one that is run like a business. Mr. Kridler and Mr. Marsh also both mentioned that being a reliable and good employee, along with assessing your value proposition within an organization is important. Reflecting about one’s holistic development and seeking opportunities to learn as much as possible within every experience I undertake is something I will continue to do. I appreciate having the opportunity to meet and hear words of wisdom from both Mr. Doug Kridler and Mr. Ty Marsh.

Monday and Wednesday marked my final cultural orientation teaching days. The cultural group was Somali and they were all very attentive and engaged in the material and asked good, thoughtful questions. CRIS hired a full time cultural orientation instructor who started this week. Her name is Breanne and she observed my teaching at the cultural orientation to get a feel for what the classes and information are like. This was the first time I have trained someone for a position who was much older than me which I thought would be difficult, but Breanne is very relaxed, attentive, and respects my opinion and my experience as a teacher despite my younger age. She even joked how I got this gig as a Summer Fellow with 3/4’s of a Bachelors degree completed while she has masters in teaching English as a second language.

Wednesday was a surreal in the sense that I personally witnessed the emotional baggage of one of our clients. While Brienne and I were waiting for a case worker to bring the remaining clients to cultural orientation, we sat around with some of the students and talked about Somalia and the Somali language. I pulled out my work computer and was searching a map of Somalia and various pictures of what the capital Mogadishu looked like before the civil war. The students were all pointing at the different areas of Somalia they were from and where they grew up, laughing and sharing stories about their childhoods their. I then pulled up a picture of Siad Barre, the Somali dictator who was deposed in 1991, marking the complete destruction of the Somali government and its plunge into anarchy. An older Somali women got excited by the photo of Barre and was describing how her class had performed a song and dance for him way before the government collapsed. She began singing the song in Somali and she progressed her face became stricken with grief and she began to cry. The memory of a country’s stability and joy now long lost was painful for her. To think how good things were before the current situation and bad they are now must have hit her at that moment. It was a reality check for me that the emotional burden of fleeing one’s country takes its toll and old wounds are slow to heal, but the strength and will to survive and create a peaceful and healthy existence for one’s family is powerful enough for people to leave their home countries and start anew somewhere else. My workload is far from over with my last day approaching, but the work has not been redundant or boring, I realize each task’s importance in helping a client get a fresh start in Columbus.

We started off the week with a visit from the National organization! Columbus was one of the stops on the Triple Play Mobile Tour promoting healthy minds, bodies, and souls. We spent the day playing kickball, basketball, and learning about healthy lifestyles!

Last week, a team from NBC 4 visited to do a story on summer brain gain! It was great to see the kids so excited about summer learning. It was rewarding to see the project I have been working on all summer get such positive attention from the students, parents, and the community at large. A clip of the story can be found below!

http://www.nbc4i.com/video?clipId=10420223&autostart=true

At the beginning of the summer I would have been surprised if you told me a representative from the National organization would visit, along with the news in one week, I would not have believed it! Although the week was already jam-packed with activities there was still one more major event!

Last Thursday I accompanied 70 or so of our members to the corner of Broad and High for the launch of our “Great Futures” campaign! The goal of the event was to promote all of the amazing out-of-school programming that takes place at the Boys and Girls Clubs during the summer and throughout the school year! We arrived on the corner of Broad and High at approximately 2:45 p.m. At 3:00 the kids started ringing cow bells to signify that “School’s Out”. The cowbells were definitely a nice touch, because they got everyone’s attention! Everyone was honking their horns and stopping in the street asking the children why they were there. We had several donors and board members attend the event as well. After the club members rang the bells for approximately 2 minutes they began to dance along to the songs “Happy” and “Let it go”. Following the dance party, we began a chant. The staff would shout “School’s Out” and the members would yell, “Club’s in!” One of the best aspects of the entire event was the scrolling marquee. Our logo along with the #GreatFutures slogan was posted on the screens at the corner of Broad and High! It was a great event and definitely helped launch the “Great Futures” campaign. It was nice to be part of the national launch that commenced in Times Square at the same time!

#GreatFutures Campaign Launch!

I cannot believe I am in my last week! My next post will include a wrap-up of my current projects as well as a reflection on the overall experience!

My work for the ALS Association has finally started to come together in the last two weeks. When I first started, they let me know that if I was able to come up with a few options regarding the loan closet for them to consider, they’d be satisfied; I’m proud that I’ve been able to do more than that.

One of the issues facing the loan closet was that it was difficult to have an effective means of keeping track of the equipment. The software that the ALS Association uses to manage it is the general database it uses for patient management, which is not set up to manage inventory very well. I think that’s one of the more challenging aspects of nonprofit work – a lot of the time you have to work with what’s available rather than what would be the most effective. I was able to arrange for some code to be written for us that would allow us to run an inventory query and track how often certain kinds of equipment were being checked out, which would allow the staff to see what was used the most often, what isn’t being used as much, and what pieces of equipment haven’t been used at all within the past few years. If the staff intends to move toward paying for space, paring down the equipment in the closet will help them get the most out of their money.

I also was involved in documenting and recording the results for our patient survey that went out in our newsletter. I haven’t used Excel much since K-12 (over ten years ago now!), so this was challenging! I had to spend a while figuring out how to execute different functions and how to align the results in the spreadsheet so they made sense, but in the end, I was able to produce useful information for the chapter regarding patient feedback. I was also able to provide feedback that let them know how they might get better results from the survey they’re planning to do next year.

As for the loan closet location itself, I’ve discovered that getting a hold of decision makers at other organizations can sometimes be the biggest hurdle. While I’ve managed to have brief conversations with durable medical equipment companies that could store our equipment, it’s mainly been to arrange time to communicate further. Generally the decision makers can’t make decisions unilaterally, so there’s time allowed for them to go and discuss it with business partners – and then getting a hold of them again after that can be another challenge! I’m confident that even if I’m unable to finalize anything with them though, I’ve laid out enough groundwork for the staff to be able to do it with minimal pains once my fellowship is done at the end of this week.