Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

My second week started off with an incredible opportunity. I spent my first two days at the Columbus Foundation for the Green Funds presentations. I want to thank Dan Sharpe, Vice President of Community Research and Grants Management, for inviting me to this event and to the Green Funds for funding my fellowship at the GIAC.

The Green Funds program is an initiative where an advisory committee, which I had the privilege to observe, allocates a substantial amount of donated money to various nonprofits. These allocations are based on the Green Funds’ mission, which is to enhance the quality of life in Central Ohio by supporting the responsible use of natural resources and ensuring their availability for future generations. Over the course of two days, about 20 nonprofits presented their cases, and I was fascinated by the process of deciding which organizations would receive funding and in what amounts. It was an enlightening experience, and I gained valuable insights into the world of grants and nonprofit funding.

After the Green Funds presentations, I met with Nicole Minadeo, the Communications Director for the Audubon Great Lakes Region. She provided feedback on my press release that I wrote last week, including the addition of a boilerplate, which is a section at the bottom that explains Audubon’s mission. The press release was officially released and I was thrilled to see that it was featured in several news articles, including the Columbus Dispatch.

On Wednesday, I attended the fellows’ biweekly meeting, where I got to hear about the projects my peers have been working on. We also had the pleasure of listening to Erin Scott, Director of Capacity Building and Community Knowledge at the Columbus Foundation. Erin shared her inspirational career journey, emphasizing that career paths are rarely linear and sometimes require taking significant risks.

Returning to GIAC, I had the chance to visit the Linden Community Center to help with the after-camp nature-inspired programming that GIAC hosts every Wednesday during the summer. I led the children on a bird walk and introduced them to the sensory garden, where they got to taste all of the fresh herbs. The dill was a particular favorite because it “tasted like pickles,” and the kids even started putting it on the chips we provided for snack time!

The remainder of the week was busy and productive. I compiled a long list of LGBTQ+ organizations to contact to promote our Pride Bird Walk on June 22nd, created the associated social media post, and helped choose merchandise to giveaway.

Finally, I began working on the sponsorship program for 2025, which is my main objective for the summer. I started brainstorming potential benefits GIAC could offer to sponsors and what to include in the program.

By Kanyinsola Adesoba

My second week at Seeds of Caring was deeply engaging and filled with enriching experiences. This week, I was actively involved in our summer programming, specifically with the CDF Freedom Schools. We visited Lincoln Park on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, where we engaged with children aged 7 to 14. During these visits, we taught them about the invaluable contributions of veterans, emphasizing the importance of gratitude for their courage and bravery. The children used their hands, hearts, and minds to create thoughtful kits for veterans, which will be donated as tokens of appreciation.

Although my role this week was primarily observational, I learned a great deal from co-leading these events. The experience underscored the importance of fostering a growth mindset—not only for the children but for myself as well. I look forward to taking on more leadership responsibilities as the weeks’ progress.

A particularly impactful part of my week was the “PLANT” session on Thursday. PLANT stands for Peer-Leaders Aspiring for a New Tomorrow and focuses on children aged 11-14 who are passionate about volunteering but have aged out of our school visits and are not yet old enough to drive themselves to volunteer locations. This program ensures they remain engaged and feel valued in the community. The PLANT sessions are designed to help these young individuals develop leadership skills, allowing them to serve as role models for their peers at various events. It was inspiring to see these kids embrace their roles, demonstrating that they are indeed aspiring to create a better tomorrow.

Training continued throughout the week, including a significant research project aimed at future growth. As Seeds of Caring looks to expand into new cities, I have been tasked with gathering information to assess potential locations. This research is crucial for our strategic planning, and I am thrilled to contribute to the organization’s growth in this way.

My week went smoothly, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to assist in small yet meaningful ways. I am eager to continue learning and to contribute my skills and passion to Seeds of Caring. The sense of purpose and community here is truly inspiring, and I am excited to see what the coming weeks will bring.

I included a picture of me holding up the kit I made for the veterans at one of the classrooms we visited.

See y’all next week,

Kanyin

I joined at a really interesting time within Leadership Columbus. Like I mentioned last week, I was lucky enough to sit in on the closing ceremony for our Signature Program. We have our new Executive Director starting in a few weeks as well. And now this week was focused on getting all of our save the dates for our 50th Anniversary Celebration out the door, so at least that’s off the list now. I honestly didn’t realize how much work goes into sending out invitations to as many people as we did. Also this week, I got to witness one of the program days for our NxGen program. This program is more focused on emerging leaders who are relatively new to managing people and want to develop more skills to help them in those roles. By the end of this week, I have finally started to feel like I have settled in at Leadership Columbus. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be a very busy summer but I’m ready to take on whatever challenge comes my way.

I wanted to touch on a few things I learned by sitting in for a NxGen program day. My first experience being the closing ceremony for our largest program, I have to say that this second experience was especially contrasting as there are much less students and it was a normal program day. The focus of this day was all about personal growth and I would like to share a few things I learned with you because I found the information to be very insightful and rewarding. I had heard this first piece of information before but it was very remindful to hear it again, that growth is not linear. In fact, it is actually exponential which brings me to the concept of the S-curve. The three phases on the S-curve being your initial launch, your sweet spot and finally, achieving mastery.

I am telling you all of this because it really resonated with me. I was able to picture where I am on the S-curve for different places in my personal growth journey. The presentation was given by Aaron Fields, who specializes in helping leaders and professionals grow in life or in their work careers. For me, this presentation was truly eye opening. The following day, while sitting with my peers at the Columbus Foundation, we then learned about our “why”. You have to be able to ground yourself and figure out why you want to do what you do and what you want the purpose of your work to be. I mention this because I feel like the concept is closely associated with what I gained from Aaron’s presentation.

So, as I laid in my bed that night and had the regular “mid-life crisis” that happens frequently when you’re in college. I was trying to figure out my “why” in my professional career. Though I can’t tell you that for sure yet because it’s not something that’s just going to be an “AHA!” moment, I can at least share with you an analogy that I recently had a professor at OSU tell me. Dr. Larry Inks in the Fisher College of Business shared with us something that has stuck with me ever since. (Sorry if I butcher this professor but hopefully I got the gist of it.) When we look at how to grow and develop during an internship/fellowship, imagine yourself as a towel trying to soak up as much experience and knowledge you possibly can. While working, always be thinking, “what can I learn from this?” or “how can I improve?” By the end of it, you want to be able to wring as much as you can out of that towel and to have felt that you have personally grown or felt more developed than where you started.

So for me, during this fellowship, I guess I would say I’m feeling like a towel right now. May not be the answer most were expecting, but it’s an honest answer for me. I’m just trying to take the most I possibly can out of working with Leadership Columbus and Columbus Foundation this summer. At least by the end of it, I will able to truly say that I took the most out of it, and my hope is that it will help guide me down the right path of my professional journey.

See you next week,

Austin

Hello! My name is Nia Hooper, and I am a Junior at Denison University majoring in Educational Studies. My passion for community involvement, helping and educating others has always been an integral part of my life, and I thought working for a nonprofit would be an immensely rewarding experience for this summer. I am so excited and honored to be a part of the Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellowship program this summer and to be paired with my top choice, Children’s Hunger Alliance (CHA).

My first week at Children’s Hunger Alliance has been filled with new explorations, new faces and experiences nevertheless. On my first day, I was greeted by each member of the team upon arrival. Everyone at Children’s Hunger Alliance was so welcoming and encouraging. At the beginning of the week, I had a tour of CHA’s beautiful office building and met with several great members of Children’s Hunger Alliance who helped me understand the huge impact that Children’s Hunger Alliance has made in Ohio for over 50 years helping children facing food insecurity.

CHA is dedicated to serving children experiencing food insecurity. Children’s Hunger Alliance mission is to ensure that children without access receive healthy food, nutrition education and physical activity. CHA partners with in-home childcare providers, childcare centers, afterschool and summer programs to provide balanced, healthy meals to children in their care.

Although my first week at CHA was very busy, the highlight of my week was most definitely helping at the Children’s Hunger Alliance Warehouse facility. My final day of the week was spent at CHA’s nearby warehouse, to make meal boxes which are then distributed at meal sites all across the state. We packaged shelf-stable Weekend Meal components into convenient grab-and-go boxes so these meals are distributed around the state to feed hungry kids on the weekend. It was great seeing so many young people who have a heart for service come together to ensure that children and their families won’t have to stress about food over the weekend.

This is such an exciting time, and I am eager to take part in the adventures that lie ahead as well as to grow professionally and personally. I am so grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to begin my second week!

Hi everyone! My name is Kennedy Smith, I am a recent graduate from The Ohio State University. My degree is a B. A in Political Science with a specialization in Inequality and Justice following a minor in African American African Studies. This summer, I am working with The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio!

Before my first day, I had engaged in many email exchanges, calls, and an event with the team at The Women’s Fund which made me even more excited to get started. I attended their annual Keyholder event featuring one or more speakers who share their art, thoughts, and experiences within their respective spaces. The speaker’s contributions in Keyholder further feed into opening up space for new perspectives to be heard. The Women’s Fund core mission is centered around intersectionality. Intersectionality references the interconnectedness between an individual’s various identities that translate into how those intersecting identities influence one’s experiences and perceptions of the world. The Keyholder speaker, Joy Harjo a three-time U.S. poet Laureate featured Maggie Smith, a local author. Both speakers discussed how their identity as women impacted how their work was received and created. The core of the conversation rested in the sentiments that our various identities are assets, feeding into the spaces we interact with. Attending Keyholder furthered my excitement to work with The Women’s Fund through this Fellowship.

On my first day, I was warmly greeted by each member of the team upon arrival. The office is only 7 minutes away from me which is awesome! Drew, the Director of Fundraising, gave me a tour of the office and set me up with a computer and desk. We went over some projects I would be involved in this summer, which includes a research project on accelerating and decelerating factors of wealth and some donor communications. Each project will give me great insight into various aspects of non-profit work. Upon starting this fellowship I wanted a holistic view of roles in non-profit organizations, giving me a greater perspective of what to pursue post-fellowship. Drew offered some great insights on fundraising while discussing his background in non-profit organizations. He discussed some personal experiences he’s had and spoke about how organizations differ depending on the city its based in. Later on that day, Drew organized a lunch where I was able to connect with Maddy, the Research and Advocacy Manager, and Drew even more over some delicious Brassica.

After the first day’s run down I began diving into some more focused research about the Women’s Fund to further understand the mission and ways in which the organization operates. This research will be especially helpful for my second project which is centered around donors. In addition, I began setting up meetings with all the team to connect with them to learn more about their background within the non-profit sectors. Having meetings with everyone gives me a much better scope on everyone’s role and how I might be able to support them with the projects as the summer progresses.

As expected, I was nervous for nothing and was so kindly welcomed by the team at The Women’s Fund. I am looking forward to growing stronger connections with the team and getting into the core of the projects in motion!

See y’all in the next one!

Kennedy Smith

Hello, my name is Kaia Lewis and I am a junior at The Ohio State University majoring in Marketing. This summer I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of The Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellows. For 10 weeks from June 3rd-August 9th I will be interning at City Year Columbus assisting their development department with prospective donor research, social media/communications, and fundraising operations.

The first week working with City Year Columbus was full of learning opportunities. Although I was just beginning my time with the organization, the past week marked the end of their 28 Americorp member’s year of service.

Americorp members at City Year Columbus ages 18-25 years old work specifically with Columbus City Schools students to keep them in school and on track to graduate by offering individualized academic support, near-peer mentoring through their focus groups, and school-wide engagement initiatives. Throughout their time at City Year Columbus, Americorp members complete 1,700 service hours, including 300 hours of applicable business skills and professional development.

City Year Columbus partnered with Champion Middle School, Linden-McKinley STEM Academy, Mifflin High School, Starling K-8, Trevitt Elementary School, and Windsor STEM Academy this past year. There were 450+ Focus List students, 3,100+ students served and 51,000+ hours served annually.

Leading up to their graduation on Friday, members first participated in a field day at Windsor STEM Academy on Thursday, June 6th that I helped set up. There was a variety of activities including a survivor-style relay race, minute-to-win-it games, and even kickball. I’m glad I was able to help contribute to the festivities as the Americorp members deserved a break/reward for all the hard work they’ve been doing and time volunteered throughout the school year.

Thursday evening I headed over to Top Golf for our Drive Student Success fundraising event. To show our appreciation each person that attended had a decorative towel, pen, and stickers in their bays. Overall the event was a great time to relax after the work week, connect with prospective individual donors, and further cultivate corporate partnerships.

However, Thursday evening wasn’t the last major event of the week. Friday evening was graduation night for the Americorp members where they celebrated their time served and the impact made with City Year Columbus this past school year. Although I wasn’t able to stay for the duration of the event I was able to help set up a collage of pictures documenting all the wonderful experiences members had.

I am grateful for a successful first week with City Year Columbus and am looking forward to learning further about the nonprofit world, professional development, and career skills with The Columbus Foundation.

Hello! My name is Josephine Cacciato and I am from Granville, OH. I graduated in May from The Ohio State University with a degree in Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability. I am very excited to be the summer fellow at Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW)! This week I was able to explore much of the watershed and learn about the current projects within FLOW. I am very much looking forward to being involved with their work this summer and to make an impact on our local environment.

When first coming into the FLOW office, I was greeted by director Laura Fay and the current Americorps Member, Maggie. With the nonprofit being mostly volunteer based, the majority of my time is spent with Maggie and Laura along with community members. Additionally, our new office is located in The Franklin County Soil and Water building. This has allowed me to meet amazing people in the environmental field and have access to many useful resources.

My main project that I will be working on this summer is finding homes for 1800 native trees that FLOW is growing in their tree nurseries. I had the opportunity to visit both nurseries which are very impressive. I was introduced to the main volunteers that help assist in the nurseries and was able to learn about their past experiences with their tree giveaways and growing cycles. I have learned so much in a few short days and am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend my weeks both in the office and the outdoors.

One of the highlights of my week was attending the first Franklin County Pollinator Pathways meeting. Franklin Soil and Water hosted the pathways meeting for the county due to high interest from community members. More than double of the expected people showed up and held a lively 2 hour meeting about the establishment of a pollinator group. It was amazing to observe a group so passionate and witness the beginning steps of a new community group.

I have loved my first week with FLOW and am excited to see what the rest of the summer brings!

Gia An Thach | Fellow at Bridgeway Academy

Many new things are in the works at Bridgeway. As we start off strong with the beginning of our summer program and planning ahead for our upcoming 20^th year anniversary of our organisation, we are embracing the changes with creativity.  

The Bridgeway summer program spans over a period of 8 weeks. Lead by our staff member, Rachel Nicelley, the summer program will center around a theme each week where each student participates in hands-on activities while they continue their learning from the regular school year. We kicked off the first week of the program with art week. This week, students exercised their creative ability by making self-portraits in different art styles. Rachel explained that this idea was inspired by a previous art piece that was displayed in the previous building. The art piece was a wall made up of unique ceramic portraits that gave the building a unique character. Though Bridgeway was unable to bring the ceramic piece into the new building, Rachel wanted to bring a different version of it through student-made portraits. These portraits enable our students to celebrate their unique individuality as well as exercise their leisure, sensory, and fine gross motor skills. Similar to how the ceramic portraits were displayed in the old building, we want to collect these portraits and compile them into a collage that will be displayed in our gym so that staff and visitors can celebrate the creative ability of our students.

In this way, we are using nostalgia from the past to create something new and true to our current identity. This is a reflection of how we want to approach our 20^th anniversary celebration.

From starting as the Helping Hands Center years ago to starting operations in our new building, we want to recognise the accomplishments and values that brought us to where we are today. Though we are using this anniversary to celebrate our history as an organisation, we want to use it as an opportunity to look into the future with hopefullness. We want to view our past as an indicator of our dedication to serve our community for the 20 more years to come.

With many events happening in the next couple months, communications becomes an important focus for the Advancement team at Bridgeway. The team met this week to create a content calendar for the summer to strategise best ways to communicate the stories and work that happens within the organization. Needless to say, the many exciting projects will soon be showcased on our social media.