Reflecting on a Year of Service at Civic Bridgers
As my time at Civic Bridgers comes to an end, it has been increasingly important to me to take a step back and reflect on my year of service. As a Civic Bridgers Fellow placed internally at Civic Bridgers, I was charged with managing both internal and external communications. Through the completion of this work, I was able to build internal documents that support outreach and messaging. I collected data, ran experiments, and learned new software. A large project that I was particularly satisfied with was my work on America’s Future Summit, Civic Bridgers’ inaugural conference for youth. For the conference, I created recruiting materials, defined a visual language, and crafted outreach through social media and email marketing. I feel proud of the work that I completed for America’s Future Summit, because the work that I did expands the capacity for Civic Bridgers to create an even larger communications campaign for next year’s Summit. For the sake of this blog, I wanted to speak to what my day to day experience looked like as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Civic Bridgers.
I initially felt called to this particular position due to my previous experience working in political communications. I felt like this role involved many elements and duties that I was familiar with, like writing and designing for social media, but also challenged me in other ways.
While Civic Bridgers works in a mostly virtual environment, I found enjoyment in seeking opportunities to get out into communities. Particularly, it was super rewarding to be a part of Civic Bridgers’ collaboration with the State of Minnesota Management and Budget and their project, MN StoryCollective. Through this partnership, we traveled to communities across Minnesota and encouraged people to have conversations with one another. I even made the trek to rural Minnesota, where Civic Bridgers worked with Madison Mercantile to throw an event for the community. We asked people about their experiences of living in Minnesota and encouraged community members to connect through storytelling. Even the local mayor came to our event!
I also enjoyed the once-a-month chance to learn from peers in my Fellowship cohort. On the first Friday of every month, we gathered in the leading Fellows’ workplace for a lesson on what they do. Each Fellow presented an explanation of the work they do and provided insight into the unique challenges they face in their work. For my presentation to the Fellowship, I brought my peers to St. Johns University, where Fellows had the chance to participate in another community listening and storytelling session.
Through the many highs and rare lows during my year of service, the Civic Bridgers Fellow Mentorship Program grounded me. In August, I was matched with an alumnus of the Fellowship Program, H. I met with H once a month through the entirety of my year of service, where we discussed Civic Bridgers curriculum. Topics included strategic venting, what professionalism looks like, and capitalizing off of unique character traits in the workplace. More than anything, I appreciated the opportunity to learn from someone who had gone through the Fellowship program and is now a working professional. I was able to bounce ideas off of H, ask for advice, and even talk about my career goals.
I feel proud of the work that I did during my year of service as an Americorps VISTA member stationed at Civic Bridgers. But beyond the work, I will remember most fondly the connections that I was able to create with peers in my cohort, members and partners in the Civic Bridgers network, and my mentor. As a young professional, it is important to me to be able to build strong professional connections that will last as I say farewell to my role. If someone were to ask for my advice on how to make the most out of one’s time as a Civic Bridgers Fellow, it would be this: seek out and create professional connections. The people in your network are invaluable and will lift you up long past your year of service.
