It’s National Intern Day! This summer, we’ve been fortunate to have a Columbus Foundation Fellow in our ranks joining the Advancement team. For 11 weeks, Emoni, a recent tOSU graduate, has been an incredible asset to the team, giving us the capacity to ensure our Safe PlaceTM program sites receive their yearly check-in calls. In celebration of rounding out her 11-week stint, we asked Emoni to write a blog reflecting on her time at Huckleberry House.
Hi all! Emoni here, Huckleberry House’s Advancement Summer Fellow! With just a little over a week left of my fellowship, I’m excited to take this opportunity to share and reflect on the work I’ve done over the summer months with Huckleberry House.
For context, the Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellowship Program connects eligible college students with a Franklin County nonprofit to work on a specific project or objective. For me, the specific objective I was tasked with was to support Huckleberry House’s Safe PlaceTM program by assessing the needs and readiness of the current partner sites, strategically expanding our network of partners, and updating the Safe PlaceTM training manual.
But my work life has not all been Safe PlaceTM; I’ve also worked on various research projects that will help the Advancement Team in communications with potential funders, donors, and partners, highlighting Huckleberry House’s increasing importance for youth and the broader community.
Although I could go into the fine details of those projects, with only a week left, I’d love to share some of my key takeaways from my experience with Huckleberry House. There is so much to share, but I’ll focus on the top two things that have stood out to me over the past ten weeks.
- Support Your Staff
From my first day, I’ve seen repeatedly how much this organization cares about both the young people served and the staff. From my observations, it’s clear that Huckleberry House’s motto is: if staff do not feel supported and empowered, we won’t be able to effectively support and empower the young people we serve.
As a recent graduate, I can’t emphasize enough how much such an environment has eased the transition to a “9-5 job” after graduate school, and I hope to work with an organization in the future that also values caring for its staff.
- Collaboration is Key
If there is one thing working on Safe PlaceTM and several research projects have taught me, it is that collaboration of all kinds is crucial to combating youth homelessness. It truly takes a village to raise a child, and as someone who just turned 24, I’d say it still takes a village – turning 18 doesn’t make a robust support system any less necessary to one’s success. It’s hard to grow up and figure out who you want to be, what you want to do with your life, let alone trying to ensure your basic needs are taken care of. So, for the young people who need it, Huckleberry House is happy to be one part of their village, one piece of their support system, making it a little bit easier to go through life.
It’s truly been an incredibly rewarding few weeks helping Huckleberry House help the young people of central Ohio find Safe PlacesTM and the support they need. So, to wrap up, I just want to thank the Columbus Foundation for the opportunity and the amazing team at Huckleberry House for making my fellowship experience so wonderful.
It’s hard to believe that we are just one week away from celebrating Emoni and her cohort’s fellowships with the Columbus Foundation. Although when all is said and done, she’ll have only been here for 11 weeks, it’s safe to say she’s made an incredible impact on the young people in our community by ensuring all current and future Safe PlaceTM sites have what they need to feel confident when a young person reaches out to ask for help.
From all of us at Huckleberry House, thank you, Emoni!
