Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

This week, my job became very different when I traded in the chaos of 500 children for the peace and serenity of a tidy little cubicle on the other side of the building. Although at first I thought I might not know what to do with myself without a million tasks on my plate, I have discovered that having the opportunity to think through and process what I experienced is very useful.

We have begun the process of evaluating exactly what we accomplished, who we affected, and where we have room for improvement in relation to the Summer Zone program. I developed a program evaluation for the staff based on my observations several weeks ago, and it was put into use during the last week of the program when it was passed out to the Lead teachers. I was quite impressed with the amount of thought and detail the staff put into completing their evaluations, and I have begun recording their responses in order to divide the relevant information into reports for those organizations which provided grants for the summer program as well as the director of the Community Center and the program directors themselves. This helps us to concretely identify areas of need from the perspectives of those individuals responsible for the success of the program, but also to obtain valuable suggestions for improvement to be implemented next year.

In addition, I have been tabulating the results of the Developmental Assets Survey which served as a pre-test and post-test for the students who attended the program. It asks questions about various facets of students’ lives from their schools to their families to their neighborhoods, and also allows us to measure which demographics of the population we served based on their reporting of their race, gender, and age. Although when children are involved the reliability of the statistics becomes rather low, it does allow us to collect some relevant information and, again, pass it along to granting organizations. For example, one question asks whether or not the student reads for enjoyment. The large number of students reporting that they do not read willingly will help substantiate the need for a literacy program.

Overall, although it was sad to say goodbye to all of the kids at the end of the program, this week has been a welcome change of pace.

Katie – Vineyard Community Center

Even though many people are familiar with HandsOn Central Ohio through their 2-1-1 information and referral line, HOCO has a direct connection with many organizations in the community. As I reach the end of my fellowship with the Resource Management Department, I find that I am still discovering new ways that HOCO impacts Central Ohio. For example, did you know there are many additional benefits offered in connection with the 2-1-1 line? HOCO is a crucial partner in programs like the Homeowner Helpline and different task forces. There are many ways that HOCO is interacting with the community and I have been fortunate enough to experience some firsthand.

My visits began with Homes on the Hill, an agency that offers vital programs such as foreclosure prevention counseling, homeownership education and affordable housing development. Through one-on-one counseling and group classes, they have helped more than 500 families avoid foreclosure! Through the Homeowner Helpline, our 2-1-1 call line is able to set appointments for callers who need housing assistance and put them directly into the agency’s database.  HOCO has been able to distribute calls equitably among agencies that focus on this area, which creates an imperatively organized, efficient and timely way to help the community.

In connection with housing assistance, I attended the Save Our Homes Task Force meeting at Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Here, representatives from numerous organizations met to talk about the current housing crisis in Columbus and the state of Ohio. Similarly, I also visited the Amethyst-Jefferson Avenue Apartments, which offer housing and treatment to women recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction. This was a beautiful new facility where Carol Hayden, the admissions coordinator and counselor, met and spoke to a group of us about the mission of Amethyst and the programs they run. This was a stop on the Beyond the Freeway tour, another benefit offered by HOCO. This is a tour that takes groups around Columbus shedding light on the issues of poverty our community faces.

It has been an exiting few weeks! I am enjoying visiting different agencies in the community and learning more about what they do and how they work with HOCO. One common thing I am hearing: HOCO is offering essential services for these programs to maintain their success. HOCO’s impact on the community through these agencies is evident and is showing me their reach beyond the Call Center. What’s neat is that these are only a handful of the benefits HOCO offers and agencies they work with—their reach is actually far greater!

Laine – HandsOn Central Ohio

Since my last post, most of my time at Consider Biking has been spent working on the BikeColumbus Festival. When first planning the festival, we hoped for 200 riders for each event. As the weeks passed, however, registration continued to climb far past 200 per event – in the last week alone it practically doubled! While we were thrilled, it made that week quite hectic. Our biggest challenge, however, was one that might seem amusing now, but was definitely not at the time. Saturday morning, when we got to the park where the event was being held, we realized that the porta-potties we ordered had not been delivered. 500 people were going to bike as many as 120 miles and they had nowhere to go to the bathroom.

Boston’s Pizza, who was next to our venue, was kind enough to allow us to use their bathrooms, but, as the last rider left on their ride, the bathrooms flooded. Again, the 500 riders were going to return from extremely long bike rides and had nowhere to use the bathroom. We could still not get a hold of our porta-potty company, since it was 8am on a Saturday, but we noticed that a neighboring event had porta-potties. We called the emergency contact from their supplier, and they delivered the porta-potties five minutes before the first rider returned. The event, without exaggeration, had been saved.

I can definitely look back on this experience and know that, even if the problem seems devastating, something can usually be done to either alleviate it or fix it entirely. The festival and my entire experience with Consider Biking so far has helped me feel more prepared for what will come after I graduate. Entering my senior year, it has been nerve-racking to think about joining the “working world” and I cannot put into words what a relief it is to have already seen a bit of what it will be like.

With the festival over, I am looking forward to starting my next project, 2 by 2012, which aims to have employees in Columbus bike to work at least twice a month by 2012. We already have a lot of well-known companies and individuals (such as the mayor!) involved and it is exciting to know that I am participating in something that will impact much of Columbus. I am very lucky and thankful that I am able to work with an organization that is both related to my future goals and dedicated to something I fully believe in!

Stacy – Consider Biking

In my last blog I wrote about the various opportunities I have had to engage in community outreach through my fellowship with Planned Parenthood. More recently, I was fortunate enough to continue this work on a national scale when I traveled with our organization to Washington D.C. for a three day Youth Organizing and Policy Conference.

The highlight of the conference was PPFA’s lobby day. I have always found the idea of lobbying to be somewhat intimidating, and perceived it as an act reserved for the “experts.” When I discovered we would be spending an entire day on Capitol Hill lobbying I was admittedly nervous. However, after learning more about what the process really involves and how I could participate meaningfully I was much more confident. Throughout the day we met with various offices and engaged in candid conversations with legislative aides and assistants. The experience was very informative and certainly something I would not have had the chance to do had I not been a summer fellow.

Since the preparation for, attendance of, and follow-up from the Youth Conference have dominated the majority of my office’s attention for the past several weeks time has flown by and I can hardly believe the seventh week of the fellowship is about to conclude. In the remaining three weeks, two other interns and I will be putting our efforts towards various other projects. However, I will certainly be using some of the knowledge and tools I acquired at the conference to inform my future work. I am excited to focus my attention on new endeavors and can only hope that the final three weeks of the fellowship go by more slowly than the past seven!

– Sara M.  Planned Parenthood

“I’ve got too many irons in the fire,” is an expression I’d often hear my grandma say.  Well, I wouldn’t say it’s “too many,” but the Phoenix Theatre for Children definitely has a lot of irons in the fire right now!  Just this week, there were summer camps going on in six (yes, six!) different locations!  IN addition to the camps held at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, PTC also has camps running at the Riffe Center, BalletMet, Columbus School for Girls, the Lincoln Theatre, and  in Dublin, In addition, they are providing teachers for a workshop at the Franklin Park Conservatory tomorrow. 

I think the coolest thing about PTC being present in so many areas is how they are able to broaden their impact this way.  Part of PTC’s mission is “to provide young people and their families with theatrical experiences that encourage and enhance an awareness of self and the world in which we live.”  By having camps in multiple locations, PTC is able to expand this mission to areas of the community outside of its physical boundaries.

I spend most of my time at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, and this week I spent all of my time there.  This week was World Theatre camp.  We decided to take a familiar story, Cinderella, and find different versions of the story from around the world.  Last week as I was collecting materials for the camp, I learned that there is an Irish Cinderella, an Egyptian Cinderella, a Cajun Cinderella, an Appalachian Cinderella, a Korean Cinderella, and a Mexican Cinderella.  (I’ll bet you didn’t know that!)  It was fun to watch the campers learn about international forms of theatre, including Commedia del arte and Kabuki.  One of the highlights for the campers was getting to wear Kabuki costumes.

I’ve also been able to witness some of the other camps and programs going on.  Today, I went over to BalletMet to watch some of the dancers perform the monologues that they’ve been working on.  Tomorrow, I’m helping with the puppet workshop which is part of the Savage Gardens program/exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory.  And, next Wednesday I’ll be chaperoning a trip to the opening night of Wicked for the campers at the Riffe Center.

I admire PTC for taking on so many opportunities for education and outreach and I’m glad that I get to bear witness to some of the amazing programs they have in place.

 Julia Rice- CATCO-Phoenix

Fact: You learn something new every day.

As I was growing up, my parents liked to remind me of this old adage, and my time as a fellow at Columbus Housing Partnership has certainly proved it to be true. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how much I’ve learned in six weeks; I can now confidently discuss tax credits and unemployment statistics, and I’ve gained invaluable insights into professional office life, the housing industry in Columbus, and the many inequities that pose problems for homeowners and job seekers. I have even found myself discussing mortgage loans at the dinner table!

During our last learning session, we talked about the role of individuals as it relates to funding, but my fellowship has proved that personal relationships are essential in all areas of non-profit work. For example, take North of Broad (lovingly nicknamed NoBo), a community in the King Lincoln district, just east of Downtown. CHP has been reaching out to residents in the area and building and renovating homes in an effort to revitalize the neighborhood. In addition to these homes (one of which has platinum LEED certification!), CHP staff members have helped create a neighborhood association and a thriving community garden. By ensuring that residents of the area are involved in their neighborhood, CHP has created a more organic and ultimately more successful revitalization effort. The success of NoBo has depended on the cultivation of personal relationships with residents of the area, as well as with members of city government, donors, and other organizations, and it’s a lesson I’ll remember long after I finish my fellowship. (Shameless plug: If you want to read more about NoBo, check out the website here!)

Six weeks into my fellowship (where has the time gone?!), I’m still impressed every day by the dedication, innovation, and passion of the CHP staff. I love the creativity of non-profits, as well as the opportunity to see the difference you are making in someone’s life. I’m having a great experience at CHP, and I’m learning more every day! I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring!

Christina – Columbus Housing Partnership

For twenty years, I’ve lived a little over a mile from a state institution for people with developmental disabilities. I’ve driven past it hundreds of times and never known what it was.

Worse than that, I never thought to ask.

This is not the facility where I work: rather, I have the pleasure of spending my fellowship at the Association for the Developmental Disabled, or ADD. As a service provider for people with developmental disabilities living in the community, ADD functions in some similar, many dissimilar, ways to this government-run institution. I bring it up because this little gap in my knowledge actually signals a chasm.

My task at ADD is to lay the groundwork for the production of a video about the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, but I realized that before coming to ADD, this was a whole group of people that I had never thought much about. Sure, I knew they existed, but—out of sight, out of mind—they’d all but disappeared. If you’d have asked me about the prevalent issues of individuals with developmental disabilities, I’d have furrowed my eyebrows and cleared my throat. If you’d have asked me what “human rights” really meant—and that’s really what we’re talking about when I say a “rights” video—I would have gone a little big eyed and mumbled something about children in Sudan.

Eye-opening, illuminating, enlightening—call it what you want. The point is that five weeks ago I didn’t think about this stuff. Now I can begin to have a conversation with you. Now I can graft your insights onto my experiences over the last five weeks of observing and interacting with individuals who have developmental disabilities as well as some of the people and groups that surround them.

But it’s not just that I’ve learned things specific to this field—and trust me, I’ve been trying to fill my brain with names and facts and assumptions, with acronyms and organizations and attitudes. I’ve also learned a lot about how I work and how an organization can work.

I’ve learned that I’m a more visual learner than I’d known. (I bought a whiteboard, I cut things up into little pieces and tape them onto construction paper, I draw pictures, I long for colored pens: all of these ridiculous things help me think.) I’ve learned that when I do research, I constantly, sometimes to my own detriment, search for reference points and stack questions upon questions until the foundations quiver. I’ve learned I need to make lists in the morning and I need to pay more attention to Outlook.

But outside my little office, the work processes get more interesting, more complicated. I get to see from the point of view of an outsider—or really, a recently initiated insider—how a mission on paper plays out in the conference room, how the different parts of an organization interact and affect each other, how managers address their employees, how decisions get made, how shifts and changes in an organization happen.

At the risk of irreverence, let me just say that it’s pretty sweet.

Now that I understand—if only a little better—the field into which I’ve stepped, I look forward to continued progress on this video and to all of the things I know I’ll learn in the coming weeks, all of the new awareness that such an experience adds.

Anne – the Association for the Developmentally Disabled