Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hello all,

As many of you know, I have been planning the Inaugural AIDS Walk Bar Crawl and let me tell you, the game is always changing.

You make a timeline, create a budget, compose a spreadsheet full of contacts, and begin your planning.  However, I have quickly found that it’s difficult to stick to a deadline and often I have had to find a creative solution or do some quick rearranging.  For example, recruiting bars took well over the week I had allotted for and often times I had to do the legwork myself.  I think a large part of this may be because I work for a nonprofit and so there is not as much capital to leverage.  But we sure do have a great cause–and many bars were surprised they had not heard of AIDS Walk and were very willing to participate.

T-shirts, logos, signs, paper materials, brochures, bar passports, and many, many rubber stamps and stamp pads later, I am somehow 95% ready for Saturday!  My volunteers are great, my bars are on board, and everything else is last minute adjustments.

So in sum I have learned to be quick on my feet and to try to keep panic at bay even when deadlines change and your timeline becomes almost useless.  Come see me at my bar crawl this Saturday at 12:00 PM at either Union Cafe or Park Street Patio.  We have a raffle–go to all bars and be entered to win a $200 AMEX gift card!  Also, if you sign up for AIDS Walk you receive a free t-shirt that day.  Hope to see you there!

This week there have been multiple meetings with service providers (i.e. Maryhaven and Faith Mission), the Community Shelter Board (CSB), and the City Council to address the shelter waitlist.  The average waitlist for men and women seeking shelter for July 2012 (77) has drastically increased from July 2011 (18).  We hope that the council will allot more funds to provide additional beds and staff to address the emergency shelter crisis.  The Columbus Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) provided concrete solutions to the problems with number of beds needed and associated costs.  No solution has been reached yet among the parties.

 Considering the general public does not know about CCH, we need to educate them.  I wrote an outreach advocacy speech this week to show people that we are a referral organization and employ people through Street Speech and Greenworks.  Individuals believe that “you guys are the ones that sell the newspaper” or “do you have a place I could sleep tonight.”  These examples are not entirely true so we need to educate the community about what we actually do.

 To get a better perspective of being a street vendor, I decided to go out and be a vendor!  I dressed down and went downtown to sell our newspaper.  I was more nervous than I thought I would be to sell the newspaper.  I stood at one corner and was very timid to ask executives walking with their suits and drinking their coffees if they wanted a paper.  However, I found the courage and greeted and asked people for 20 minutes.  Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful at selling even one paper.

 During our weekly writer’s meeting the vendors discussed and wrote down their experiences with individuals being disrespectful towards them.  For example, vendors discussed how individuals would swear at them and tell them “go get a real job and stop begging.”  Knowing the vendors personally and having sold the papers myself these comments disturb me.  This makes me what to further advocate for our program and organization as a whole.

David

I’m happy to report that my transportation study is essentially complete. I reviewed all of the information – and my related recommendations – with the Homeless Families Foundation’s executive director on Monday. And I’ll be working to create an abbreviated presentation for the management team here as well as for the Columbus Foundation’s closing luncheon, which is next Friday. (Where has the summer gone??)

Over the past few days, I’ve been working on new projects for HFF. A few of them are related to enhanced reporting tools that can provide increased visibility for board members and for staff. I’m providing recommendations on the “trend report” which provides quarterly measurement of key goals and important outcomes. I’m hoping to create a few different user-friendly templates, which will automatically populate summary reporting, graphs, etc (provided that a minimal amount of monthly data is entered). I have prior work experience in reporting and data analysis, so this type of work is right up my alley!

And of course this is another week full of professional development opportunities… I’m attending this afternoon’s Grant Professionals Association meeting as well as tomorrow’s presentation at the Columbus Foundation.

For any readers who are considering applying for a Summer Fellowship with the Columbus Foundation… This is a great opportunity! Don’t pass it up!

The main objective of the project I was given at Local Matters was to create a document telling the story of how the Near East Side Cooperative Market came to be. At first, I thought of this document as a blueprint. In other words, if a similar community to the Near East Side somewhere else in the country wanted to open a cooperative grocer, what advice would I want to give them? I’ve been writing from this practical standpoint for 8 weeks, and just this afternoon I had a meeting that totally revamped my ideas.

Michael Jones, the executive director of Local Matters, sat down with me to discuss my final presentation this afternoon. He’s just as excited as I am about the Pecha Kucha format, and his main advice was to forget statistics, forget hard facts, and focus on telling a compelling story. I had created a preliminary presentation outline that discussed Local Matters as an organization, gave information on a cooperative business model, provided statistics on the Near East Side economy, etc. etc. etc. Michael asked me to put the data aside and take a walk down the street with my camera. He suggested capturing life in the neighborhood by photographing the vacant lots, the corner stores, and moms on their porches with their children. These people, these places, and these businesses make up the Near East Side and convey the need for a cooperative grocer so much more than a handful of statistics ever could.

The suggestion to move away from data and move towards aspects that can help bring the story to life has given me new direction for editing my final document. Although it may seem late in the game, right now is the perfect time to receive this directive. At this point, I have a lengthy document that contains all the facts, and it will be manageable to infuse life into the document by tweaking the language, adding photos, and making the story more relatable.

I’m excited for these last two weeks.

Last week I took a trip to my grandparents house to drop off my sister for the weekend, and I found some really amazing information. Apparently my great-great grandpa settled into Columbus a block away from the King Arts Complex when he migrated from Italy!  I found it amazing that I pass by the home of old relatives every day on my commute and I wasn’t even aware of it!
It wasn’t until recently that my family took an interest in researching our genealogy. It seemed to be a 3rd and 4th generation scramble to recover a heritage that almost slipped out of our fingers as the older generations passed away. For Columbus Italians, this seems to be the trend. Recently,  Andy and Erin Dominianni published a book called Columbus Italians to preserve the city’s vibrant Italian history. The book has a picture of Giuseppe and Maria Fracasso, the owners of Fracasso’s grocery that used to reside at 807 St. Clair in front of the house where my great grandparents grew up. Very little trace exists of the Italian community on St. Clair, other than a flag that proudly flies from an apartment porch on 2nd Avenue near Cleveland.

This Thursday at the Heritage Concert, I was able to connect with a woman named Rose who volunteered at the Kids Gallery. We connected over the fact that she probably knew my grandparents at some time or another, living in Columbus. They attended different Catholic schools but grew up in the same area. My grandma recently recounted her family’s walk from her Grandma’s house to St. John the Bapist on Sundays when she was growing up.

It is amazing to see these communities change and transform, from what I have heard and seen it is much different than it was even 40 years ago. To know that the streets that I walk today are the same ones that my family walked at the beginning of the last century amazes me. My ancestors don’t seem quite so distant anymore, nor does the community that I work with currently. Despite the cultural barriers I encounter working with urban youth, I recognize that we are all “Columb-ians”, the ground on which we stand, the ground on which we work and live our lives is all the same. It is encouraging for me to have this kind of connection with the King-Lincoln and Milo Grogan neighborhoods.

Researching my Italian heritage is also making me very excited for what is to come in the next few weeks. After the fellowship, I am going to take a breather and go to Italy for a few weeks to visit some friends. I plan to spend some time in Milan, Piedmont, Lake Como, Florence, Siena and Carrara. I am considering visiting Castions di Zoppola, Udine or Trieste where my family used to live. I can’t wait! I will get back in time for the Columbus Italian Festival as well. If you attend, make sure you come look for me at the Miss Columbus Italian Competition! I will be turning in my application next week and hopefully I can make it to the final round!

-Jamie

Columbus Italians

Hi all,

I apologize for the delay in writing!  Since I last blogged, we attended an inspiring, impressive, and affirming learning session about careers in nonprofit.  There, a statement was made that success results from patience, persistence, and a willingness to change.  The past week at work proved this advice to be true!  The Kids Lunch Club is wrapping up (Friday, August 10 is our last program day before the kids return to school on August 15), and various staff members have been finishing their terms with AmeriCorps.  This means I’ve been out in the field for a couple of days, getting to see the true fruits of our labor.  Occasionally, it can be a challenge to focus on precision of paperwork, meal counts, demographic information, etc. when my desired focus is feeding and engaging the kids.  The direct contact with children and families in the field fuels my energy to continue the other, less direct but essential work. 

Also this week, Deb and I had a deadline for a grant application for next year.  Working on it numerous days – we gathered needed information and data, wrote narratives and needs statements, and met with W.A.R.M.’s executive director to discuss potential additions and changes.  Since I never experienced the grant proposal process before, it was an intriguing and enlightening event.  Later in the week, several W.A.R.M. staff and I had a meeting with a few individuals from the Ohio Association of Food Banks in reference to advocacy about childhood hunger and specifically about a possible continuation of the backpack weekend meals. 

The evaluation I am collaborating with Otterbein University to complete is in its final stages.  The focus groups are finalized and we will administer individual surveys all of next week to both volunteers and participants (adults as well as children).  As the lunch club program ends on August 10, I will follow up by compiling and analyzing the findings the following week (and amazingly the last week of the Fellowship already!).  I am anxious to finish up this aspect of the evaluation project. 

Reflecting on my time at W.A.R.M. and the Kids Lunch Club, I have had a varied and broad perspective on work in a nonprofit organization, witnessed and participated in meetings and assignments I was surprised to encounter, and grew from these experiences. 

In closing, in today’s Columbus Dispatch I read about the loss of the past president of The Columbus Foundation.  I feel inspired by the life of James Luck.  He was a passionate man that used his resources and intelligence to help those in need, and you can understand how The Columbus Foundation has grown to be an organization in its giving. 

The chaos has calmed the last few days at the KAC. After 3 weeks of preparation, the kids put on their final performance this Wednesday at the Pythian Theatre. It was an AMAZING show! There was everything from spoken word to acting, singing and drumming, Latin dance, African dance, and hip hop! It was exciting to see all of the kids displaying their talents and getting enthusiastic and nervous for the show.  I enjoyed being able to connect with local artistic masterminds, like Sister Yvetta, Malik A. Willoughby, Adrienne Bailey and Kaipai. I love seeing their artistic endeavors and how they contributed to the performance.

Hopefully in the next few weeks Kaipai and I will be able to do some collaborative work. I know earlier this week I mentioned that I was excited to start painting again after all of the inspiration that has come my way this summer. I started pulling together some of my inspirations and I decided to pick up performance painting.

My first encounter with performance painting was in 2008 when I found David Garbaldi’s art online. I was originally captivated by his fine art: I came across a piece called “Lounge Smoke” that was in the style I was trying to create, until I realized that I was only imitating! After I found that, I discovered that he is also a performance painter, and I would spend much of my time in art classes watching his videos with friends in high school.

http://www.avisca.com/Html/Avisca_2178.htm

Recently, I found out he will be in Toledo on August 7th to perform for a Gala Dinner, but tickets are over $200! I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t make it but maybe I will see him perform some day!

As I was researching him recently I discovered that the original performance painter was Denny Dent! Some other big names in the performance painting world are Frenchy, Brian Olsen, Rock Demarco, Dan Dunn, Michael Potts, and VOKA, who refers to his paintings as “spontaneous realism”.

VOKA’s work:

http://weheartit.com/entry/25839282
I stumbled across my second inspiration in 2010, when I worked on an independent research project about immigration in Italy. I found recordings of the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, and was inspired not only by their art but by their mission. They work in the Esquilino district in Rome with the Apollo 11 Cultural Association “in order to enhance the intercultural characteristics of an area where Italians are the ethnic minority.”

Having been in Italy and having both seen and experienced the frustrations of immigration there, (including but not limited to harsh treatment, racism, unspoken segregation, unemployment and financial difficulties) I was overjoyed at the existence of an orchestra in which immigrants can freely express themselves and demonstrate their positive cultural contributions to the community.  I hope one day to be able to see them perform, or maybe even be a part of the orchestra!

The same issues that I encountered in Italy also happen here in Columbus as well. Throughout college I had an interest in improving the life quality of immigrants to Columbus, and now I have an opportunity to do this through my art! I am hoping to make it into the performance realm at some point in the future, but for now I will be collaborating with local immigrant musicians to create large-scale paintings to create a more tight-knit and community among Columbus natives, immigrants, and refugees.

Here is some of the Kids Gallery artwork from the past few weeks:

Painted Chair!

Also…if you remember the turtle table from a few weeks ago, here is the finished product:

-Jamie

I can’t believe we only have two more weeks to go. I can’t believe that in two weeks I will no longer be an intern with the one and only Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio. I can’t believe that in six days our first graduating class for the DSACO Summer Learning Academy will be recieveing their diplomas. I can’t believe that two days ago we celebrated the final outing for our Golf Academy. I can’t believe it’s August. What happened to Summer?

It seemed like just yesterday I was googling Down syndrome just hoping to figure out what it was. Now I’m sharing with everybody just how awesome it is working with DSACO and the members and families it serves. It seemed like just yesterday I was overwhelmed by the youngsters in our learning academy. Now, I’m just slightly-overwhelmed occasionally by the kids, and primarily fascinated by there strong personalities, inspired by their love for family, friends, and learning, and appreciative of the opportunity to work with them. It seems like just yesterday we were enduring the scorching heat of June and July. Now it seems like we are enduring the slightly-less-scorching heat of August. But I digress.

But it’s been real. It’s been fun. And it’s been really fun. Time flew by this Summer, and I really owe it to the office staff for making every day in the office enjoyable and full of laughter and to the persons with Down syndrome who participated in our Golf Academy and Learning Academy. With Down syndrome, it’s all about having fun. Everything is fun, because what is life if it isn’t enjoyable? Even the hard stuff. And they remind me of this every day, and I will surely never forget.

If we can’t learn something right away, let’s make a game out of it. If it’s not interesting enough right away, let’s make a competition out of it. If I miss my mom, I’m going to climb all over Alfred with the other kids in my class and that will make everything all better [true story]. If a book isn’t exciting, let’s put it on a cd and sing it with funky hand motions.

To build upon a favorite quote of mine by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Basically, anyone can be great because anyone can love. And of those, these kids with Down syndrome are the greatest.