Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hi everyone! With the fourth week of the Fellowship coming to a close, the Center for Disability Empowerment is now just two weeks out from the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As I suspected, the planning really picked up this week once Sue got back from vacation. We started finalizing some key aspects of the event, including the printed program and the catering decisions to the Columbus Museum of Art. This morning, we had another Planning Committee meeting for which I took notes. Although the CDE has by far taken on the largest responsibility for planning the event, it was still interesting to hear what other Planning Committee members have been working on behind the scenes. Each organization involved in the Planning Committee definitely has something unique and important to offer for the success of an event like this. 

This Wednesday, at the Columbus Foundation Fellows Learning Session, Dr. Lomax asked us to think about how we can leverage our power, purpose, passion and position to affect change in areas we care about. I have been trying to reflect on this over the past couple days and see how it may be applicable to my time at the CDE. I have always felt passionately that all people are valuable and deserve empathy. In a world where people tend to see the worst in others they don’t understand, I try to make an effort to understand and empathize with people different from me. Before this experience, I really did not have any personal connection or know anything about the disability community. I have already learned so much about the resilience and strength of the disability community, despite them being constantly excluded and misunderstood. I now know how much we have missed out by not affording the disabled community the power and voice that they have always deserved. The work at the CDE would not matter if not for those who are affected by the lived experience of a disability. 

On that note, I hope to continue to use my passion to empathize and share power with those around me at the Center for Disability Empowerment and work towards a common goal. 

Until next week, 

Rachael McCague 

Hi Everyone,

Week 4 at Huckleberry House has been filled with so exciting developments, the most anticipated being the arrival of our new Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Sharma. Over the past few weeks, we’ve all been preparing for Jennifer’s arrival (and the reception held in her honor), so it’s great to finally have her here with us.

Also, in my humble opinion, I think the reception went very well! I know I personally really enjoyed speaking with some of the board members and community stakeholders who attended. (It’s always so fun to learn about the various ways people are connected to, or impacted by, a nonprofit like Huck House, which has had a long-standing and meaningful impact on the community.)

This week was also the release of Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy, the most comprehensive and longest-running analysis of charitable giving in the United States. To learn about the report’s findings, the Advancement Team and I attended The Columbus Foundation’s Giving USA 2025 event. I’m happy to report that the report’s findings was quite positive, with total giving in 2024 increasing by 6.3% in current dollars and seven out of the nine sectors tracked experiencing growth even when adjusted for inflation. I and others found this news particularly encouraging, especially given what has been a financially challenging first half of 2025 for many nonprofits nationwide.

Lastly, amid all these developments, I made major headway on reaching out to our current Safe Place partners. While I still have many calls and emails to send, it’s so far been rewarding to connect with current partners and express our appreciation for their collaboration in helping youth in crisis.

Until next week,
Emoni

Welcome back everyone! Week 4 at Netcare Access and The Columbus Foundation were filled with fun social events, introspective questions, and lots of interesting mini projects. I feel like I have gotten the swing of things at Netcare and am really starting to know and enjoy my time with all the staff there.

I started this week off strong with a Columbus Foundation social event at the Columbus Commons. The other fellows and I gathered to watch Rick Ross and the Columbus Symphony, which was definitely an interesting collaboration of classical music and rap. It was an amazing experience to get to know the other fellows more personally especially since we are all placed at different sites.

On Wednesday, we spent our morning at The Columbus Foundation continuing our conversation on leadership. We watched a video about the importance of all individuals being a leader, while emphasizing the problems with hierarchical leadership. At the end of our session, Dr. Lomax asked us to dig deep and answer how we would leverage our power, passion, purpose, and more to make change. As someone extremely passionate about mental health, (specifically in adolescents) I found it easy to immediately answer how I wanted to change the world. But when I thought more about my other passion, music, I was stuck as to how I wanted to make an influence in that part of my life. Listening to the other fellows talk about their uncertainty with the future was extremely reassuring knowing that it is completely normal to not know what we want to do yet. This whole session was such an interesting topic, while also provoked some deeper thoughts.

This past week at Netcare consisted of many different projects. I got to write an article for our quarterly newsletter and focused a lot on collecting client testimonials for our campaign. I also made various social media posts like I have been doing and started reaching out to staff members for potential shadowing opportunities and coffee chats. 

Overall, this week has been extremely fun and engaging, and I am looking forward to more exciting things next week!

Best,

Anaika

Though this was a shorter week due to the Juneteenth holiday, I was still able to make meaningful progress on several ongoing projects at Zora’s House while continuing to deepen my understanding of the organization’s internal structure and long-term vision.

One of my main priorities this week was continuing to organize the Zora’s House library collection, which includes roughly 350 books authored primarily by women of color. As I work through the cataloging process, I’ve become increasingly focused on developing a library system that is not only functional now but also easy to maintain and use well beyond my internship. I’ve been researching classification options, labeling systems, and digital tools that would allow staff and members to easily browse, check out, and recommend books in the future. This process has helped me recognize the importance of sustainability in nonprofit work — systems need to be intuitive, low-maintenance, and adaptable so they can continue to serve the community effectively, regardless of staff turnover or capacity shifts.

In addition to the library, I began organizing the Zora’s House shared drive to support clearer internal documentation and easier access across programs. This behind-the-scenes work gave me greater appreciation for the operational backbone of a nonprofit: the digital systems, workflows, and shared knowledge that keep programs running efficiently.

I also had the opportunity to connect with various stakeholders, including program participants and community partners. Hearing about their work helped me understand how each person contributes to the broader ecosystem of Zora’s House. It reminded me that effective nonprofit leadership requires strong, trust-based relationships and communication across roles and sectors.

Even in a shortened week, my work reinforced a key insight: nonprofits thrive not just on visionary programming but on thoughtful infrastructure that supports long-term sustainability, accessibility, and inclusion. It’s meaningful to know that even after my internship ends, the tools and systems I’m helping to create will continue to serve this dynamic, community-rooted space.

Hello everybody! It is week 3 at Tewahedo Social Services, and planning for the Youth Summit is in full swing. I have been applying for in-kind donations left and right, trying to secure water, food, and other supplies for the day. I met with our Volunteer Coordinator Tilahun Tesfaye to finalize our volunteer roles and upload them to our signup platform, Bloomerang. I also found several grants that I think ETSS would be a strong candidate for, so my supervisor Sarah Huffman and I will meet next week to pull together our applications. I am excited to get a window into grant applications in the nonprofit world. 

ETSS’s Summer Youth Enrichment Program (SYEP) began this week, so the entire Youth Services department staff has been quite busy managing our 11 sites and putting out metaphorical fires. On Monday, we distributed school and cleaning supplies to all the sites. 

Friday was a whirlwind. I helped supervise a field trip to the Olentangy Caverns, using my somewhat rusty Spanish to translate for a group of third graders and their teacher. In the evening, I ran the face painting station at our annual World Refugee Day event at the YMCA. It was amazing to see how ETSS used the celebratory day, full of music, dances, food, and kids’ activities, to promote local resources to refugee families and distribute essential donations.

The Youth Summit will be similarly jam-packed with resources for our SYEP families. I created a flyer advertising free family entertainment like concerts at the Columbus Commons, the Wexner Center for the Arts, Kanopy streaming service through the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. I am also working on sending the kids home with goodie bags full of books, school supplies, sports equipment, and other resources they might not normally have access to. 

Until next week,

Sanay

Week three at LifeCare Alliance was all about putting ideas into motion. After weeks of preparation, I officially launched my Customer Journey interviews with staff and volunteers in the Meals-on-Wheels (MOW) program. With the interview questions finalized and scheduling underway, I conducted my first official conversation with the Assistant Director of Nutrition Programs. It felt exciting to shift from planning to action, and hearing firsthand experiences from staff was a great reminder of why this work matters.

Much of my week was spent coordinating logistics, scheduling interviews, responding to staff and volunteer emails, booking interview spaces at the Harmon office, and updating the playback sheet format based on previous templates. I’m learning that in a project like this, thoughtful planning behind the scenes is just as important as the conversations themselves.

Beyond the Customer Journey project, I also began a second assignment focused on operational excellence which entails researching tools like Kaizen and Six Sigma to help LCA improve efficiency and client satisfaction. It’s been interesting to see how process improvement and human-centered design can go hand-in-hand, especially in nonprofit work where both relationships and systems matter.

A highlight of the week was attending a Lunch & Learn tabling event with David at the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority. We introduced residents to LCA’s Savor and Select meal delivery program, offered free samples, and ended the day having signed up four new clients. It gave me valuable insight into grassroots marketing and how important it is to build trust not only with potential clients, but also with the community members who support them, like building managers, case workers, and home aides.

Each conversation this week sparked new ideas. I’ve started thinking about how MOW might be better marketed in hospitals as an alternative to long-term rehab for patients returning home, and how programs like Meals-for-Kids could be adapted for senior living communities. I also considered how to improve the volunteer experience, perhaps through printed materials to hand out to friends, or a digital platform that tracks deliveries and recognizes long-time volunteers with tiered milestones.

Even with some minor tech-related difficulties, I felt this week marked a real turning point, turning research into results, and ideas into action.

Until next week,
Kat Jolley

Hi again! I just wrapped up Week 3 of my fellowship, and I’m really starting to feel connected to the creative direction we’re building for the 2025–2026 season.

This week, I began working on the first draft of the upcoming season subscription pamphlet. It’s exciting to lay the groundwork for a piece that will help shape how audiences first interact with the new season. From formatting ideas to language and visual flow, I’m thinking carefully about how to make this both informative and inviting. I’ve submitted my initial designs and am currently waiting for feedback and approval from board members before moving forward with the next steps.

I also met with Kimberly, one of the board members, to dive into marketing strategy and explore how we can effectively use Google Ads this season. Since OYO is currently transitioning into a new space, we talked about how this shift offers us more flexibility and planning time, especially as we move into July. We discussed ideas for a comprehensive campaign that speaks to both longtime supporters and new audiences, while also reflecting the evolving identity of the company.

Outside of meetings, I’ve been experimenting with Google Ads and researching its tools and starting to play around with campaign structures and audience targeting. It’s been eye-opening to learn how digital advertising can enhance visibility in such a targeted way, and I’m looking forward to testing what might work best for our unique programming.

Overall, this week was a blend of planning, building, and visioning forward. I’m feeling inspired by the creative trust I’ve been given and eager to keep shaping the voice and visuals for OYO’s upcoming season!

Hello! 

Week 2 of working at The Overwatch Partnership taught me the importance of time management. For my second week, I was working as a camp counselor at an Ohio State music camp while also balancing remote work at my nonprofit. There were times where these two commitments overlapped, and I felt very overwhelmed. It was during this time that I remembered one of my favorite quotes by M. Scott Peck. “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” I knew that I needed to take some time to take care of myself in order to do both jobs functioning at my highest, so that is exactly what I did. I spent one night pampering myself by doing skincare, listening to music, and meditating. After that night, I was ready to do both jobs as best as I could. For my second week, I sat in meetings that my boss Eric led. One example was sitting in on a meeting to plan the upcoming annual golf outing that OWP started doing last year. Another meeting was strategic planning. I did not realize how much work goes into running a nonprofit. I find it amazing how everyone on the board works part-time for OWP, and still has time to make the organization a priority. During week 2, I emailed the board members about having short Teams calls with them to interview them. I would ask them questions such as “How did you get involved in Overwatch” and “What is something you’d like to see from me as a fellow this summer?” Eric was the one who gave me the idea to interview each of them. He has stressed the importance of making connections this summer and learning from those with much more experience than me in different fields and topics. 

During week 3, I got to meet with a couple of the board members who responded and interviewed them. I met with Grant Burden, Jon Rust, and Mike Rogers. They each told me about their backgrounds, how they got involved in Overwatch, goals they had, and what they were looking for from me to do this summer. Their insight was very encouraging for me. I now know what people are expecting of me and I am determined to be as helpful as possible! Tomorrow, the fellows are going to see Rick Ross with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I am really excited to get the other fellows more and spend time with them at a fun event. On Sunday is Overwatch’s golf outing. I will be there from 7:00am-3:00pm. It will be a lot of work but I’m sure it will be a very pleasant experience getting to know veterans and running the silent auction booth. I am looking forward to giving this fellowship everything I’ve got! 

Until next time, 

Kindall Benjamin 

Good afternoon, Fellows!

Courtney Moore here! We’ve officially wrapped up another impactful week at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I’m excited to share a few meaningful highlights from my experience.

This week was truly inspiring. One of the most valuable moments for me was attending our staff learning session on child safety. While I can’t share the specifics due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the content, I can confidently say this: the safety and well-being of every child we serve is at the heart of everything this organization does.

I had the opportunity to speak with one of our Match Support Specialists, who is also a new mother to a beautiful baby girl. She shared how her dual role as a parent and child advocate has deepened her empathy and commitment. Her words reminded me that when we support children through this work, we are doing so with the same care and reverence that we’d hope someone else would have for our own families. That was a powerful moment of connection for me.

Another exciting development this week is a new project I’ve begun—developing an AI-supported template to enhance quality assurance within the Impact Team. This initiative blends technology with human-centered design to better support Match Support Specialists and streamline their processes. I’m also curating a set of training resources focused on:

• Conversational support
• Mentoring children with unique disabilities
• Mental health support

At the start of this fellowship, I shared that I expected to be challenged—and this week certainly delivered. After presenting my early work on the AI template, I received constructive feedback that helped sharpen my perspective. While I naturally hoped for immediate validation, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of the feedback process. My team reminded me that excellence isn’t about being perfect—it’s about progress, and I’m learning to give myself the same grace they’ve extended to me.

Nonprofit work requires both heart and resilience. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. The impact we’re making has long-term value, and I’m honored to be part of that.

I’m grateful for this journey, and I truly believe that every challenge, victory, and lesson is preparing me for what God has purposed in my career—whether that be in nonprofit, the private sector, or beyond.

On a fun note, I ran into Kat, one of our amazing cohort members, at a local supermarket tonight! It was such a joy to catch up, and it made me even more excited to see everyone tomorrow at the concert!

Onward and Upward to Week Four!

Warmly,

Courtney Moore

Hi All,

It’s the end of my third week with Huckleberry House — and what a busy week it has been! It started out with (as I mentioned in my last blog post) the rest of my interviews with Huck House’s directors and some of their key managerial staff, particularly those who oversee the Transitional Living Program and the Youth Outreach Program. Respectively, these programs help young people aged 17-24 and youth aged 12-24 who need help finding housing, getting a job, finishing school, learning how to parent, etc.

I’d say my biggest takeaway from my meetings with these staff is the importance of being intentional, empathic, consistent, and nonjudgmental with young people in crisis to ensure they not only feel seen and heard but also supported and encouraged while they take their next steps. As someone still figuring out being a young adult myself, it was great to learn about how much Huck House works to holistically care for young people during their times of need and even after — I can’t even begin to describe how much the support and love of my parents and mentors have helped me become the woman I am today

However, I’d say the highlight of this week was helping to plan and then host the Juneteenth celebration we held for the youth on the 18th. It was great not only to get to meet some of the youth Huck House serves but also to share with them a little bit about the history of Juneteenth and how important it is for everyone, though especially those in the Black community, to know about it as part of U.S. history.

Until next week,
Emoni