Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

All cliches aside, so far in my fellowship I have learned that the most important thing about working as part of a team is communication.

Without communication, important tasks fall to the backburner, new ideas are lost, and creativity is stifled.  Although I have only been at Jazz Arts Group for a short time, I already know that something JAG does very well is communication.  I had the opportunity to sit in on a staff meeting, and something I found exciting and refreshing was the exchange of information and ideas between the staff.  Myself and the interns even had the opportunity to speak about the projects we had been working on, and we were able to get some additional direction and input from staff members. 

Since I blogged last, I have been busy making preparations for the upcoming JazZoo! season.  For those who don’t know what JazZoo! is, it is a series of four Columbus Jazz Orchestra concerts presented by Jazz Arts Group in collaboration with The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.  The concerts take place at Water’s Edge Events Park at the Zoo.  This season, we have an exciting variety of concerts for our audience to enjoy! 

So far, I have spent a lot of time organizing the customer table reservation data.  I have also been sending out packets of wristbands to those who reserved tables, as well as comparing and contrasting audience member reservations from years past.  I even got to help draft a letter that has gone out to those who reserved tables for the shows last year. 

I have also been spending some time brainstorming and investigating experiential enhancements for our guests to paricipate in at the concerts.  The JAG staff and and I have been working very hard to create a memorable and fun concert experience for our patrons. 

To find out what’s in store for this sixth season of JazZoo! visit http://www.jazzartsgroup.org/columbus-jazz-orchestra/jazzoo/!

– Janelle Myers – Fellow, Jazz Arts Group

Greetings Fellows and Friends! My name is Bailey Cleary-Foeller and I will be spending my ten week Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship working with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). As a regional planning commission, MORPC focuses on a number of different issues such as providing housing rehabilitation programs, working towards cleaner and more energy efficient regional transportation systems and participating in plans which will help build and support a strong local-food system. Although MORPC focuses on a wide range of issues the overarching goal of the organization is to help build a more prosperous and sustainable environment across the region.

My fellowship project with MORPC is to assist in the planning of EcoSummit 2012. EcoSummit will bring together scientists, engineers, policy makers and environmental groups in a weeklong international conference focusing on the renewal of ecosystem services. Last held in Beijing, China in 2007, the upcoming Fall 2012 EcoSummit will be the first of the conferences to be held in the United States. As part of MORPC ‘s  2012 planning team I spent my first week here researching ecosystem services and potential exhibitors and meeting with MORPC’s partners in planning EcoSummit, particularly representatives from the OSU Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. As my fellowship progresses I will be recruiting exhibitors and sponsors from around the world and developing promotional materials.

My experience at MORPC thus far has been absolutely wonderful! The staff is comprised of passionate, dedicated (and as I was pleased to discover) extremely warm and welcoming people who made me feel right off the bat like valuable asset to their team. Although I’ll primarily be working on EcoSummit 2012, I’ve had several opportunities over the past week to sit in on and participate in meetings and committees which span MORPC’s many areas of concentration, so I’ve really been able to develop an understanding of MORPC’s work in the community and the region and what an important resource they are! I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to be working with them on EcoSummit 2012.  It is extremely exciting to be a part of this prestigious conference and I am so looking forward to being able to further collaborate with MORPC staff, OSU scientists and international companies and organizations in the creation of it. I truly believe that the bringing together of these great and powerful minds from across the globe, and the diffusion of ideas that will result from it will play a vital role in creating a more sustainable world.

Bailey-Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

I had a great orientation yesterday with Sandi, Alicia, and Dan at the Carriage House at The Columbus Foundation.  The facility was truly beautiful and very unique!  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but getting to learn more about the other fellows was a fun experience!  I feel very privileged to be chosen to participate in this fellowship, and was so inspired and impressed by the professionalism of all of the fellows.

After we had discussed details of the fellowship, I headed over to the Short North office of my nonprofit placement, Jazz Arts Group.  I got to sit in on a staff meeting, and already began work on my project, the JazZoo! concert series.  I am looking forward to collaborating with The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and all of our great guest artists we have coming in for this year’s JazZoo! series.  I was also very excited to hear that the other fellows and staff from The Columbus Foundation will be attending one of the JazZoo! concerts.

I am very honored to be taking part in non-profit work, especially in the arts sector.  Ever since I was small, I have played an instrument and been involved with community and school educational groups.  I have seen firsthand the benefit of nonprofit organizations in the lives of myself, family, and friends.

During our orientation at The Columbus Foundation, President and CEO Doug Kridler talked about the misnomer that is “nonprofit”.   The “non” implies that there is no benefit, no outcome, no “profit” in this field of work.  Often, when I tell people that I want to go into nonprofit work when I graduate from college, they look at me like I’m crazy and ask me why I would want to work for free for the rest of my life, which is another common myth.  They are often shocked when I tell them that hospitals, schools, and even universities are nonprofit organizations, considering the amount of money that those organizations are worth.  These misconceptions about the nonprofit sector couldn’t be further from the truth.  The “profit” of these groups is seen in the lives of individuals and in the vibrancy of the community.  I look forward to my future in this sector and hope to change my community in a positive way through this fellowship.

– Janelle Myers

This Tuesday, I began a ten-week fellowship with The National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University Law School. A mere two days earlier, I graduated with a bachelor’s in strategic communication from The Ohio State University. In addition to the logistical changes that came along with this switch, there was a psychological shift taking place as well. In less than 48 hours, I went from being a student bogged down with homework and tests to an adult with my own office and no one looking over my shoulder. This newfound liberation spurred a mini-identity crisis and caused me to reevaluate who I really am.

One of the biggest things that has constructed my identity is my family and I have always known that they play a large role in my life. But the awareness of this fact within the context of NCALP, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping children who don’t have families, really made me stop and think. What if I didn’t have a family? Who would I fall back on in times of crisis? Where would my identity come from?

These questions are more than just words on a screen. These questions are far too real for the more than 100,000 children in the United States who are without a permanent family. And although this is a heartbreaking realization, it reminded me that I am in the right place.

– Ann, NCALP

This past week in Knoxville, TN the Children’s Defense Fund hosted their national training for the Freedom Schools and this summer I have been given the opportunity to work with this group of enthusiastic adults in an effort to promote education to everyone, yet focus on those who need it the most.  My site is located on Broad Street in downtown Columbus at the Broad Steet United Methodist Church and for the next six weeks five interns, one project director, and myself will reach out to 50 children promoting literacy in a fun and interactive manner.  Each morning we will start off with Harambee, which is thirty minutes of togetherness, singing, and motivation.  The children then will split up by grade level to read books, do activities, and make friends with those who they might have never known. Every afternoon we will either do more activities or take the children on a mini-field trip to educational locations around Columbus.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Freedom Schools and I have only high expectations for this summer, I can already tell, will be enriching.

Hello!

It was a great first week at Green Columbus! I spent the first few days getting acquainted with the office (its wonderfully cozy!) and my new responsibilities! Erin Chacey, my supervisor, had a great meeting this week to review my first round of tasks and our long-term goals, specifically designing and funding a supplementary education program for elementary students called Elements. The program will be used to educate the fundamentals of recycling, reducing and reusing and explore the elements of earth, wind, air and power and how they interact in our everyday lives.  I am very excited to get started on designing the program but first we have to draft a proposal and submit it to the Ohio Office of Environmental Education (OEEF) for review and approval. The approval process is a bit complicated because there are several requirements and guidelines for programs to be funded by the OEEF so I will have to learn and apply these guidelines. As we work on the proposal, I am also going to work on table materials (essentially informational sheets) about Green Columbus and its programs for community events we will be attending this and next month. I just finished my first draft of this info sheet so I will be submitting it to Erin tomorrow. In addition to these assignments, I also attended a workshop series called Training for Transition, a program that works towards creating fun and effective community solutions and resilience in the face of economic and resource instability and crisis.

The workshop was incredibly fascinating–our group explored the root of our dependence on oil, reviewed the seriousness of climate change and oil dependency, and discussed ways to shift away from the harmful practices that are negatively influencing our planet while also finding way to build bridges and reach people who understand the issues but don’t know how to contribute. Transition also works to strengthen community resilience and cooperation in the face of the instability we are facing. As someone who is educated on the importance of shifting to sustainable lifestyles but lies on the ‘less involved in a larger movement’ side, meeting a larger group of people who were discussing community rather than individual solutions environmental issues was initially intimidating but in the end a very interesting and moving experience. Transition could certainly be considered a more extreme environmental policy movement than simply those who choose to recycle or bike to work. These individuals are really about tackling the problems in a larger, community way that comes from a place of cooperation and compassion. I was worried about feeling polarized (due to my inexperience) because at times, extreme sides can be polarizing but one of the ideals of Transition is that there is not one way to solve the crisis of climate change and peak oil. However, the group does agree that a crucial way of solving the problem is making our solutions based on community and dialog. Successful Transition groups have formed all over the UK and have spread to the United States.

If you are interested in learning more about the Columbus branch of Transition (Transition Central Ohio) the organization Living Simply has links and contact info and can be explored at http://www.simplyliving.org/transition. Perhaps my favorite thing about attending the workshop was having the opportunity to meet so many wonderful new people from the environmental community. I’m looking forward to this coming week and getting more involved in the Elements proposal and continuing to learn the ropes of Green Columbus!

My name is Sarah and I have completed the first week of my summer Fellowship! I have the pleasure of working with the Columbus Speech & Hearing Center (CSHC). The center offers many programs for people of all ages. From children to adults, the center has something to offer.

When I first thought of speech and hearing, the first thing to come to mind was deafness. It never occurred to me that there are adults who suffer from stuttering or other speech problems that may prevent him/her from obtaining employment. I never thought about children who may have problems interacting with others due to a speech or hearing problem, children who may not know how to share with others, or children who need help pronouncing certain sounds. So far, the CSHC has opened my eyes to simple things that I have overlooked in my day-to-day life. Because of this, I have grown to cherish these things more than I did before. Communication is the very foundation of how we interact with each other in the world, so if someone is unable to communicate his/her thoughts, feelings, etc. it can be very detrimental to his/her quality of life.

This week I have been focusing on observing what the center does and it is apparent that the CSHC is doing great things! Next week, I’ll tell you a little about the project I’m working on…see you then!