Internship Update for ICND
June 28, 2010[[[This will be boring for most so I'd only recommend reading if you're really curious about the particularities of what I am doing this summer in my internship, but who knows, maybe some of you are learning about these particular things like I am. Anyways, this is just another update...not necessarily meant to be an entertaining read.]]]
June 28, 2010
Internship Update #2 for ICND
Most of the time at my Near North internship is split between learning and planning. Going into the internship I thought I would be doing tasks constantly, but I have had to readjust to how much time I am allowed to simply learn more. Near North has been very gracious to give me some freedom.
Recently, I am trying to learn more about how non-profits are funded. From the director, Michael Osborne’s, instruction, and from readings, I have learned about CDGB, HOME, and other grants. I am not intending to understand all of the particularities in managing a grant, but to rather understand the broad concepts of community development corporations and how they fund their projects. Seeing that the non-profit circle is quite diverse now, I have also found it necessary to understand more about LISC, INHP, HUD, and other federal and local entities that assist non-profits like Near North.
Apart from this learning, I have continued to work on planning my two summer projects: Near North Day of Service and a community garden. We just got done revising the landscape plan for the day of service in conjunction with IndyParks, local residents, and the designers from Schmidt Associates. It has been great to learn to network and learn from professionals. My current task is to develop a work plan for the project. This plan will include a budget to work off of, needs of volunteers, and hopefully a way to connect the businesses and residents in the project. The project has little planned concerning networking with the community, but it is my number one goal: to connect local businesses with the community they work in. Hopefully, I will be able to find some creative ideas concerning this. Last week I attended a workshop with Big Car, a group that brings art into projects and communities. They want to partner, which is perfect seeing that I have no clue where to start to be creative.
With the community garden, I have been contacting existing community gardens and people experienced with this type of work. As of right now, the garden will be run by the neighborhood association while using Near North’s land. I think it will be a mix of community space and individual plots, but the goal is to create a neighborhood gathering space.
My personal challenge for the next several weeks is to find ways to create specific skills and create opportunities for my future while doing this internship. It seems that non-profit work is intensely individual work with vital meetings that create the work for more individual work.
