Shamere Duncan (pictured above) and Shalma Torres led a youth forum at Kresge’s Detroit office in July. The event exposed young Detroiters to the inner workings of Kresge’s philanthropy and provided them with an opportunity to provide input on future foundation outreach initiatives. Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email By Justina Giglio This summer, Kresge’s interns got their first look into the world of private philanthropy while working with teams spanning across American Cities, Arts & Culture, Communications, Detroit, Education and Investments. Reflecting on their time at the foundation, their most significant takeaway was the impact philanthropic institutions, like Kresge, are capable of having on the communities they serve. Kelsey Brown, an education team intern and recent master’s graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park, learned that the path to working in the philanthropy sector is not linear. “You’re really using transferable skills and varied knowledge to be able to bring expertise to the field of philanthropy to better inform strategic grantmaking efforts,” Brown said. Without a direct path to philanthropy work, the inner workings of a foundation may be elusive to outsiders, which is an observation many interns held prior to starting their positions at Kresge. For instance, SaMiya Carroll and Jordan Hunter began the summer believing that private philanthropies often lacked deep interpersonal connections with their grantees. Without these relationships, Carroll and Hunter were skeptical of the long-term impacts foundations truly have on a community. However, after attending meetings with grantee partners, Carroll’s perspective on philanthropy work shifted after seeing how Kresge collaborated with its partners. The University of Washington in St. Louis graduate student said, “The American Cities team meetings have been very impactful to show me that philanthropy work is deeply involved, interpersonal, and important work; it is not simply a transactional relationship.” Hunter, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, comes from a grassroots background. For this reason, they didn’t expect to see philanthropy through private institutions as a tool for social justice as powerful as on-the-ground social organizing. However, they noted that their experience with the Arts & Culture team demonstrated that social justice work can exist on multiple levels, not just at the grassroots level. Investment interns also learned about the powerful connection between endowments and long-term community impacts. Mariana Valencia said that many individuals don’t realize how these go hand in hand, and that she certainly didn’t before starting at Kresge. “I used to think of it as writing checks to nonprofits and grantmaking, and while that is a big part of private philanthropies, there are also many other forms of investing that take place,” said the undergraduate from the University of Florida. Because of this connection, Nehal Lodha, an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, said she found philanthropy a meaningful space to apply her finance skillset. Interns Riddhimaa Kodali, an undergraduate student at Northwestern University, and Justina Giglio, an undergraduate student at Michigan State University, said they learned about the interconnected layers of philanthropy work, even while working on the Communication team. Kodali explained it was interesting to learn how Kresge’s philanthropic work was impacted by storytelling. “I had the privilege of talking with several grantees throughout my internship,” she said, “and while doing so, it just reaffirmed the importance and synergy between philanthropy and storytelling for me.” Kelsey Brown (left) and Shalma Torres (right) posed for a selfie outside of the Feast Future Forum. Interns were invited to similar events throughout the summer to see the outcomes of Kresge’s grantmaking. Building on this observation, Giglio was exposed to the importance of strategic communication efforts. “Without properly informing interest groups about wider foundation work, creating a common knowledge about what philanthropy work exactly is will be even more difficult to do for outside groups,” she said. Detroit team interns Shamere Duncan, an undergraduate at Wayne State, and Shalma Torres, a recent graduate from the University of Michigan, made it their mission this summer to clarify the work of private philanthropies to those not involved in the industry, especially young people. They held a youth forum to expose young Detroiters to the foundation’s work and to help expand the Detroit team’s youth engagement strategy. The forum included 10 youth working and living in the City of Detroit, who discussed their visions for the city’s future and the issues they face that Kresge could assist with. Providing young people with a space to learn about and offer input on future Kresge strategies was incredibly important to Torres and Duncan, both of whom are Detroit natives. Justina Giglio is a Summer 2025 intern on the Kresge External Affairs and Communications team. Reflections on a Summer At Kresge
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