Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hello! My name is Cailynn Fox, and I have been granted an amazing opportunity this summer as a Columbus Foundation Summer Fellow with the Ohio Humanities Council. I graduated last month from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (with a focus in Cultural Studies and a minor in Spanish). I believe the process of earning my degree has prepared me well to effectively enter the non-profit sector with the countless transferable competencies and skills that anthropology teaches as well as to have a good introduction into the world of the humanities, with just some of the common features being history, cultural studies, linguistics, and literature.

I have had a very enjoyable week beginning my first post-college full-time position, and have had the opportunity to meet many professionals who I anticipate having a profound impact these next 10 weeks on my abilities to become a leader in the non-profit sector, including Dr. Mark Lomax II, Rebecca Asmo (the Executive Director of Ohio Humanities), and my coworkers at Ohio Humanities. As is typical when starting a new position, I was anxious about what sort of environment I would be entering, but I am ecstatic that I have encountered a flexible work environment with friendly and helpful coworkers and leadership. Being in the office only 3 days a week and remote the remaining 2 days, I’m excited to have a blended experience that will prepare me in the future for both types of work environments.

In the office, I’ve spent this week learning more about the programs, operations, communications, and impact of the various types of work that Ohio Humanities does, whilst exploring more about what specific elements of non-profit work that would make my learning experience the most lucrative whilst being helpful to my coworkers and having the potential to be impactful for Ohio Humanities.

I’m excited to continue sharing here my reflections about the experiences and new knowledge that I am bound to gain this summer!

Hello everyone! My name is Abbi Hile and I am entering my final year at the University of Dayton majoring in Political Science with a minor in Communications. I’m excited to be a Summer Fellow for The Columbus Foundation this summer!

This past week was my first full week at Seeds of Caring, which is an organization that engages children into making a difference and choosing kindness through a variety of service projects and educational opportunities concerning needs within the Columbus community. Their mission is to empower kids to create a kinder community with their hearts, hands, and minds.

Last week I was able to start early due to some conflicts later in the summer. Last week I was learning the basics around the office, and I was able to get to know some of great women who are on staff here.

During my time at Seeds of Caring, I will be taking advantage of all the different opportunities that I have to learn about not only the organization itself, but nonprofits in general. I have already been able to sit in on a 1 on 1 staff meeting regarding marketing strategies, an all-staff meeting concerning what was currently going on with each staff member’s role, as well as a board committee meeting touching on the future of the organization.

My main role at Seeds of Caring is acting as one of the instructors for the Kindness Corps, which is a program held during the summer & school year that teaches kids to choose kindness every day. We will be going into summer camps during these 10 weeks, and we will be teaching kids 4 lessons pertaining to community needs in Columbus. These lessons include tools we can use to choose kindness, senior empathy, hope for hospitalized kids, and hunger in those who are unhoused.

Even though I don’t come from a teaching or education background, teaching kids about these needs in our community was important to me when I learned about what I’ll be doing this summer. There is so much we can do to help these communities but showing kids that they can make a difference and that they can bring some hope to people who have these needs is very impactful.

Today (Friday), kids came into our space so we, the Kindness Corps instructors, could practice our lessons in real time. I was very nervous, but as I was leading the lesson I found that teaching the curriculum was easier than I thought, which gave me confidence for the rest of the summer.

This week has been filled with learning the curriculum for Kindness Corps and practicing how we want to teach these lessons. I feel a little nervous to start teaching, but the staff at Seeds of Caring has been so helpful in encouraging me and they have given me great tools to ensure that I am able to get these important messages out to the kids we will be visiting this summer.

I’m so excited to get started with our first week of camp next week!

Hello! My name is Brandon Bishop and I am a recent graduate of The Ohio State University and incoming J.D. Candidate at Duke University School of Law. This week, I began my 10 week fellowship placement at Local Matters. Local Matters is a non-profit organization serving the Central Ohio region. The organization seeks to educate the community on healthy food options and expand access to fresh foods. This summer, I will be assisting the Programs team in developing a program operations manual to help standardized procedures and simplify team operations. My previous work experiences focused on public policy and other public sector functions, meaning my responsibilities this summer force me to work outside of my comfort zone. However, my background provides a useful perspective as the organization seeks to develop itself further.

The primary objective of my first week was to learn. Attending the Columbus Foundation Fellowship Orientation allowed me to learn about the work of the Foundation in supporting the local non-profit environment. I also learned about the diverse backgrounds of my cohort members. At Local Matters, I spent my week gaining knowledge on the organization’s mission and how it carries this out. I witnessed how the organization currently operates at various meetings throughout the week. Though non-profit and food access work is new to me, I have already broadened my view on my own lived experiences. Growing up, I always had access to fresh foods at a network of grocery stores in my area. Lower-income neighborhoods in Columbus and around the country do not have this same access. Programs offered by Local Matters like the Veggie Van and food education classes seek to bridge this gap. 

Upon starting at Local Matters, each team member was incredibly welcoming towards me. I am inspired by the passion for their work that each person exudes. I look forward to getting to know each team member and working with them to improve the organization throughout the summer. 

Hello, my name is Emma Urhammer and I am a senior public relations major at Otterbein University. I am the marketing and communication intern at Marburn Academy this summer. Marburn Academy is an independent day school dedicated to serving the educational needs of students who learn differently due to dyslexia, executive function difficulties, and attention challenges. 

Marburn Academy’s mission is to celebrate and empower students who learn differently and help them become engaged, resilient, compassionate, empowered, and self-advocates. Marburn Academy opened a new facility in the Columbus area in hopes to be more accessible to the community. This facility currently offers one through fifth-grade tutoring and is hoping to expand to higher grade levels. 

A big event coming up is hosting our summer school program which begins in June and lasts till the end of July. Our summer school program is open to Marburn families and also non-Marburn families. The summer school program is a great way to minimize learning loss over the summer. 

Promoting the summer school program is one of my responsibilities so Marburn can reach more families outside of our own. The program is open to students entering kindergarten and first grade. It is also open to students entering second through ninth grade. During summer school students will expand their knowledge by following the strategy of “Breaking the code.” Click here to learn more. 

I have completed my first week at the Siemer Institute and I am already eager for what is to come. I have spent the past few days meeting my co-workers and getting to know the values of the organization while also doing some preliminary work in preparation for the interviews that I will be conducting throughout the summer. My coworkers are incredibly supportive, and I am excited to be a part of the team. The Siemer Institute is comprised of only 2 full-time employees, yet their work has such a significant impact all over the United States. As of 2021, this organization has partnered with 70+ local nonprofits throughout the country with the goal of improving students’ academic success by providing their families with stable housing and financial assistance. In fact, 8.5 million was given in grants to these organizations this year alone, which helped about 14,000 families with 32,000 children.

Having spent this past year conducting research at the academic level, I have found that I thoroughly enjoy handling data and organizing information. This was a large factor behind my interest in the Siemer Institute Fellow position. For the next few weeks, my tasks will consist of researching best practices on topics such as the 2 Generation Approach, family-centered coaching, and trauma-informed care to create resources for programs across the network. I will also be interviewing our program partners with a goal of completing at least 20-30 interviews by the end of the summer. On top of this, I have been encouraged to conduct any small projects that I may be interested in. After I complete my best practices research, I would like to experiment with presenting this data in different ways, such as through infographics. Now that I can begin my tasks, I am excited to see what I will produce and how I can help the organization. 

Monday June 6, 2022, marked my first day as a Columbus Foundation Fellow for the summer. Initially, I was completely lost trying to find this historic building’s entrance, but I found it eventually. It was wonderful meeting the other 15 fellows. During our meeting, we heard about the workshops we will be holding, as well as the fun activities we can do together. Our “about me” drawings were one of the highlights of the day, which we shared out to the whole group. In some areas, I found myself being able to relate to the fellows and learning a lot about each other’s backgrounds. Dr. Lomax has a humorous personality and I am looking forward to having him as our director this summer. SN: He plays the drums, and I have listened to one of his albums, if you have not already, please do. It’s inspiring.

Furthermore, I have completed my first week of training with Communities in Schools, my nonprofit site. During this week, I participated in a virtual training with five Site Coordinators that I will be working with this summer. Our discussion covered the mission and vision of CIS as well as examples that site coordinators might encounter when working with students. Although most of the information will not apply to me as a summer intern, I still gained valuable information when it comes to setting boundaries, knowing my roles and responsibilities, and interacting with students.

During the training, I met several Program and Site managers and learned more about some of the projects I’ll be working on this summer. I also learned what expectations are of me and how some planning will take place. I have been assigned a CIS laptop and will have my own email address, so it’s getting official. I am looking forward to a great 10 weeks this summer and being able to work directly with the community, students, and staff ! 

The Columbus Foundation is looking for awesome young people to learn more about the nonprofit sector by spending 10-weeks working with a local nonprofit. Visit the 2021 pages on this site and read the Fellows Blog for more information and insight on the types of projects, roles, and responsibilities of a typical Fellow. We also invite you to check out the Fellows page here to apply in November 2021.

Program Details:

The 10-week fellowship starts June 6, 2022 and ends August 12, 2022.

Fellows are matched with a nonprofit based on interests, skills, and the nonprofit’s specific needs or objectives, and are required to attend five professional development sessions culminating in a mandatory end-of-summer presentation on August 12.

Program Eligibility:

College junior, senior, May/June 2022 graduate, or a graduate student in the fall of 2022 and have graduated from a Franklin County high school.

OR College junior, senior, May/June 2022 graduate, or graduate student attending a Franklin County college or university.

You can also email Dr. Mark Lomax, II (mlomax@columbusfoundation.org) for more information.

Wow! The summer has gone so fast and we are all at the finish line! Yet, for many of us, this is only the beginning of our work in social profits and finding our careers paths. I will be a Fellow for the Cleveland Foundation starting in September and will be continuing my work in social profit!

I have learned so much valuable information this summer from my co-workers, campers, and others in leadership positions. This fellowship was the first time in 14 months that I spent 40 hours outside my home. It was refreshing and a taste of the world as we work towards a new future.

Camp ended last week, so the Center was once again quiet. I spent time finalizing data, clean up the Center after 8 weeks of camp, and concluding my short but happy time at the Center. I wrote a final email to the Director with all that I worked on and it was satisfying working on so much! A huge highlight of this week was sitting down with a Dominican Sisters of Peace Grant Writer (who knows Dr. Lomax) and talking about their journey. Grantmaking is something I am very much interested in pursuing a career. During our conversations, several opportunities were mentioned and ones that I will be following upon.

The week concluded with our Pecha Kucha presentations (still not sure how to pronounce it. My supervisor and I had a great time Friday laughing at the youtube pronunciation). I briefly came back to the Center after the presentations to wrap up. I received a thank you gift! I cut as many deadheads from the Center’s Garden as I could before it started raining (I hope someone notices on Monday).

Overall I am so happy I decided to submit my application despite the short turnaround time I had to complete the application. I am so thankful for the memories, friendships, and experience this Summer has brought me!

Farewell!

This is it! Our final weeks in our internships. This week was a wind down from a very busy summer. I did not end up having much to do at all due to being proactive in previous weeks. It really gave me time to enjoy time with my coworkers before leaving. I would just like to give thanks to the Columbus Foundation for this opportunity! I have made amazing connections with many people and had an amazing time at the museum. It was incredible meeting my fellow, fellows and spending time with everyone. I hope to see you guys in the future!

I am sad to say that today is my final day as a Summer Fellow with the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation. We joined together on zoom this afternoon to celebrate these past ten weeks and hear about the experience of each fellow. I was reminded just how varied and wide-reaching our work has been. Everyone presented a pucha kucha to share photos and projects. I spoke about all of the wonderful people I have met at the library, the impact report I have spent time writing and organizing, as well as the donor journey stewardship plan I developed. It was hard to sum up everything this fellowship has meant in the 400 second, 20 slide chit chat presentation of a pucha kucha. But it was fun to share my gratitude and enjoy one last learning session with my peers.

This fall, I will continue work with the library as a volunteer. I hope to finish the design and dissemination of the impact report and contribute to some other projects as needed. More than anything, I am thrilled to stay connected to CMLF and the team. I have felt incredibly supported by my supervisors, and I look forward to learning more from them as a volunteer. There is so much good happening at the library, and I am so thankful to be part of this community institution!

Lastly, I am thankful to all who have followed my journey this summer. It has been rewarding and insightful to reflect on my work each week. I hope you have learned a bit more about the incredible Columbus Metropolitan Library. Enjoy these final weeks of summer and visit your local branch soon!

Amy