Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hello! I’m Ruby Lobert, a rising senior at The Ohio State University. I’m getting a Bachelor’s in Public Management, Leadership, and Policy with a Specialization in Nonprofit Management and a Minor in Human Rights. For the next ten weeks, I’ll be working at Jewish Family Services as a Marketing and Communications Intern. I’m beyond excited and grateful for this opportunity – it’s been a goal of mine to delve into nonprofit work, and now I have finally started.

Jewish Family Services mission is to help “individuals and families achieve economic self sufficiency and emotional stability.” They are guided by the Jewish value Tikkun olam. It means to repair the world. To achieve this goal, JFS provides a wide variety of services, including: free financial counseling, resettlement coordination and assistance for refugees, supports for job seekers anywhere from young to seasoned professionals, mental health services, and more.

This first week has been packed with learning experiences, new faces, and a lot of excitement. On Tuesday, for example, I was taking a tour of the JFS building with my supervisor and I got to meet the CEO, Ms. Karen Mozenter, as well as many directors, managers, and staff. Shortly thereafter, I helped load up cars for a senior luncheon happening down the street. I also helped unload, set up, and serve food. Actions like these may seem small, but as people continued to stick their head in the kitchen to tell us thank you, that they appreciated us for doing this, and that they loved the event, it demonstrated how even acting for the benefit of one makes all the difference.

I’ve also been able to sit in on director level meetings this week, going over communications and social media strategy as well as general resource development for JFS. Every day is different, which I appreciate. It means I’ll continue to learn and grow throughout these next ten weeks as things evolve over time. Since day one, my time at JFS has been very hands on, and I’m very excited to continue.

As a late bloomer, I know it is never too late to live your best life. My first week at my summer fellowship with At Home By High is the perfect example. Having the pleasure of facilitating the bingo game at the weekly coffee meet-up with clients at a local library, you quickly see that they are lively, youthful souls. This week was especially special for them because Community Properties of Ohio hosted a senior prom for their residents. For some, just like the high schoolers, it was their first prom. That meant an err of excitement and preparation for the big day night. It was a joy to see the residents and clients all dressed up and ready to have a good time with the residents from the other properties.

Youthful at heart, but physically the seniors’ bodies are saying something else; two medical students from OSU began the weekly meeting with a presentation on fall prevention and risk factors from improper shoes to rugs. They pointed out that falls can often be fatal due to solitude and delay in medical response. The most common location of falls are at home. So if you have an aging or senior neighbor, periodically check in on them, especially in the summer months, and encourage socialization among their peers and intergenerational. With intergenerational connections, not only do they learn from each other, but it also tends to keep them healthier and socially thriving.

Helping a person aging in place and maintaining healthy social connections is needed to support local communities. Social services like At Home By High allow aging populations to actively support local businesses they would not typically be able to enjoy like Saucy Brew Works, where we all had lunch this week. Often the aging and disabled residents are limited to their building or block due to fixed income, mobility, or lack of transportation. Physical and social isolation often leads to mental and physical unhealthiness. So check on your aging neighbors, get to know them, and help them in any way you can. Intergenerational connections are vital for healthy, equitable neighbors. Both parties benefit from learning from each other. For aging persons, being active and social could mean a longer and healthier life. This week, taking pictures of the clients excited and dressed up before their yearly prom and lunch at Saucy showed me it is always possible to do things like prom or try something new outside the block. So explore local businesses and try something new even if you think you’re too old.

Jam sessions, rainbow markers, and feelings check-ins kicked off my first week working at WAV’s youth summer camp this June. My name is Gigi Cox and I will graduate from Ohio State this Summer from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs with a BA in Public Management, Leadership, and Policy. I am also pursuing a nonprofit specialization, which led me to apply for the fellowship with the Columbus Foundation this Summer. I am very excited to have been paired with WAV this summer to learn more about working for a nonprofit and get to explore my creative side, and week one has had a lot of excitement already!

My role so far has been assisting with the summer camp activities for students, which fall under topics of social-emotional learning, self-efficacy and self-advocacy, songwriting, creative expression and fine arts, and invention and innovation. We have middle school and elementary school students, and as we get started we are splitting them up into different sites. I am excited to work more closely with the younger students as the month continues and see how they grow throughout the program. This week has required a lot of flexibility and problem-solving, and I am proud of how much the rest of the staff and myself have been able to make adjustments and give the kids a great experience. 

The camp is only through the month of June so I am looking forward to getting different experiences throughout the Summer. Right now I am doing a lot of work with hands-on programming, and I hope to get to look more behind the scenes and learn from each of the staff members at WAV as the Summer progresses. I am already feeling more comfortable at my site and I cannot wait to get more involved and learn so much more next week!

Hi! My name is Kenzie LeBrun. I just graduated from Wheaton College in IL with a BA in psychology. I have the privilege of working with Green Columbus this summer. I am currently one of their two hired employees. I would love to work with nonprofits in some capacity beyond this summer, and being one of two people working gives me a lot of hands-on experience of what working in all aspects of a nonprofit entail.

Shelly Douglas is Green Columbus executive director, and was a Columbus Fellow herself two years ago. I have spent this week with Shelly, learning about the organization, and doing a couple of outings. We went to the FACCES summer event Wednesday evening. We had a table set up and talked to people to try to get some volunteers out to their greenhouse (every first and third Thursday if you are interested). Friday we visited a park to get the lay of the land because we are teaching some students at the park next week. We also spent some time Friday in one of our two tree nurseries.

Green Columbus is an environmental nonprofit that has two big events they do each year. They organize the big Earth Day Columbus events. This last year over 160 sites were organized where people picked up litter and planted trees. The other big event is the big tree giveaway in October. In their tree nurseries, they have about 3,000 trees that are growing to be given away for free to the people of Columbus. This event is what I will be spending most of my time preparing for. Unfortunately, we had about 1,000 trees that did not start growing. They are just sticks in a pot, so we had to pull them out. Saturday morning we are having an emergency tree replanting, where our volunteers will be planting some new baby trees that will hopefully grow and be ready for the giveaway in October.

Each day is different than the last. I am not a routine person, so the variety of my day to day is exciting and right up my alley. Besides removing dead trees, a lot of my work so far has entailed data gathering. I have created and sent out surveys to 3,000 people so Green Columbus can track their trees and gather information on how the Earth Day events went. I am very excited to see where my internship takes me next, I currently have 70 baby trees in my basement, you never know what will happen at Green Columbus.

www.greencbus.org | www.earthdaycolumbus.org

My name is Elisabeth Cobbs and I am a recent graduate of the Ohio State University. I graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Public Management, Leadership and Policy from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences and Honors in Public Affairs. I was so excited and honored to be a part of the Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellowship program and be paired with my top choice, the Riverview International Center (RIC). I have already learned so much in my first week. Let’s talk about it!

The RIC is a nonprofit organization that helps new Americans access basic needs and services. Some of the services provided are career counseling and job preparation training, healthcare and benefit enrollment, school enrollment, and ESL classes as well as assisting with access to more basic needs such as food access, diaper donations, and assistance finding furnishings for new homes. The project I am heading during my fellowship is the kids summer reading program. This program helps the kids in the neighborhood keep up with their literacy skills during summer break. My responsibilities include keeping track of who attends each day, assisting with volunteer participation, maintaining safety and organization, and keeping track of relevant data that will inform future reporting.

The first week of the program has been so fun and rewarding for everyone! That is not to say there have not been challenges. One of the most important things I have learned is that taking the time to communicate and stay organized even in the midst of little kid chaos is crucial. I have been so lucky to work with an incredible volunteer coordinator, Angelica, and enthusiastic volunteers who have been my biggest support. They have been flexible, engaged, and responsive to the needs of me, the program, and the kids participating. By the end of this week, we developed a solid game plan that is going to take us smoothly through the rest of the program. At the beginning of the week, we were not even able to get a formal line going for the check in process. Yesterday, we had the straightest line I’ve ever seen. The best part of this is that the kids took charge and organized it themselves! It was very impressive. I am so happy to be a part of this program that helps build community and friendships as well as maintain literacy.

In addition to the summer reading program, I am assisting with some management and administrative projects. I have helped write portions of the RIC newsletter, learned how to submit tax exemption certificates to vendors, and helped train volunteers for their participation in the neighborhood block party thrown by Serve the City today. Each day, I am learning more and more about operating a nonprofit, how to engage with kids and families from different backgrounds that may not speak English, and what kinds of roadblocks new Americans face and how we can help make these processes easier. I am so grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to begin my second week!

Hello! My name is Lily Kate Harpham and I am a recent graduate from the College of Wooster, with a degree in History. My fellowship host site is Ohio Designer Craftsmen, where I will be helping coordinate the Young Master’s Summer Camp, an art program with sessions for kids entering grades 1 through 6, and grades 6 through 12. 

This week’s camp theme was “Home Sweet Home” where guest artists taught the kids to create dream homes made of popsicle sticks and hot glue and make compostable paper filled with native wildflower seeds that can be planted in their yards, as well as many other projects relating to the theme of the week. The camper’s creative impulses are fed with the encouragement and guidance of the patient artists and eager-to-help teen volunteers. It has been enlightening and encouraging to interact with such emotionally intelligent and creative kids. The campers are open with each other about their need for personal space, or quiet time, and are polite and inquisitive. They are open to new projects and eager to ask for help when they need it, and love to help each other when they are able! 

My role this first week has been mostly in coordination of the camp, helping ease transitions between activities, running snack time and lunch, prepping materials for upcoming lessons, and filling in to help any of the campers with their projects whenever needed. After a few days of shadowing and assisting the educational coordinator, I started to take on more responsibility myself. Beginning with the drop-off/check-in of campers in the morning, and encompassing each class transition, snack time, and pick-up, I have been very much enjoying the process. 

The projects that the campers are completing each day are exceptionally planned, each one relating to the theme of the week. My personal favorite project so far has been an embroidery craft. Each camper was tasked with drawing a design that they would then recreate on their embroidery fabric, attach to a piece of felt, and then tie tassels around the edges of the fabric to create a custom pillow! As someone who picked up embroidery as a hobby within the last few years, it has been really cool to see kids as young as 6 learning how to sew and embroider, and taking home their final product!

On the last day of camp, there is an art show where parents/guardians and invited guests can come and see all of the work that has been done throughout the week! The campers design their own invitations and name plaques for their displays, and answer questions about their work. It was so fun watching all the kids get excited about their hard work, and show off their favorite projects. 

I have already learned so much about multitasking, prioritization of needs, and program management, just from my few days in my role. I am enjoying myself very much, and am excited to see what I learn next! 

This week I began my summer employment at Equitas Health, which I must admit is a very exciting opportunity for me. Focusing on LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS-related care, Equitas is an important healthcare resource for thousands in Ohio and neighboring areas. My duties for the summer primarily orient around Equitas’ presence at pride-related events and celebrations around Ohio, but I will also be assisting in other, non-pride-related activities. For instance, this week I spent two days working at OHIV.

OHIV, from my understanding, is a sexual health and education hotline and organization that provides free information, condoms, STI/STD testing kits, and other sexual well-being services. I spent my time preparing sexual-health kits that are freely distributed, as well as engaging with current OHIV employees and learning about their mission and structure.

Working directly under Equitas, whether from the office or at home, has been mostly clerical work. I am not bothered or disappointed by these tasks. It is only my first week and it has been confirmed that my responsibilities will grow. Not only that, I am more than happy to do this work given the time of year. It’s June! It’s Pride Month! A very busy and exciting and slightly chaotic time for an organization that directs its work toward queer individuals and communities.

Speaking of pride, tomorrow (6/10) I am traveling to Athens for their community pride events. I’ve never been to a pride and I surely haven’t worked one before, so I excitedly await the opportunity! It’s not likely I’ll be doing much – mostly watching how other employees and volunteers interact with patrons and gaining an insight into their messaging and what they prioritize. Ideally, I will be much more proactive and engaging in the next pride event I work.

A goal of mine for this summer is to gain a better understanding of how non-profits operate and to learn where I may be a good fit or where my skills and interests can best be applied. I don’t expect to learn this immediately, but over time I expect to have obtained a more comprehensive picture.

My first week went well and I’m looking forward to writing about my next week in my next blog post!

Hi, my name is Adian Dobyns and I am a 2023 Columbus Fellow hosted at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). I am a recent graduate from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Sociology. In the fall I will be continuing my education at the University of California, Irvine, where I will be part of their sociology graduate program. 

CXC is a free-to-attend arts festival taking place in the fall, with a focus on cartooning, graphic novels, animation, and other related cartoon media. CXC differs from other conventions or festivals in that it focuses on the creators of comics and related works, such as artists and writers, rather than the pop-culture surrounding their creations. CXC works closely with both acclaimed and nationally recognized artists as well as up-and-coming artists based in Columbus, OH, to create a culturally enriching environment that is accessible to all, creator and fan alike.

This week I was fortunate enough to participate in the CXC Season Announcement, where the Special Guest line-up for CXC 2023 was announced. This was a very exciting event, where prominent creators and passionate fans gathered to celebrate CXC and the continual growth CXC has experienced over the years. A total of 20 special guests were announced, but I wanted to highlight one in particular, whom I feel is emblematic of the goals and impacts of CXC. Keito Gaku is a Japanese artist and writer, and the creator of Boys Run the Riot. Keito Gaku is a transgender man, and his manga tells the story of a transgender high school boy who struggles with social acceptance, finding an outlet for self expression through street fashion. Despite being his debut work, Boys Run the Riot has found critical success, and has done much to elevate the voices and experiences of transgender people in media. His appearance at CXC this fall will be Keito Gaku’s first at a comics event in the United States.

CXC was founded on the idea of bringing together creators and fans and facilitating real, genuine connections. I find that the involvement of Keito Gaku in this year’s CXC is both representative of how the reputation of CXC as a place welcoming to artists and creatives has grown and an act of reaffirming the mission of inclusion, connection, and cultivation of creative talent. I am certain that there are countless Columbus-based talents who have been personally impacted or inspired by Keito Gaku’s work, and I am glad to be a part of the organization that is able to facilitate their future connection.

Sarah Weglarz

I felt my heartbeat in my feet. My hands were shaking. I felt a small drop of sweat slowly trickle down my forehead. Walking through the big double glass doors of my new internship site, you might ask? No – just merging onto I – 70 during rush hour traffic to get there! 

Let’s back up a few steps. My name is Sarah, and I’m an incoming junior at Ohio State. I’m a Public Health Sociology major, but I’m also on the pre-medicine track. Going into college, I knew that I wanted to attend graduate school one way or another, whether that be a Master’s program in public health or medical school, but I was unsure of which path I wanted to take. The more time I spent in college, the more torn I became. So, I began taking steps to delve into each career path more deeply. I started working as a Patient Care Associate at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center and began shadowing physicians in various fields, both of which gave me incredible insight into the world of medicine. However, I still felt that I wanted to explore a possible career in public health. Though the classes I had taken at OSU gave me a solid overview, I knew that in order to determine whether I wanted to pursue higher education in the field, I would need real world experience, so I began searching for an internship. 

I’d never searched for a real job before, so I did what most people who don’t know anything about something would do: I Googled “public health internships near me.” After some sifting through search results, I stumbled across the Columbus Foundation. They’d match me with a nonprofit fitting my professional interests, it was during my summer break, and it was paid — it seemed too good to be true. So, I decided to apply, and I ranked Saint Vincent Family Services as my top choice organization. A few weeks later, I received an email stating that I had moved on to the second round of the application, and a few weeks after that, I had an interview with SVFS. 

After talking with my interviewers, I became fascinated. SVFS seemed to intersect perfectly with all my interests: children, behavioral healthcare, and trauma. During my interview, I learned that SVFS has two distinct programs: Saint Vincent Prep Academy, which is a fully accredited school that integrates therapy and other behavioral healthcare into the school day, and Residential Care, which allows children to stay at the facility who have experienced severe emotional, social, and/or behavioral problems. What I liked even more though, was the motto: We Make Good Kids Better. I knew that the staff at SVFS recognized that no child is inherently bad, they have simply experienced trauma and life events that caused them to display these kinds of behaviors. When I toured the facility, I immediately knew that this was where I wanted to spend my time over the next few months. Every person I met cared deeply about the children they served, were passionate about the organization’s mission, and were extraordinarily welcoming and friendly.

Most of our efforts this week have been focused on preparing for SVFS’ annual fundraising event: Returning to Our Roots, where donors and volunteers can come to learn more about the services that SVFS provides and meet and interact with staff and providers. Though my job most of the summer will be to plan and execute summer programming for children in Residential Care and those attending Prep Academy, this week, it ranged from marketing to event set-up to door greeter. I felt a great sense of community and togetherness, as everyone from the school principal to the CEO were focused on preparing for the event on Thursday. As the week comes to a close today, I feel grateful for the incredible support of the staff at SVFS, especially Sara Russell, Director of Community Engagement and Marketing, and Catherine Sherman, Fundraising and Grants Coordinator, who I’ve worked most closely with. 

 I was nervous on the first day, of course, but because of the staff and support they gave me, merging onto I – 70 was the most nerve-wracking part of my week. I feel excited and am ready to embark on this adventure the rest of the summer!