Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

              This week our offices were closed so I spent most of my time working on individual projects. I spent more time Facebook stalking elected officials to determine their voting preferences and the general voting demographics of the town. It has been interesting to learn about some politicians, from those who are staring in their towns production of a musical to a city council member who goes all out for haunted houses, it has been nice to see the more human side of politicians.

              This week Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, the first openly gay prince in the world, was in Columbus and Equality Ohio along with Stonewall Columbus organized a couple events. First a Q+A was put on at the town hall, moderated by Siobhan Boyd-Nelson, our executive director, who is incredible and did a great job. The event was put together by my supervisor Joseph Soza, who did an amazing job.

              The panel was really interesting and was comprised of the Prince as well as his friend, and the found of Eyes Open International, an anti-human trafficking organization, Harold D’Souza. Hearing both their stories were incredibly powerful. The prince talked about the familial issues he faced when coming out and Mr. D’Souza discussed what it was like for him to be trafficked from India to the US. Something interesting I learned was that on the trans rights front, India is pretty progressive but is not progressive when, to quote the prince, “it comes to the lgb and q+.” Overall, the panel discussion was really enlightening and could’ve gone on for hours.

              After the panel we all went to Stonewall Columbus where the Prince and his husband were renewing their vows as it was their 9^th wedding anniversary. The ceremony was beautiful, and the vows were powerful. It was also interesting as there is a documentary being made about the Prince so there was a whole documentary crew at the ceremony. After the ceremony we all learned a Bollywood dance together and talked. This week has been so much fun.

This week’s focus was the preparation of upcoming volunteer opportunities. For July I am tasked with creating content to promote Third Party Fundraisers. We have a Back-to-school Wish List through Amazon due next Tuesday. The following week we have a backpack stuffing event. I have been researching boosting ads and chose to boost the Wishlist to finish my research for BGCCO. I get access to more data and more eyes will see opportunities to get involved in the organization. Lastly, we have an NFL Alumni Central Ohio golf outing to attend and support Monday since we are the benefactors of this year’s event.

The fellowship program has many goals and one of those goals is to provide fellows with real-world experience. I have been learning a lot about the nonprofit field through my fellowship. My coworkers are insightful and transparent about the aspects of their jobs. I will potentially be in similar roles one day, so it is refreshing to have guidance and support right now. Also, The advancement team recently informed me, I will speak about my fellowship experience to the board during my last week.

The Highlight of my week was the quality time I spent with the kids at the Champions Companies Milo Grogan Clubhouse. I only had one formal introduction with the children at their morning meeting, yet they all remember my name. I also remember a decent number of their names. They have begun asking me to come to their classrooms and participate in activities with them outside of my everyday content collection. I hung out with the third to fifth-grade students for an hour playing kickball and tossing the football around. It was a refreshing experience that reminded me of the importance of our work.

This week was full of planning, writing, and interviewing. On Monday I went into classrooms and got to know the students and take pictures. One of the classes was a 6th-grade math class where the kids played rocket math along with other math games. I was also able to sit in on a 4th-grade language lab class that had. They practiced their writing skills and after that, they had a “brain break” by going to play on the playground for a little bit. I learned that giving students multiple “brain breaks” throughout the day helps them focus on class time more. 

Aside from classes, I am working on a story for our school magazine that is going to showcase our Facilities and Maintenance Manager, Darrell. I interviewed him on Tuesday and learned what his responsibilities are and why he believes in Marburn Academy. His son is a Marburn alumnus so Darrell has a personal connection to Marburn and believes in its mission. One of Darrell’s special duties for our summer school program is to do morning drop-off intake. This means every morning he goes outside to help parents drop off their children and he walks them into the school. Another one of his favorite special duties is lunch duty during the regular school year. 

I will be shadowing him on Monday to get a better understanding of the work he does and I can even help him out if needed. The first draft of my story is due next Wednesday. A second event happening Wednesday is our parent walk-through day. Parents will come in and follow their child’s schedules throughout the day and get to “learn with them,” which is super cute. I am excited about next week.

It is unreal to me that I’m already halfway done with my time here at Seeds of Caring. I’ve enjoyed my experience here very much, and the entire staff has welcomed me in with open arms. It has been a great summer so far. This week technically marks my sixth week with the organization, since I started a week early due to a vacation I have coming up in about a week.

This week was similar the last few we have had. This was the last week of the first summer session of Kindness Corps, and today (Thursday) we finished with our last camp, minus one camp session that is being made up tomorrow afternoon. We taught the campers about hunger and the unhoused this week, and what we can do as a community for those who are unhoused and may be struggling with food.

We taught the kids about this subject, and then had them decorate small paper bags with inspirational phrases like “you matter” or “you shine bright”. With these bags, we placed 3 different kinds of snacks in each and created small snack packs for food pantries around Columbus and the areas surrounding. It was a little difficult for the kids to understand that these snacks were not for them, they were for people who need them more. They eventually understood the purpose of what we were doing. They were even excited to take their very own bags home to decorate and fill with snacks so they can donate the pack or keep it in their grown up’s car to hand out to people they see asking for help around their neighborhood.

Every week it has been so interesting and fun to see how kids react to these important, serious, and sometimes complicated issues going on in their own communities. I have loved seeing how responsive and communicative they are about their own experiences and comments about how they feel on the subject.

I also had a meeting with one of the programs coordinators to talk about the Civic Engagement Anywhere Project I have been working on with her. We discussed more ideas for the project, and we are planning on filming an introduction video for the project for people to see before they start.

We start another session of camp next week and we will teach all the Kindness Corps lessons to another group of kiddos!

At ARC, there are multiple different Adult Resource Centers where participants can go based on where they live. Sometimes, a participant can go to more than one center, and sometimes participants get shifted around when they move homes. This week, I got to see participants that I have met before, but in different locations.

I started my week off at the ASPIRE program as per usual. However, this day was a particularly exciting day because a new participant was joining the group from a different location. This participant was actually one of the first few people that I had met after starting this internship. She is typically quiet, but the first day we met we got to talking about our families and her upcoming vacation that she was excited for. Starting your first day somewhere new can be scary for anyone. Personally, I struggle with anxiety over finding my own groove in a new environment with new people. Yet, this participant was amazing! She settled in rather quickly, and even had a few recommendations about how we should spend our day. Throughout the day, I stuck with her as we went to Walmart, Target, and Ohio Thrift. While we were together, we caught up about her recent move, her family, and my family as well.

All of the participants I have had the pleasure to meet have been extremely nice to me, however there is one participant in the ASPIRE program in particular who has a heart of gold. While we were at Walmart, she bought some of her groceries for the week, and of course she stocked up on some sweets as well. When we got back to the site to eat lunch, she came up to me and handed me a prepackaged slice of cinnamon crunch coffee cake. At first, I tried to politely decline her offer. I didn’t want to take something that she had spent her own money on. She looked at me and said, “I got this for you!”, so I accepted her offer and thanked her. I realize this was a small gift of a $1 treat, but my heart was warmed by her thoughtfulness and generosity. Later in the day, I was informed that this type of act wasn’t out of the ordinary for this participant. She liked to give things like treats or mints or candy to people, but I was grateful that I was now part of the in-group that she trusted and liked enough to bring into this routine.

Later in the week, I went to ARC West, which is located right off of Ohio State campus. At ARC West, there are multiple different classrooms where participants are divided up into groups such that they are with generally the same people each day. This is one of my favorite buildings to be in, as it used to be known as the “artsy center”. There is participant-made art that lines the hallways and hangs from the ceilings. It is truly one of the prettiest buildings I have worked in. I had previously been to this center, but it had been a little while so I wasn’t sure how many people would remember me. As I went classroom to classroom, I was greeted with hugs, handshakes, and familiar faces who did. There was actually one participant who has an amazing memory that remembered pretty much everything about my life that I had told him!

Yet again, I had an amazing week at work. Typically, going to the ASPIRE program is one of my favorite days, since I get to see the same people each week and continue to develop the relationships that I have already established. As I continue to go back to the other sites I have visited, I am finding that the participants remember me, and furthermore, are excited to see me! This week was a good week. It makes me more excited to continue to travel to the other sites and build upon my relationships with other people.

Last week at Seeds of Caring we had more camp sessions Tuesday through Thursday. This is the third week out of 4 weeks in our first session. This past week we covered hospitalized children and made cheer banners and activity kits for kids at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

After talking with my advisor who is our Operations director, we decided that I would take a bit of charge with this lesson. Since my sister has spent a lot of time at Children’s, I was able to talk more about my experience being a sibling of someone who had spent time there as a kid. For a few of the camps I was talking about our topic, reading our book, and conducting the opening meeting.

I was nervous to be doing this part of the lessons since I am by no means a teacher, but there are many different roles within a nonprofit organization and getting experience taking on this one I felt was valuable. I had a good time talking with the kids about this subject, because many of them had similar experiences, and I could tell they were feeling empathetic towards these kids. This is one of the goals of our program. Towards the end of the week, I met with our Executive Director to talk about a meeting I had last week, as well as some career advice I received from that meeting. We discussed my notes as well.

On Friday, we went and donated the banners and activity kits to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. It was a good experience as we were able to speak more to the workers at the front desk about who these donations were going to, and they appreciated the donations the kids made as well.

What has been very cool during these donations drop offs has been that we have been asking the people who work there some questions and filming their answers. We do this so we can show the kids exactly who their donations are going to. Sometimes it is hard for the kids to let go off what they had just made so it can go to someone else, but these videos show them where and who their donation and hard work is going to which has helped them. They have enjoyed these videos very much, and it helps them to get excited about what we will be donating next!

I am appreciative of all the lessons that I have learned this week. The holiday weekend is arriving soon, and things are busy at my host site. This week was the concluded session one of the My Project USA summer camp; we had over thirty students come to the center for camp throughout these four weeks. Students presented the Project Based Learning activity to directors of the organization and their pitch was successful. The students’ models will represent how they want to use open space around the center. Our soccer team went to a tournament, and we are eager to hear about their experience while out of state.

As we concluded our first session, I reflected on the program and its efficiency. I am appreciative of the team’s ability to adapt quickly. We were able to work efficiently to create a wonderful experience for the students. Overall, the students enjoyed their time at the center, improved their education skills, and had a safe space to thrive in. I concluded that it is important to create relationships with the students so they can feel heard and recognized. Many of the students I have worked with need resources and guidance to help them thrive in their environment. I had the chance to see their growth through the program where friendships were made, goals were achieved, and a lifetime experience was cultivated.

Our keynote speaker this week was Mrs. Lomax, a phenomenal woman who is working in the fundraising sector. She made a key point that stuck out to me, “Don’t call them out, call them in.” This brought a new perspective of collaborating with people who others find themselves “calling out” for the things they say. My takeaway from this moment is that there is value in educating and communicating with people rather than degrading them due to their point of view. Everyone has their own point of view the action and reputation behind those words are what is essential. We also learned the importance of screening people to see if they are a good match for an organization. The views of the organization and a donor should align so that there are not many differences between the two parties. I recognized I can use this concept in my personal and professional life so that I can create successful relationships with many people.

I am ecstatic for next week to come. We will be working to finalize small details for the second session of camp, onboard new summer staff, and create a positive learning environment for the students. We hope to have more participants in camp during this session and enjoy their time here. I will be a full week of preparation at My Project USA to have an influence in the community.

This week went very well ! Despite me recovering from COVID, it was an amazing time to be with the kids. It was my second official week at Camp CCA. This week we began to do rotations for different focus areas and those were Healthy Eating, Financial Literacy, and Career Exploration

This week, one of the counselors brought in sausage and sauerkraut which the students enjoyed. She talked about the history behind it and the tradition in her family ! One of the highlights was the circle that we did with the girls where we had put chairs in the circle and left one chair out for someone to be in the middle and speak about something that resonated with them. It provided a time for us to uplift one another and to create a safe space for us to get to know one another!

I enjoy getting to know the students and building connections. I did not realize how much of an impact I had on the students until I came back from my leave. It was great to hear ”Miss Nevaeh we missed you”. The counselors have also been building relationships with one another as we continue to engage with each other and as a collective with the students.

Below is a picture from one of the activities that we did . We wrapped 4 strings around markers and tied them up together so that each group of 4 students were able to grab onto a string. The objective of the activity was for students to be given a word ”And” ”Camp” and they each had to work as a team to write the letter by only holding the string. It allowed for team work and also effective communication. I am looking forward to a full week next week!

Week 4 has come and gone quickly and here is another update on my time at Cultivate. This week I got to immerse myself with more community members in Columbus as I have attended a lot of community events. The one that is top of mind is the Housing for All event at Columbus State. Shayla Favors, Columbus City Council member and housing committee member was one of the speakers and organizers. The city has been making a more concerted effort to manage the housing crisis in Columbus. Columbus citizens, which include Milo residents, will have new rights when it comes to housing. The new policies are called “Renter’s Choice”, “Source of Income” and “Rental Receipt”. I am grateful that my time in the fellowship has given me the needed motivation and structure to be more involved with city government. I have learned some time ago how impactful local government can be. Citizens have a greater say when they show up to collaborate and demand changes in their local government. There is much more focus on federal policies that we have less control over. Now in Columbus, those who are unbanked and people who have housing paid for by a third party have new rights that are long overdue. These laws are beneficial to everyone, however. It is hard to believe that prior to 2022, landlords did not have to supply their tenants with receipts! This is just one example of the new changes in legislation. The city and fellow residents need to do more. One alarming statistic that I would like to share is that over 54,000 people here are paying 50% or more of their incomes on housing. This is not sustainable and Columbus is growing at such a rapid pace. Columbus needs to build at least 15,000 more homes a year to keep up with demand. As much as I left feeling optimistic, I am worried not only for my own housing stability but everyone else, especially those who are living on the street and in tents. One of the issues is literally not enough houses and apartments. Affordability is a whole other beast.

City wide news aside, I spent more time in Cultivate’s main green space with a colleague and youth. It is therapeutic and joyful to spend time outside in the grass and dirt. It is rewarding to see the literal “fruits of labor” growing from gardens. I am enjoying learning about the young girls who come to the garden and leadership program. Facilitating has been awkward, as it is something new to me, but I have learned these skills in school, from previous jobs, and fellow sessions. I hope I am planting a seed in these girls that empower them to help themselves and their neighbors and classmates. As we learned in our previous session when it comes to power, we all have personal power that can spread to everyone taking an active role in their own leadership.

I would also like to share some recent data by Cultivate to show everyone some of their impact on Milo residents. See the graphic below before some photos of people in the green space. One of my favorite things during this fellowship is assisting with home visits. I have done this kind of work before and I love it. Direct service is some of the most rewarding work I have ever done.

This week was a big week, as I started my work in Keela and started creating the forms we need. I am still interviewing with volunteers and gaining feedback with my volunteer survey. This week was more of a wait for responses on the survey mixed in with the interviewing of team leads, as well as fosters and general volunteers. It has been a great experience getting to know all of the members involved with Speak! for the Unspoken, and with each interview I have, I am more and more amazed at the passion each volunteer has for the work Speak! is doing! It has been great speaking with everyone and I am grateful that everyone has taken the time to speak with me and their honesty in their responses. As they are volunteers, I feel it is important to keep in mind they most likely have plenty of other responsibilities and how valuable their time is, which is what makes each interview so important. Speak! relies solely on it’s volunteers, so I want to make sure I speak with as many of them as possible so that I can have the most informed response to their feedback when it comes to implementing changes. I want to make sure that I create an atmosphere where the volunteers know they are valued and just how important their opinion and feedback can be!

Next week, I plan to interview more volunteers, as well as get more results on our survey. Right now we have about 20% of the desired responses for the volunteer survey, so I plan to be making a lot of calls in hopes of speaking with them rather than having them fill out the form. I also plan to do a little research about local rescues to get a better idea of how this particular field functions across the board not just in Speak!. Looking forward to the work I will be doing over the next few weeks, and it so crazy were approaching week 5!?