Welcome to the 2nd Issue of the NPIP summer internship newsletter, Community. In this issue, I would like to start out by giving you an introduction to the Nonprofit Internship Program. Eight years ago, the internship program was created in an effort to expose underrepresented populations (people of color, LGBTQ individuals, first generation college students, etc.) to the nonprofit sector and to give them an opportunity to work with organizations that directly serve the communities that they are from. This year, the program hosts one of its largest classes – 17 individuals! Of that group, 13 are men, and of that 13, 10 are young men of color, which fits the Foundation’s focus on Boys and Men of Color (BMOC). It’s encouraging to see such a prominent organization work to foster the inclusion of groups that for so long have been overlooked by society. As the demographics in our country continue to shift, the picture of leadership within nonprofits must begin to change as well, and The Denver Foundation is making steps towards that direction.
Peonie Wong is a Colorado native, born and raised in Salida, Colorado, also known as the “Heart of the Rockies.” While Peonie’s roots are in Colorado, her parents’ are in Taiwan. Being the daughter of immigrant parents has given Peonie a unique view on how one’s environment affects who we are. In the future, she hopes to help make a difference in disadvantaged children’s lives by showing them that in the debate of nature versus nurture, neither really matter as long as one works hard. After graduating from Salida High School, Peonie moved to Denver to attend the University of Denver, where she hopes to pursue a dual degree in Marketing and Sociology. Peonie is interning at the History Colorado Museum, where her role consists of working on a traveling exhibit called “RACE: Are We So Different?” Set to open in September, RACE analyzes the history of race, the science supporting as well as challenging it, and the ways in which it affects people's lives. Peonie's main responsibilities in preparing for RACE include creating the webpage for the exhibit, researching and collecting statistics about race in regards to Colorado, and aiding in the creation of various types of partnerships to encourage communities across the Denver area to get involved in the discussion about race. Peonie is also working on a primary source project for teachers to utilize the collections at the museum, aiding with Colorado Day (a day when the History Colorado Center celebrates Colorado's statehood), and planning a naturalization ceremony set to occur this August.
Annalisa Galgano is currently a rising sophomore at NYU Abu Dhabi, and this summer, she is the community liaison intern at Street’s Hope. Street’s Hope is the only safe house in Colorado that serves women ages 18+ who are escaping sex trafficking or the commercial sex industry. Her internship includes coordinating outreach on behalf of the organization, which can include anything from initiating partnerships with businesses to speaking on anti-human trafficking panels or the radio. Annalisa’s interest in human rights began from a young age, and she has always been very involved in her community, both in her hometown of Denver and in her new home abroad. The work she is doing is motivated by a deep love for others and her passion for social justice. Someday, she hopes to start a non-profit organization that will work to empower communities of women worldwide. Her other interests include reading, traveling, and dessert.
Andy Hemphill was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago before attending two years of high school at the United World College in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Passionate about world peace and serving the poor, Andy attends the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has majored in civil engineering. Using his degree, he has been heavily involved with Engineers Without Borders and traveled to Rwanda three times to implement and oversee community development projects. Andy plans to use his background to pursue a career in international development and diplomacy and dreams one day of working to keep peace and serve the world’s most vulnerable populations in the United Nations. Andy also has a passion for teaching and working with children. In his spare time, he coaches a soccer team, mentors low-income children, and serves as an upperclassmen adviser to freshmen engineering students interested in global engineering. In his free time, he loves playing sports, reading epic fantasy, and enjoying the great outdoors. At his internship with the African Community Center, Andy works with high school refugee students who have recently resettled in the Denver area. His work includes college preparation activities, coaching sports, teaching leadership, and helping students grow and integrate into US society. His favorite part of the job is hanging out with the kids during the field trips on Fridays, which have included swimming at Aurora Reservoir, hiking outside of Boulder, and visiting the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Mike Bradley has been working with GRASP (Gang Rescue and Support Project) this summer and has found their work to be as necessary as it is eyeopening. GRASP gives back to the community in numerous ways, from tattoo removal to cultural awareness, but the group meetings on Mondays and Thursdays have impressed Mike the most. Each night, GRASP staff meets with groups of local youth to hold weekly check-ins to see how they are doing and allow them a chance to vent in a safe-place, both emotionally and physically. Mike has really appreciated the opportunity to attend the group meetings each week “I leave each group with a new perspective on life, the kids we meet with have experienced more than most people will in their lifetime, and still have the strength and resilience to work hard to make a better life for themselves.�
, Mike Bradley, one of the interns with the nonprofit summer program, brought to my attention a very interesting article. The Denver Post featured a story about Mayor Michael Hancock’s “State of the City” address. In his speech, Mayor Hancock outlined his vision for the city going forward into the future, even as he faces a looming reelection campaign. If you would like to view the article, use the following link: http://dpo.st/1mMHF6f Interns, if you come across any articles that you see in a newspaper, magazine, or journal, that you would like to share, please email me at jonathan@denverfoundation.org with a link to the article. The sooner you get it in, the better your chance of the article showing up in the next issue.
Fellow intern David Lopez and I were given the opportunity to visit several of the interns at their placement sites, to learn a little more about their organizations and the work they’ve been doing during their internship. We got the chance to visit Luis Zavala, the intern at Habitat for Humanity. It was exciting to get out of the office and to learn more about the work that Luis has been involved in. We learned that he has a huge hand in updating the organization’s website, as well as going to sites where Habitat for Humanity are constructing affordable housing to take pictures. We also visited Peonie Wong and Bernard Maxwell, the interns who worked at the History Colorado Museum. We learned about their role in the development of the new exhibit on Race that will be opening in September. We were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum by one of the curators. We also got the chance to explore several of the exhibits with Peonie and Bernard.
Our NPIP summer retreat took place June 27th and 28th at the Tears-McFarland House in Cheesman Park. We all had an amazing time; special thanks to our facilitators: Daniel Escalante, Carla Mestas, and Adrienne Mansanares for making our experience that much more fruitful. Throughout the weekend, we learned more about issues such as racial equity and the stereotypes about marginalized groups. The retreat was also a chance for all the interns to get know each other better and to build friendships that will hopefully go beyond the summer. We all had a great time playing ice-breakers, games of soccer and kickball, and eating a lot of amazing food. If you would like to see the video that chronicled the retreat, use the following link: http://bit.ly/1zIOOtu
The annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival is this upcoming weekend, July 19th and the 20th, at Sloan’s Lake in Denver. The Denver Foundation will be fielding a team which includes the four TDF interns. If you are interested in coming out and supporting our team, we encourage you to join us. In addition to the races, the festival includes great food, shopping, folk dancing, and all kinds of family-friendly fun! The TDF Team will race on Saturday, with the 1st one starting at 9:30 am. Our race schedule will be updated throughout the day on Saturday on The Denver Foundation stewardSHIP team’s homepage.
If you would like more information on the Dragon Boat Festival, you can use the following link: http://www.cdbf.org/ If you want to keep up with our race schedule on Saturday, use the following link: http://bit.ly/1pfSWKc
The Daniels Fund Building 8:30am-4:00pm