Week Two at Equitas health has brought a lot of new learning opportunities! I started the week attending the new employee orientation, where we focused on and learned a lot about the organization’s mission statement and key values. Some key values that have stuck out to me include Cultural Humility, Inclusivity, Nobility of Purpose, and Acceptance & Respect. Equitas works hard to promote these values across the organization, with everything from including our chosen pronouns on our cubicles/email signatures, to providing healthcare in underserved communities. As I have immersed myself in the history and values of the organization, I am blown away by how much courage it took to begin to provide HIV/AIDS healthcare in the early 90s, with this nobility of purpose carrying on to this day.

The rest of the week has been a process of preparing to work with the Art for Life selection jury. We have been soliciting art donations for the Art For Life Fundraiser (if you are reading this and are an artist: submit work to us! We’d love to see it at this link!). The first jury selection meeting is this week, so I have been working to make binders with handouts of each piece of art, with a description of the artist, the value, the gallery, and other contact information. Almost all of these artists are local to the central Ohio area, and it has been so interesting to learn more about Columbus through these artist’s works. From paintings of High Street to empty State Routes, the landscapes of the area show up in these works too.

Tonight is the jury meeting down in a Short North gallery- I am very excited to meet our board and get to show them the artwork selections. Next week, the event will be picking up even more, as there begin to be more planning meetings as we finalize the auction items.

     Hi! I’m Jen, a rising senior at the Ohio state university. I am double majoring in English and political science. I’ve always had a passion for community engagement and helping others, and thought working for a nonprofit would be an extremely rewarding experience. 

 I’ve been given the opportunity to intern at the Family Mentor Foundation of Worthington, OH. I will be spending to next ten weeks working on areas such as programming and development. 

     My first day at the nonprofit  was spent learning the logistics of Family Mentor Foundation, and it how it runs on a day to day basis. The foundation is dedicated to serving children experiencing food insecurity. The nonprofit produces “Buddy Boxes” which are shelf stable food boxes specifically for the weekend. 

     In order to package these boxes, volunteers are always needed! My second day was spent observing and participating in a packaging event. The volunteer group was the Wexner Service Corps, which is a service learning program for high schoolers. It was great seeing so many young people have a heart for service. Along with packaging, the volunteer group created cards wit words of encouragement to put in each box. After the service event I was able to sit down with the executive director. We discussed the future programming of the nonprofit, and learned more about the internal side of nonprofits. 

     My final day of the week was spent at a partner site, helping to hand out the Buddy boxes to the children. It was a great experience getting to see the impact Family Mentor Foundation has on the Worthington community and surrounding areas. Overall, I had a jammed pack first week and can’t wait for the rest of the summer. 

Hi everyone! My name is Quenaysha Copes and I am a senior Political Science student at Ohio State University. My Fellowship site for this summer is at the Ohio Craft Museum. This museum is a program of Ohio Designer Craftsmen. The museum houses the Craft research library and facilitates educational classes for people of all ages and artistic levels. There are 5 major exhibits that are presented every year, currently with the ( ) exhibit in house. In addition to being a great craft museum and learning center, the Ohio Craft Museum puts on an extremely popular craft summer camp for kids ages 6-12yrs old!

This past week, I could not have felt more welcomed. Everyone who works here is extremely pleasant to be around and engages with me in great conversations. At the beginning of the week, I spent more time working alongside Phyllis who oversees the summer camp for the kids. During this time we prepped materials and lessons for the next 5 weeks. Instead of just having me there as a tool to listen to their plans and help them make them happen, Phyllis always asks me my opinions on different things and actually takes them into consideration on whether we’ll do something or not. Later in the week I was able to go up to the museum area and help out up there. Here I worked with Kim, () and (). This is where I was able to work on my skills in customer service and retail. I would greet guests when they came into the museum, answer phone calls and ring people out from the giftshop. 

Overall, my first week is way more than I imagined. I feel welcomed and appreciated in everything that I do for my organization. I have made several amazing connections and it is just the beginning. I look forward to what my future weeks have to bring and I’m very grateful to the Columbus Foundation for giving me this opportunity!

First week at ECDI

Hello, my name is Joseline (jo-celine) I am a senior public relations and global studies double major at Otterbein University. I am working with ECDI this summer, an organization dedicated to helping small business find funding they otherwise wouldn’t have. 

On my first day I followed John around, the coordinator of the Food Fort. The Food Fort supports food business with two buildings (and one in the process) open to local owners to make and store their products. From Dave’s Artisanal Cheesecakes to Dos Hermanos, the Food Forts are full to the brim of entrepreneurs. Around the perimeter of Foot Forts there are garden beds with vegetables already starting to bloom. One of my main responsibilities at ECDI is to help with the garden along with John and another intern, Arvind. I have to focus on community outreach and overall image of the garden. We met this week to talk about logistics and what we should change from last year. This coming week we set up a meeting with Marketing to talk about details regarding getting signs and banners for the garden. We hope to get the local community involved through volunteering in order to build a relationship between ECDI and the Devon Triangle (and surrounding) neighborhood. In a few weeks we hope to have enough vegetables to start giving them away to the community which happens to be a food desert.

Another part of ECDI is the Women’s Business Center, dedicated to training and supporting women entrepreneurs. My second day I met Lisa and Aminata who trained me on all of the things WBC does. Truly so much goes on in the WBC that I could write a full manual, bounded and everything. I got to sit in on a WBC team meeting where I met the rest of the squad, Edgar, Courtnee, and Patty. Everyone was so kind, genuine, and passionate about their work that I immediately felt a sense of belonging. I was invited to other meetings, one that was particularly interesting was with the Guadalupe Center and Small Business Association, where they discussed the possibility of all three organizations working together to bring business workshops to the Guadalupe Center. I also connected with Edgar, Courtnee, and Patty on an individual basis to ask to shadow them some time in the near future!

When I interviewed with ECDI I expected to be nervous and feel like an impostor because it would be my first real paid job in the field I wanted to work in. But I remember leaving the meeting knowing that I was made not just for the position but to work at ECDI. As this summer approached I became scared again, that maybe I couldn’t handle it, maybe I wasn’t the perfect intern for them. But this week has shown me that the environment at ECDI is perfect for my growth as a professional. Everyone is so open and kind that I feel a sense of belonging which is not a feeling I am very familiar with. I know not everything will be perfect (especially myself) but I know that the people at ECDI care about my success, my learning, and my overall well-being. I am so excited to see what this summer has in store!

As I began my orientation at Netcare, something that the staff continually said was “I did not know about Netcare before I joined this company” or “I had heard of it, but never really knew what exactly they did”. Prior to applying for this Summer Fellowship, I, too, had only heard briefly of Netcare Access. Though unknown to many, Netcare Access works behind the scenes to make a TREMENDOUS difference in the greater-Columbus community. I was amazed by all the different components that make up the comprehensive mental health care that Netcare provides to the Central Ohio and surrounding community. Some of these sectors include immediate crisis support, residential/long-term aid, and forensic services. However, for me, the most interesting service which I learned about during orientation was the Mobile Response Unit. This unit goes out with the Columbus Police Department and Franklin County Sheriff’s Department to respond to mental-health and substance-abuse related calls. These well-trained clinicians help to provide immediate care to those in need and prevent unnecessary incarcerations. It gave me hope to see that Netcare was leading the way to eroding the stigma surrounding mental health and helping to place those in crisis in a place truly suited to help them recover. 

During my first week, I met one of the clinicians who works on the mobile response unit. He had evidently responded to some harrowing situations, and his passion and drive for his profession inspired me. He returned to Netcare many years after leaving for other professional opportunities because he wanted to be on the frontline making a difference. It was clear that he made his community better daily and loved what he did. I hope to one day be able to say the same of my profession. 

In addition to orientation-related tasks, I worked this week to create a solicitation list with information about companies that could possibly donate to components of Netcare that are not under Medicaid and ADAMH funding. As I look towards next week, I am excited to help prepare for the upcoming Golf Fundraiser.

Overall, I leave my first week with immense optimism. I am hopeful about the difference, even if it is small, that I can help Netcare make in the Columbus community. More importantly, though, I feel a newfound sense of hope in society after comprehensively understanding the ways that Netcare works daily to better the lives of Ohioans.  After just one week of working at this non-profit, if I could describe Netcare Access as one thing, it would be a hidden gem, a diamond in the rough. This company is unknown to many, but is a multifaceted, precious part of our community. I am ecstatic for this opportunity to continue to help Netcare sparkle and shine in the place I call home. 

¡Guau! My first week as a Fellow for the Martin de Porres Center is complete! I have met so many passionate and humble people who either work at the Center or are part of the Dominicans Sisters of Peace. By the end of the week, I can say I am quite settled despite the AC at full blast. 

I have been working with the Director of the Center to figure out the details of my Fellowship. We have tentatively settled on working on programing for Latinx Youth and the Social Media presence of the Center (their media was previously hacked). The Director deeply cares that I am doing both things I want to do and that will enhance the experience of interning at the Center.

Throughout the week the Center was either quiet or full of people moving around. This week we spent time prepping for camp activities that will begin next week and last for six weeks! I expect that the Center will be far from quiet in the coming weeks! 

One of the perks of the Fellowship is that I have my desk, the only “downside” is that to visitors keep asking me questions, that I might not have answers to. But I am quickly adapting to interact with visitors (despite it only being my first week!). I am happy that I have been able to meet members of the community and slowly familiarize myself with the community I will be serving. 

A big accomplishment is that I am First Aid/CPR/AED certified. Hopefully, I won’t need to put my new skills to the test (the campers will be doing several activities that might need First Aid). Camp starts next week so this weekend I will rest up, the campers will challenge how young and energetic I really am. 

¡Manos a la obra, for next week!

Mental Note: Take pictures both for social media and this blog! 

Lidia

Hi everyone! My name is Jacqueline Figueroa (she/her pronouns) and I am a summer fellow for Zora’s House. My theme for the first week of my internship has been the importance of care. I have gotten to meet very dedicated and passionate people at Zora’s House, and I gained a small glimpse into what it means to build sisterhood and co-design with other women of color in our community. It was refreshing to see that the leaders at Zora’s House are so dedicated to their mission and goals of co-creation and uplifting women and femmes of color, and how they are not limiting themselves just to Columbus. I have heard a lot about how the nonprofit sector, although fulfilling, can drain the people working in that area. However, the people at Zora’s House emphasize the importance of taking care of one’s self and others in various ways, and that rest is integral in one’s life, including when it comes to work. 

The importance of care and rest came through in the organization’s physical space. When I first visited the space on Wednesday, I could see how, even though each part of the house had a designated work purpose, the importance of relaxation and comfort came through. I could feel it through the types of furniture and the layout of the spaces, and I could see it in the different quotes, books, and work that is showcased as well. They even have a basement that one can go relax in and be alone if work becomes overwhelming. As a member of the Operations, Infrastructure, and Culture board mentioned in the board’s meeting today, in a world where we are always told that we need to have everything together, we are rarely given the grace to be “in process.” By emphasizing the importance of care and rest throughout the space, there’s an opportunity for women of color to just “be” and to progress towards their goals. 

These first impressions and what I have gathered so far about the culture of Zora’s House from its various members are crucial in order to better fulfill my responsibilities regarding the organization’s employee and operations manuals. I’m so excited to continue learning more about Zora’s House (what it represents, and why it is important to women and femmes of color) and figuring out how to translate that into documents that convey the organization’s essence to its employees, ambassadors, and members.

*This title is based off of the slogans included in the employees’ email signatures, which I include because I believe it is a crucial aspect of the organization and its goals based on what I have seen during this past week. It also accurately summarizes what I have seen at Zora’s House based on the people I have met and what I have looked at during this week.

Welcome!

Hi there! I’m Shelly Douglas (she/her pronouns), and I am a newly-graduated Ohio State alumna with a B.S. in Environment and Natural resources. When I saw FLOW as a host site for the Summer Fellowship, I was ecstatic. With a major in Environmental Policy and Decision Making and a minor in Nonprofit Management, it was pretty much a perfect match. FLOW’s mission is to “keep the Olentangy River and its tributaries clean and safe for all to enjoy.” Amazing, right? Having attended a few FLOW events throughout my years at Ohio State, I was eager to see operations from the other side.

During our first learning session with The Columbus Foundation, fellows were asked to describe their expectations for the summer in one word. The word I chose was “growth.” While I do expect my professional skills to grow exponentially this summer, it’s also a bit of a play on words since FLOW hosts many tree planting events. Run by almost all volunteers, I was immediately inspired by the passion and determination within FLOW. Even with full-time jobs, families, and other responsibilities to tend to, each person at FLOW puts their whole heart into the organization. While the first week can be quite a bit of on-boarding and information, I am motivated to soak up as much knowledge as I can and be a part of the FLOW family.

I’ve always hoped my career wouldn’t require me to sit at a desk all day, and that dream is certainly possible at FLOW. While I am working on projects using Network for Good, ArcGIS, and Google Drive, I also get to head out into nature to work at various project sites. I haven’t had the chance to check out a site yet, but I have a tour of the watershed and an invasive species removal event to look forward to in the next week. I am extremely excited to learn about the different native and invasive species in Ohio and what effects they have on the river.

Reflecting on my first week, my biggest takeaway is how much work goes into keeping a river healthy. FLOW has so many resources and events that I never knew about! Litter clean-ups, tree plantings, sapling giveaways, invasive species removals, pollinator gardens, and so much more. I have enjoyed learning about the myriad of projects going on all throughout Columbus.

Going into Week 2, I have set a couple goals for myself to evaluate in the next blog post. First, I hope I can successfully identify the relevant invasive species in the watershed. Second, I want to learn how to mix and apply our aquatic- and terrestrial-safe herbicides to project sites. As you can see by these goals, I am eager to get outside and get to work next week! In conclusion, I feel confident that my summer with FLOW will be filled with growth and amazing opportunities.

Talk to you next week! -Shelly