Week 1: CityYear Columbus, Development, and Service

Hello everyone, my name is Irma Zamora (she/her/hers). I am this year’s The Columbus Foundation Fellow at CityYear Columbus, working with the Development team. I am originally from Santa Ana, California but have also lived in Western Massachusetts. Now I am a graduate student at The Ohio State University in the Department of English and call Columbus home.

This week entailed a lot of onboarding processes with CityYear: reading manuals, familiarizing myself with websites and social media accounts, meeting my team, and understanding the Mission and Vision of the organization. Though most of my meetings were virtual, I truly got a sense of community from my team (the “Mighty Devo Team”) and have already sensed the support I’ll receive this summer. Given my conversations with the team, my role this summer will center around social media and within the fundraising arm of the organization. However, there will also be time for me to lead a project of my own–something I am still working on but excited to develop with my supervisor, Ruth Lomax.

Along with the general administrative processes of the organization, this week I also got to experience a CityYear community event. On Tuesday, I was part of their community clean-up event near Linden-McKinley High School with the AmeriCorps members. This was my first in-person event for the position and it was exciting to witness first-hand how CityYear executes one of their values: “Service to a cause greater than self”.

Though all of CityYear’s Value Statements seem significant and relevant for me, experiencing this particular value in action really stood out this week. Given our conversations in our Learning Session this week about advocacy, the relationship between “service”, “self” and “cause” resonated with my own understanding of social justice, and the intertwined relationship that exists between it and the nonprofit sector.

I’m excited to start this Fellowship at CityYear and for all the growth to come!

Hi everyone! My name is Jared Hackworth (he/him), and I am one of the Columbus Foundations’ 2021 Summer Fellows. I am working with Equitas Health, specifically focusing on the 2021 Art for Life event. I am from Sunbury, OH, and during the school year, I attend Wheaton College in Illinois, where I am studying English and Urban Studies.

This week, I experienced both Equitas and Columbus Foundation orientations and onboarding. Equitas Health is a non-profit healthcare system that is one of the nation’s largest HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ healthcare organizations! In my role, I will aid development with the 2021 Art For Life event. Art for Life has been a biennial art auction that has raised around $6 Million in funding for HIV/AIDS care, prevention, education, testing, and advocacy services.

The introduction sessions with the Columbus foundation were also super interesting, as they helped me contextualize the summer. Our session on Advocacy stuck out to me and helped me frame what non-profit work should really be, with first a focus on listening to the community members instead of just beginning projects that I may think are best. We also received advice to write a letter to the editor at the Columbus Dispatch about something we are passionate about– a challenge I look forward to taking up.

At Equitas, this week has brought a lot of orientation and onboarding. Since Equitas is a medical organization, I have gone through a good amount of HIPPA training before I can fully start work. Already, I have learned a great deal through training on anything from how to use giving and auction software to attending an anti-racism series. While the onboarding process has taken a good portion of the week, I am grateful to have a strong footing as we go forward into the coming weeks.

My theme for this week was gratitude. I choose this because for the first time in a long time, life felt normal. Normal in the sense that though some of may still be wearing masks and following social distance guidelines, we were able to do it together. My first week at the GIAC has been a lot of things. Exciting, interesting, fulfilling, and hectic, to name a few.

This week was the first week of in-person camps and programs returning. So every morning at 9am, I walk to the front door, unlocked the doors, and stand to wait for the Pre-K campers to get dropped off by their parents. Wait as each one of them slowly and sometimes not so surely walk up to the center, wondering why their mom isn’t following them and if they really want to do this. But as soon as they walk in they smile and run to the learning suite, excited to see what list of activities are on the board for the day. It wasn’t until Friday that i was given my official camp nickname. I told the kids that they could come up with mine for me, they decided on “Mr Snazzy”. Why they chose that i am not sure, but Mr Snazzy it is.

Camp ends around 11:30 and once the kids are all gone, the center is pretty quiet. This is when i get to sit down and work on some promotional things for the center like posting events to the website. I take a lot of pride in making these posts because I see how hard everyone here works to make the events special and i want to make sure that people get the opportunity to come see all the amazing things the center and the park have to offer.

On Wednesday, I got the opportunity to work with an Aphasia group who came into the center to volunteer. Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language, most commonly from a stroke. They came in to volunteer by doing things that were low difficulty on fine motor skills such as organizing the library books or basic gardening tasks. It was definitely a humbling experience working with them because despite their conditions they came in smiling, laughing and joking around with each other, and were so eager to volunteer.

All in all, I can confidently say that I was placed in the right place to spend my summer. I am extremely excited to learn more about the non-profit sector through the GIAC this summer, as well as growing my strategic communications skills through event coordinating as well. as programming.

Week 1 – Central Community House

The theme of the week for me is connection. From my first interactions with the people at Central, this is what I felt. It was almost emotional for me at first – because it seems as though everything I have experienced in my life has uniquely suited me to serve at Central. Not only do I feel personally connected to Central, but Central shows an authentic connection to the community and to the people that live there. Further, Central takes such a holistic approach to serving families, the connection between each of their programs to the others is palpable. There is also a strong connection between the initiatives at Central, and a data-driven approach that produces measurable outcomes, which is also a passion of mine. 

I have always had a heart for children – especially children with obstacles to overcome. Although I come from a rural community, many of the issues facing the children in the Near East and South Side neighborhoods of Columbus are similar, such as generational poverty and barriers to opportunity. Central empowers the children and teens in their community through after-school programming (transportation included!), Summer day camps (complete with weekend family adventures around Columbus), and the TRANSIT ARTS program, where amazing artists from the community help lead teens in art sessions, ranging from music and dance to visual art and poetry. As someone that was heavily involved in the arts growing up, I can understand firsthand the impact that this work has on the lives it touches. Walking into the TRANSIT ARTS space felt like coming home – there was so much movement and color, it just makes you want to create!

Central provides services for families as well – from parenting workshops to emergency funding for those experiencing a crisis, Central understands the importance of meeting families where they are and connecting them with vital resources. The Academy for Community Entrepreneurs (ACE) program is yet another program at Central that assists individuals with starting their own businesses, or providing support to those who already own their own small business. 

Before returning to school, I was the manager of an affordable housing community for seniors. In that role, I fell in love with serving seniors in the community, and helping them to combat the isolation that often comes with living alone as you age, while providing a safe and affordable place for them to live. Village Central is working hard to make sure the seniors in the area have access to activities, workshops, and valuable services that can help seniors remain independent and aging-in-place. Central also provides transportation services, and most recently, an awesome program to connect seniors with technology and training to help them remain engaged and safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As I met with people throughout the week, I took time to pause and reflect on the connection this work has to my own life. I spent some time in the past few years spiraling and directionless, both in my life, and in my career. I feel I have landed smack dab in the middle of something wonderful, and something I am so thankful and proud to be a part of.

• After my first day, I am now more excited than ever. Orientation was super informative, and I was able to learn about the amazing stories of my peers. Before I got to ROX, I was quite nervous because I did not know what to expect. After meeting and speaking with Lauren (Head of Operations), I was thrilled to get to work with the amazing women at ROX. We went over all the logistics of my fellowship and talked about new possible projects I would engage in. As we continued to discuss my summer plan, I grew more excited and knew this internship would be life changing.
• I was able to go to a gathering with the board members of ROX and it was interesting to meet people in diverse groups of professions. I was able to discuss and learn more about the ROX organization. It was inspiring to see how people with different careers found a way to use their knowledge to advocate for girls. Additionally, speaking with all the members excited me to see what is to come this summer. I believe I will learn a great deal of information about nonprofits and the different components of what make a nonprofit successful.  
• I really enjoyed the learning session for this week. The focus was on activism, and it really inspired me to find more ways I could become an advocate in my own life. One main takeaway was learning about becoming a full-time advocate. It is important to learn how to be an advocate no matter what profession you are in. I am looking forward to finding new ways to advocate for girls at ROX and can’t wait to apply what I learned to my own life.
• One of the highlights for this week was sitting in on the yearly strategic planning meeting for ROX. It was super interesting to hear the new ideas and plans each person had for ROX. Furthermore, I thought it was neat to see how they turned their ideas into tangible plans. I was even able to share some of my own thoughts and ideas on their future plans. I think a big takeaway was learning how to incorporate everyone’s plan in a nonprofit and turn it into a real product, workshop, etc. 
• One person I was able to connect with was the Developer Manager. She explained to me everything her job incorporated. Additionally, she shared her journey with nonprofits and how she ended up at ROX. She was kind enough to answer my questions about nonprofits. If anything, I am now even more curious about nonprofits because there is so much to know. 
• Overall, the first week was extremely informative and hands-on. I am excited to see what is to come for the rest of the summer.

Looking for a paid internship?

We had a fantastic time hosting the Fellows this year! It is always an honor to watch them grow, gain experience, and make an impact in just 10 short weeks.

Are you a nonprofit organization? Do you have a need for added capacity for an important project that could be accomplished with one of Columbus’s best and brightest young people? If so, consider applying to host one of The Columbus Foundations Summer Fellows in 2020. Details below.

The Columbus Foundation is now accepting applications from nonprofit organizations for the 2020 Summer Fellowship Program, which links college students to meaningful experiences with area nonprofits.

Nonprofit organizations have the opportunity to host a summer fellow for a 10-week period from June 1, 2020 to August 7, 2020. Nonprofits must have a specific program to assign to the Fellow with specific objectives that will be completed during the 10-week period.

Fellows will:

• Be a college junior, senior, May 2020 graduate, or a graduate student in the fall of 2020; and
• Be a graduate of a Franklin County high school attending any four-year college or university; or
• Be a junior, senior, May 2020 graduate, or graduate student attending a Franklin County college or university.

Organizations that hosted a Fellow in 2019, governmental agencies, colleges, universities, or other funding organizations are not eligible to apply. [View the application and additional eligibility information.]

All applications from nonprofits must be submitted electronically by the close of business on Friday, September 13, 2019. We encourage you to go to the website and use of FAQs for further information on the Summer Fellowship Program. Organizations selected will receive a grant to cover a stipend for the Fellow.

If you have additional questions, please contact Dr. Mark Lomax, II at mlomax@columbusfoundation.org.

THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION.

It is really hard for me to put into words the experience I had this summer as a a Fellow with the Columbus Foundation and the impact that Best Buddies had on me. In the simplest of terms, I met some of the most inspiring people and had some of the most transformative experiences.

Catlin Layton, the State Directors of Best Buddies Ohio is one of the most driven people I have ever met, and has taught me how to go about identifying and and accomplishing your goals.
Abby Rampe, the Program Manager for Best Buddies Ohio has demonstrated the importance of effective communication and the variety of ways to engage a group of individuals.
Both of these lessons are ones that I will take moving forward in the nonprofit sector and really helped to strengthen my skill set in working in the development side of a nonprofit organization.

All of the Ambassadors that I met through the various trainings and Leadership Conference are some of the best people that I have ever met-their stories and personalities have showed me how important the programs at Best Buddies are and put into perspective how life-changing these programs are. For example, one Ambassador that I met has been involved with Best Buddies for multiple years and attributes so much of her self-confidence to the people and experiences she has had with Best Buddies. Also, I was able to see first-hand the way in which ambassador trainings help to inspire these individuals and give them the confidence to tell their stories, be leaders in their own life, and ultimately become advocates for Best Buddies in their communities.

All in all, I am beyond thankful for the experiences I had and people I met in the summer of 2019-its one that not only solidified the goals that I have for myself but defined the person and leader that I want to be.

Much like my first week at Cristo Rey, this week has been full of activity as the teachers and freshman class are back in the building to complete their two weeks of business training. It feels very full circle that both my first and last weeks here were bustling with people and activities. Seeing students back in the building makes it even harder to leave!

Even though it was my last week and I had time to break out of my normal routine and visit business training classes, I still spent a lot of time putting the final touches on the oral history project. I even was able to present a little preview of the oral history collection to the Cristo Rey teachers, who all seemed really excited with the final product. I hope it attracts lots of listeners! You can even listen here: https://soundcloud.com/vivacristoreycbus 

I am so grateful I had the chance to work at Cristo Rey Columbus this summer. Some of my goals that I discussed with my supervisor at the beginning of the Fellowship included feeling as if my final projects truly contributed to the mission at Cristo Rey and feeling like a professional rather than a student. I feel confident that I have achieved both of these goals, and developed many more skills along the way. This summer I was able to dive into the world of development by learning about marketing, communications, and event planning. I also was so lucky to be placed at a high school and receive more exposure to K12 education. I am more confident than ever in my hopes to pursue non-profit work that focuses on improving educational outcomes post-graduation. 

Thank you to all who have supported me throughout this summer! The entire staff at Cristo Rey were so gracious in welcoming me to the team and supporting my work. I am especially thankful for Rachel Miller, my supervisor, and Carly Miller, the Assistant Director of Development. Both of them made me feel like part of the Development team and always were there to guide me when I needed help. Also, thank you to the Dr. Lomax, Melissa McCool, and the Columbus Foundation for this opportunity. This summer has shaped me in ways I never could have imagined. Viva Cristo Rey!