Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Two weeks left of being with Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center that is.

When periods of life are coming to a close, the ends have often snuck up on me, so I am thinking ahead to be more prepared for the end of this Fellowship.

My Project

I feel well-positioned to finish my designated project in the coming two weeks. This week was a bit frustrating because it took me multiple days to go through the final section of summaries of legal statutes in the Crime Victims Rights Toolkit. That seemed quite slow to me, but the other staff assured me that is to be expected since it can be monotonous to focus on the Toolkit for hours on end. Regardless, I have now finished going through all of the summaries of statutes from both Ohio and federal law that apply to victims of crime in the state. The majority of my remaining work is to review what I have done so far in order to prepare a polished form of all of my Toolkit recommendations to leave my supervisor when the Fellowship ends. My supervisor will then decide which suggestions to implement for the Toolkit.

Because it took longer than I estimated to revise all of the statute summaries, my realistic goal for the last two weeks is to wrap up all of my current work. It seems less likely that I will have time to start creating my own summaries of pending state legislation regarding victims’ rights, but I will let that possibility serve as motivation.

Takeaways

Beyond an increase in my own knowledge of criminal justice work, I have gotten lots of practice with my writing skills this summer. These weekly blogs have provided practice in identifying the important aspects of the week, making connections between them, and presenting them in a way that will be meaningful to others. Though the exercise has been challenging during weeks that seemed relatively uneventful, that can be the reality of professional work, and it is still good to be able to communicate about what I am doing. I feel more prepared both now and in the future to tell people about my work in an organized and informative way.

The bulk of my Fellowship project involves editing written content, which has improved my writing and communication skills as well. I am more aware of the impacts of word selection, the placement of clauses, and the overall structuring of a message. The Toolkit revisions have also made me think much more about the way my own communication will be received and understood by others. Though I have not been able to see any tangible impact of my work on the Toolkit yet, I was honored when another staff member asked me to review a piece she had written this week. She liked some of my suggestions and showed me her updated work. I am hoping it will feel just as satisfying to see changes made to the Toolkit based on my recommendations. In general, I am excited to keep using my editing skills in future work.

Ongoing Reflections

My role this summer is very much that of a contracted worker brought in to do a specific project, and I appreciate that it provides a sense of finality in that regard. It still required adjusting to the organization though. Today, the attorney in my office noticed that I was wearing the same t-shirt many of the staff wear on casual Fridays. I had just gotten the shirt a few weeks earlier, and the moment felt a bit symbolic to me. At the point when I have become a fairly familiar part of the office, I am preparing to leave. I will take from the experience the shirt, of course, but also lessons, insights, and abilities that will better equip me to start out new with another organization.

To this point in life, all of my professional experiences have been on a short-term basis to fit around school. There are positives and negatives to their nature. They allow for exposure to many different environments, and they can seem to provide the opportunity for continual growth. At the same time, it is difficult to have long-ranging impact that way, and some forms of improvement can only come through dedication to a particular endeavor.

With that in mind, I think back to a discussion at one of our Fellows learning sessions earlier in the summer about leadership transitions. We discussed that there is a period of adjustment and integration whenever a new person takes over a leadership position in an organization. A book about ensuring successful leadership transitions called The First 90 Days was mentioned. On the other hand, Dr. Lomax, II shared an article with us that emphasizes being driven by impact, rather than calendar periods, because it usually takes at least several months for leaders to become fully productive. Leadership positions are something to work toward, but even at this point, I look forward to having a long-term opportunity, so I can contribute to sustained work for an organization. After this summer, I feel ready for that step.

This week has been long. Monday seems like it was SO far away. This week, work was not as fast-paced as usual. There has been so much going on in our office- the new AmeriCorps members start on Monday, and the Development team is waiting on approval to submit 8 grants over the next week- but all of the work is tied up with other departments and people. I have tried my best to be helpful, but it just came down to one simple fact: I did not have much to do this week. That, to me, is a frustrating fact. I have been told many times that this is the nature of nonprofit work, and that some weeks are busier than others. This is the first time that I have experienced this at City Year.

While I have spent the week helping proofread grants and carrying out tasks around the office, one point of discussion from our Fellows discussion with Empowerbus CEO Aslyne Rodriguez has stayed in the back of my mind: “Continue to ask yourself- is the work that you are doing dignified?” In my own reflections, I have found this to be a more complex question than I originally assumed. I tend to think of nonprofits as “problem solving” organizations- grassroots in nature, immediately responsive, and tuned in to the community needs. While this may be true, I also unknowingly attributed a certain level of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps and be thankful for a solution” to the nonprofit sector- that ANY solution, however it was put together and presented, was better than nothing.

This week, my thinking has been challenged. While I used to applaud when nonprofits presented solutions for communities in need, Aslyne challenged me to think: are the solutions we are providing to communities dignified in nature? As nonprofits continue to establish themselves as public leaders and agents of change in communities, we can no longer accept A solution- but one that is THE best solution for the community it serves. I have applied this framework to the solutions I have been providing for City Year, and asking myself if they were the best for the City Year and Columbus City School communities we serve- I believe the best way to do this is by asking those impacted directly by the decision being made. Moving forward, dignity will be the standard by which I hold nonprofit solutions.

This work week has gone by so fast at ETSS. Youth Summit is a week away, and being the main organizer of an event for 500 children, still helping to coordinate aspects of the Summer Enrichment Camp, and managing a few office interns and volunteers on some major Youth Department organization projects have certainly kept me busy!

This week, all of our site art projects were delivered to the office to be displayed. These will also be displayed at our Youth Summit. I asked each site to make a large scale piece of art that included everyone at the site and matched the theme of ETSS’s 2018 Summer Enrichment Camp: Climb the Summit. After I received supplies lists, I ordered everything had them delivered to sites who produced some lovely pieces of art:

If you look into each of the images, you will learn a little bit more about the sites that made the pieces of art.

And here is my favorite piece of art made by the students at Wedgewood:

This is the size of four poster boards put together, and I helped them brainstorm ideas for this project. It is very symbolic of Wedgewood and the work ETSS does there: Some may view Wedgewood as scrappy like the scraps of paper used to make this mural, but the Wedgewood community has the potential to come together to make something a little misunderstood but beautiful nonetheless.

I don’t have much more to say for this week — it’s currently 5:30 and I am still at the ETSS office. Hopefully, I will report back next week with pictures from a successful Youth Summit!

Do not let the title fool you, this post is not about Kiki.  However, it is about the relationships I have gained and strengthened this summer at the Boys and Girls Club.  Earlier in this experience I wrote about the importance of collaboration in the movement to increase opportunity for marginalized groups.  This movement is impossible without fostering positive relationships with other change agents.  At the BGCC, I have had nothing but positive experiences with my coworkers.  I also believe that I have established relationships that will extend beyond this 10-week program.

As I continue my pursuit of my PhD, I hope to continue to support the vision and mission of the BGCC.  I have had conversations with some of the BGCC staff about having critical conversations with potential BGCC volunteers.  Moreover, we discussed them attending one of my seminar courses at Ohio State.

That being said, work-related support does not effectively define the relationships I have gained this summer.  We have had critical conversations about the directions of the BGCC, shared personal aspirations, and how we have been influenced by societal forces.   I believe this is an underappreciated part of societal change.  Scholars, community members, parents, politicians, and students all talk about making a difference in society, but these plans often do not include how we strengthen our relationships.  Although I do not subscribe to the argument that a person should cater to societal norms for the sake of “impacting a larger group of people,” I do believe that relationships are the foundation of societal change.  This means that people who may be perpetuating inequitable structures may decide to alter their ideology once a relationship is established.  But, we cannot jeopardize our belief in the immense value of all people.  Finding this balance is a lifelong lesson.

In conclusion, this summer has given me an opportunity to see more ways building relationships have a real impact.  BGCC has got me in my feelings!

My eighth week with Cartoon Crossroads has been a great one! I feel like I’m learning so much so quickly which is overwhelming but the productivity is so rewarding. This week I really jumped in to Salesforce and spent hours upon hours watching webinars explaining the ins and outs of the software. Because I have such limited time left at CXC, I have started to make a plan of action that will take me all the way to August 10^th.  My current focus is cleaning user data to make it useable for the database. This process is time consuming but completely necessary to ensure that Salesforce is as user-friendly as possible for my successor in this position. Once the data is ready to be added to the software, I am going to work with the executive committee of CXC to categorize their data in a functional way for them. Again, because this software will be in place for years to come, I have to think about what is going to work best for not just myself but for all members of the nonprofit who will be using it. My strategies need to work towards their longevity.

My positive week at CXC was matched by a great learning session at the Columbus Foundation. We had the opportunity to listen to the president of the Columbus Foundation, Doug Kridler speak about his career leading up to the current day. He reminded us that anyone can get to where they want to go and that (to some extent) former circumstances don’t determine your future. Our second speaker was Aslyne Rodriguez, the founder and CEO of Empowerbus. She was so humble in discussing her entrepreneurial journey and continuously encouraged us to use our newfound connection with her to our advantage. She mentioned a recent meeting with the OSU geography department about using students for her business and I am hoping I could be a potential candidate for that. This talk reminded me why I am in the majors and specialties that I am and proved that the skills I have acquired at school and through my fellowship with the Columbus Foundation are valuable and marketable.

Despite the ups and downs inherent in office culture, I have legitimately enjoyed working at Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services (ETSS). I am greeted by hugs almost every day. My coworkers are always generous in sharing their cultures with me. (Today, for example, the Director of Adult Services brought in his wife’s rice jollof to share, sparking an office debate on which west African country makes the dish best.) I am constantly learning and reflecting on how, as an outsider to a community, I can work with community members to create effective events and programming.

When I attend Fellows learning sessions, I am taken aback and challenged by how much I have yet to learn about nonprofits and mobilizing for social change. During the sessions I take notes, writing down jargon to research, recommended books, and the best practices used by local leaders in the field. Sometimes, I wonder how I could have such a large gap in my education, but I am grateful to even be pointed in a general direction of what I need to learn.

While I have been overall enjoying my experience in this program, I wonder: Is a career in this field enough to fulfill and challenge me? As I see the more practical uses of my fields of study, I see the ways in which I could do research for a Masters thesis that would tailor my areas of interest and scholarly experiences to take into account the need to have a job post-graduation and the current trends in the nonprofit world. During learning sessions, so many research ideas surrounding hot topics like the effectiveness of social enterprise, the roles of corporations as agents for social change, and the ways in which progress in programming is quantified and measured run through my mind. With these topics, I see real life applications, the potential for a tangible career.

Then, I think to what I would study, research, and write on if I did not think of the future or being viable in the job market, and it’s completely different. I find myself attracted to Walter Benjamin, memory, desire, the sociology of emotions, and research conducted in more sensitive, humanistic terms. I think of conducting research and writing in a way that is nonlinear or like a film that has no clear beginning, end, or concrete conclusion. And I know that these research desires are not necessarily viable, possible, or applicable to anything in the real world. I see inherent value in this kind of research and writing, but do others? Is there a way to marry the need for more practical, conclusive research on topics that most immediately affect our lives with the more abstract, experimental types of writing and research I find myself attracted to? And, just as importantly, will it make me happy?

I have begun to interview the BGCC summer fellows.  The compassion and devotion demonstrated by the words of the fellows has been inspirational.  As a person who does not work with the BGCC year-round, I have a deep understanding of how this work influences people.  People in youth development are not only positively influencing the kids in which they serve; they are also being positively influenced in their personal and professional development.  This is the ideal model of service-learning.

This is something that is parallel to the work at the Columbus Foundation and one of the reasons I decided to study community partner led service-learning programs.  Fellows learn as they work, and make a major difference in the community.  I know my research will support the BGCC in recruiting and retaining excellent staff members who want to make a difference WITH (not for) our community.

These are my reflections at the end of the BGCC summer program.  I still have 3 more weeks to make an impact.  I look forward to collecting and preparing the data in a manuscript/ report format.  My impact will reside in my ability to articulate the experiences of the BGCC fellows.

I’ve taken a variety of community development classes at college, many of which include failures of previous development work and lessons to be learned for the future. This field addresses the causes of problems, and potential solutions, that are relevant to entire communities, not just individuals. To summarize what I’ve learned to be true of strong, socially responsible development in three years of these classes thus far:

• Good intentions do not equate to good outcomes. If anything, good intentions can be blinding in the quest to achieve good outcomes.
• All stakeholders of a project are important, regardless of their status on society’s totem pole. All voices need to be heard for everyone to benefit.
• Technical projects and outcomes are meaningless without considering necessary cultural and social changes and adaptations.

These points might sound simple and intuitive, but they are much harder to adhere to in real life. I’ve been thinking of these concepts over the last week or so, as the work that I’m doing feels like a small-scale version of the projects I learn about in these community development classes. There’s a problem, help is called on, resources flow to address the problem, and then a solution is implemented. In this situation, the problem of data organization and communication led to this fellowship being created, with 10 weeks of my work flowing into creating a solution to this problem.

Equipped with this knowledge, have I followed through on these concepts for the data management tool that I’ve created? I’ve been reflecting on this over the past few weeks, as I continue to learn how much I didn’t know, and realize how much is yet to be done for this project. I’ve learned that it’s hard to get every person to sit down and give me the time to solicit input, when the value of this tool is not the highest of immediate priorities. Our staff go above and beyond in the energy that they put into their jobs, and there simply isn’t enough capacity to achieve the seemingly endless tasks that need to get done. This tool is useful only in theory, unless there is guidance and consideration in moving past the initially steep learning curve. Without strategic implementation, it is more than likely that this tool would collect dust on its digital shelf. Finally, supporting the mission of Local Matters is the end objective of my work – but there is no way for me to guarantee this cause and effect relationship to be true.

Am I considering every stakeholder? Am I being considerate of every social aspect of the organization that this tool might touch? There is no perfect example of community development, nor Is there a perfect example of project development. So, to answer my question from the last paragraph, I don’t think I’ve been able to completely follow through on these idealistic principles. Rather than seeing this as failure, I’m learning how to discern between idealism and pragmatism. This lesson has been a source of struggle for me, as I have previously felt that not achieving my ideals is a betrayal of my values. However, I’m beginning to understand the importance of doing my best with my given resources and environment, and that everyone around me is trying to do the same. This understanding has lead me to look back to my classes on community development with an additional layer of insight, and look to my professional future with more realistic expectations of myself and others.