TDF Connection
THE DENVER FOUNDATION’S SUMMER NEWSLETTER FOR INTERNS, SUPERVISORS, AND SUPPORTERS OF THE NONPROFIT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM!
Greetings fellow interns, TDF staff, and alumni! Welcome to the 2nd Issue of the NPIP summer internship newsletter for 2016, TDF Connection. I would like to give recognition to the NPIP program in acknowledging this year will conclude the 10th year of the programs existence. 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 serve the communities they are from. This issue will spotlight a majority of this summers interns in our 2016 class, as well as past events, such as the Learning Workshop #2 and the Leadership retreat. We will wrap up with the upcoming events as we near the end of the newsletter. Its encouraging to see such a prominent organization work to embody the inclusion of groups that have been overlooked by society. The NPIP has given the voice to young leaders willing to make change in their very own community. Based on the continuous shifting of our country’s demographics, we are in a need for leadership within nonprofits. The Denver Foundation not only takes steps, but leaps in that direction.
Sincerely, Elijah Ross
Carina Rodriguez is an intern at The Gathering Place, where she divides her time between the Family and Mental Health Programs. She is an alum of Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver and a senior psychology major at Colorado College. Carina’s two biggest passions are education and health. She has fostered her passion for education through various volunteer and work positions within the classroom setting. In the future, Carina hopes to engage her passion for health with a career as a pediatric nurse practitioner, working primarily within low-income communities. In her spare time, Carina enjoys spending time with her friends and family, playing tennis, and hiking.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT!!!
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT!!!
Katie Jeddeloh grew up in Colorado and is now a rising junior at St. Olaf College in Minnesota where she studies English and Women's and Gender Studies. On campus, she is an officer for the clubs Students for Reproductive Rights and Feminists for Change, edits the campus newspaper, the Manitou Messenger, and is a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society. Katie's passions lie in the intersectionality of race, gender, environmental, and socioeconomic issues. This summer, she is lucky to work as Public Outreach Intern for UrbiCulture Community Farms, an urban farming initiative and food justice nonprofit that makes healthy and organic food accessible to low-income families in the Denver area. Katie loves how food justice directly relates to so many other issues she cares about, and she enjoys working on the farm with her knees and hands in the earth. Katie hopes to continue fighting for social justice in the future, in whatever capacity that may be. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing poetry, hiking, and making and eating waffles.
Julia Camera is 24 years old and was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She currently attends the University of Colorado at Denver majoring in Communications and earning a minor in Anthropology. Julia is a senior and will be graduating in the fall of 2016 with her bachelors degree. During her free time she likes to work out, play sports, garden, hike, cook, and hang out with family, friends, and her girlfriend. She is currently interning at Denver Urban Gardens as the External Relations Intern. She has a growing interest in the nonprofit world as well as a growing passion to help advocate for wealth, racial, gender and sexual inequalities. After her internship, she plans to continue getting more involved and connected with nonprofits that align with her passions and hopes to one day start her own activist group/nonprofit that addresses one, if not all, of these issues.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT!!!
Adriana grew up in Colorado after her family came to the US from Mexico. She loves embracing her Mexican heritage. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and dancing. Adriana has two younger brothers and two adorable dogs. Adriana is currently attending the University of Colorado at Denver working hard to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Her future academic goal is to attend medical school and complete a dual program where in addition to obtaining an MD she will also get a Master's Degree in Public Health. Adriana is a Latina woman hoping to inspire others to pursue careers in fields where Latina women are underrepresented. She is currently interning with Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT !!!
Crystal Ayala is native to Southwest Denver and attends Regis University, where she is pursuing a double-major in psychology and Spanish. She is a Health Justice Organizer with Padres & Jovenes Unidos and loves how she gets to work directly with parents and students from her own community: Southwest Denver. Her future plans include: attending graduate school, working directly with students in Denver Public Schools to ensure their voices are being heard in the world of adult-lead school politics, and traveling around the world. On her free time, she could be found expressing her Latina/Chicana heritage through paint and black ink, or venturing out into nature for a quick reading session in the woods.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT !!!
Dee Clark is a recent Communications graduate of the University of Denver. Currently, she is an intern at The Denver Foundation working with the Strengthening Neighborhoods Program. Ms. Clark considers herself as an advocate for people. She loves to motivate and teach individual s to connect with their life passion and purpose by maximizing focus on ways to make their lives better. Her interest is to work with a nonprofit organization that facilitates teaching, providing training, coaching, mentoring, and educating individuals who are interested in development and transforming their lives for self-sufficiency. Dee enjoys relaxing with a good inspirational book, going to the movies, singing, dancing, and listening to music, arts, crafts, and especially spending time with her granddaughter.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT !!!
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT!!!
Dollar Lee was born in Denver, CO and grew up in Adams County. He is a senior student double majoring in Public Health and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Denver. His future plans after graduation include traveling and graduate school. He hopes to attend the Colorado School of Public Health and to one day become a student under their Health Policy and Management program. Over the summer he is interning at a nonprofit called Growing Home located in Westminster. This year he has been fulfilling his academics goals and expanding his work experience. During his free time, he focuses his energy on running his own car club called exquisite|creationz. With this car club, he wants to be able to host and promote charity events with the support of car enthusiasts all around the state of Colorado. He is very passionate about bringing people together and to make a positive impact for the greater good.
Asia grew up in Thornton, Colorado—a place where she found her love of helping others. Today, Asia continues to pursue this passion at the University of Denver (DU), where she is an upcoming senior majoring in both English and Spanish. Through the Pioneer Leadership Program at DU, Asia has fallen in love with her volunteer work at the Bridge Project— a nonprofit that provides children and youth educational opportunities with G8 reader programs. As an avid reader and writer, it was only natural for Asia to do similar work in a different nonprofit setting: Re:Vision International, where she helps create economic opportunities in Westwood through various narratives and stories of the community members. Asia's love of stories was enhanced through writing and studying languages. She hopes to take time off of school once graduating, so she can teach English abroad, learn new languages, and travel. Once Asia immerses herself in new cultures and learns new languages, she plans to further her interests of exploring the ways language can shape identities around the world by pursuing a Ph.D. program in Comparative Literature. Outside of the classroom and workplace, Asia is often found singing, playing sports, and spending time with her friends and family.
NPIP INTERN SPOTLIGHT!!!
Past Events: Our 2nd Learning Workshop took place June 16th at 2040 Partners for Health. Our guest presenters were Dr. Brenda J. Allen, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Colorado Denver and the Anschutz Medical Campus, David Portillo, Manager of the Strengthening Neighborhoods (SN) Program at The Denver Foundation, Jonathon Stalls, Social Entrepreneur, and Velia MuĂąoz, Community Organizer . In this workshop, we learned what it means to be a transformational leader as well as what it means to tend to the actual voices of community members. We participated in an activity that taught us what it is like to go out into the community and have face to face interaction among people in the community in order to hear what they want, need and like in their respective community.
Past Events The annual NPIP Leadership retreat took place June 23rd – 24th at the Tears-McFarland House in Cheesman Park. Special thanks to our facilitators: Daniel Escalante, Carla Mestas, and Becky Powell. The event really brought each and every intern closer together as well as provide them with a chance to enjoy the knowledge of the supervisors and guest speakers. We were able to open up to one another on a more personal level in a safe environment in order to build those friendships and bonds that will hopefully continue beyond the summer. We had an amazing two days of activities such as many real-life simulations and scenarios, and even prepared a meal that was shared among the group for dinner Thursday evening. Next issue will conclude our last and final newsletter for the summer, where the remainder of interns will be introduced as well as details about our closing ceremony. I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!
Upcoming Events Learning Workshop #3 July 6th, 2016 TDF Community Room 9:00am-3:00pm Community Building Social July 6th, 2016 (immediately following Learning Workshop #3) AMF Monaco Lanes 4:00pm-6:00pm Networking Event July 13th, 2016 Posner Center 5:00pm-7:00pm Learning Workshop #4 July 21st, 2016 TDF Community Room 9:00am-3:00pm