The impact of fellowship

Ongoing funding of Island changemakers alters how change happens Island-wide.

0

Over the past 19 years, approximately 165 emerging Vineyard-based leaders and changemakers have received generous support to help them contribute to the Island’s environmental and social sustainability. The sustained impact on people’s lives and in the ways change occurs demonstrate an effective process of social and environmental change.

Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship, a community nonprofit organization, has been at the center of these changes.

More than two decades ago, sisters Pam Kohlberg and Karen Kohlberg Davis started a collaboration with conservationist Tom Chase, affordable housing advocate John Abrams, and the Kohlberg Foundation to develop the fellowship concept. Vision Fellowship Executive Director Melissa McKee Hackney explains that the group was concerned about how rising property values were pushing out longtime Vineyard residents who could no longer afford to live here. Their solution was to seed a symbiotic relationship between individuals and Vineyard nonprofits.

The Vision Fellowship funds people wishing to advance their education and acquire new skills. It assists candidates who are passionate, driven, and eager to make a meaningful impact on their careers and the Island but have limited financial resources and institutional support.

Numerous nonprofits on the Vineyard have talented and dedicated staff, yet they often need additional people with passion and insight for support. In the Vision Fellowship model, each fellow is paired with a mentor from a sponsoring local nonprofit or progressive business. The mentor helps the fellow set goals, design meaningful internships, work experiences, or sustainability projects, and develop an educational and professional development plan.

Because M.V. Vision Fellowship funds fellows with various passions, the impact on Island nonprofits is broad. Sponsoring organizations can be viewed as a network of sustainability, conservation, education, indigenous culture, women’s well-being, and arts. They include Island Housing Trust, Polly Hill Arboretum, Vineyard Power, Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, Vineyard Village at Home, Film-Truth Productions, Aquinnah Cultural Center, Connect to End Violence, Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, and Island Grown Initiative.

Diving into the financial details, in 2022, according to Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship’s public records, Vision Fellowship awarded grants to five Island organizations totaling $185,452. The largest grant, $75,000, went to Vineyard Power Development Fund, for energy transition coordination. Other recipients included Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust ($30,000 for sustainable seafood), Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society ($22,952 for agricultural films), Martha’s Vineyard Commission ($25,000 for energy planning), Vineyard Conservation Society ($32,500 for composting).

In the same year, Vision Fellowship provided grants and assistance to Island individuals in four categories. Scholarships: Seventeen individuals received scholarships (totaling $155,949). Opportunity grants: One individual received an opportunity grant of $1,501. Sponsorship grants: Four individuals received sponsorship grants (totaling $13,333). Community vision grants: Two individuals received community vision grants (totaling $6,500).

The impact of these investments can be seen in a recent project called Plant Local. Vineyard Conservation connections with fellows in the recent past helped focus and implement this project. Her work allowed the MV Commission, BiodiversityWorks, Polly Hill Arboretum and the Vineyard Conservation Society to collaborate on an educational campaign to build knowledge and support for native planting–one of the goals of the Island’s Climate Action Plan. The way Samantha Look, Vineyard Conservation’s executive director, sees it: “Vision fellows have specific goals about things they want to accomplish. That drives the process. The end result [in the project they worked on] coalesced the team and enabled the fellow, who had done the legwork and had the dedicated energy, to expand our capacity. It was remarkable.”

The 2023 Vision fellow, Sakiko Isomichi, a Harvard University landscape architecture graduate, worked with Vineyard Conservation’s Zada Clark, Meghan Gombos, and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to implement the project plan. The Vision Fellowship project, Plant Local, “was a beautiful synergy between the Vineyard Commission planning agency and funding. The goal was to educate the Island about native plants, and it worked very well toward achieving that goal,” says Look.

The impact on individual lives is borne out in Vision fellow Antone Lima. Antone is currently the crew manager for Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. He notes the importance of his mentors when he was earning his bachelor of science in environmental conservation studies.

Speaking about his experience, Lima said, “Will Geresy and Chris Kennedy from the Trustees worked hard to keep me on-Island and encouraged me to continue my education. The mentor/sponsor relationship is a huge part of the program, and is so important to sharing Island institutional knowledge. The relationship also provides the base of support needed to take a leap, make changes, and grow.”

The sponsoring relationship also creates a ripple effect, with many mentees becoming mentors later in their careers. For instance, Emma Green-Beach, the current executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, was mentored by the former executive director, Rick Karney, and now pays it forward with mentees.

The process of becoming a fellow is straightforward. Potential fellows are nominated by staff from an Island-based nonprofit. Vision Fellowship executive director Melissa McKee Hackney explained, “We are seeking a person with a clear, well-thought-out commitment to the issue for which they are being nominated. We also consider Island ties — collaborations and support within their field. If they don’t already have mentors, we want to know that they have the ability to establish these relationships.”

The fellowships themselves cover all associated costs for advanced and technical degrees, certifications, and workshops. For example, current fellow Scott Goldin is pursuing his doctorate of education in educational leadership from Boston College, which emphasizes leadership for social justice, school reform, community building, and learning: “I’m focusing on how educators and educational leaders can implement experiential learning in ways that align with standards, and recognize that students may be disengaged from their learning because the current pace of change in education does not meet today’s students’ needs.” The doctoral program is designed for practitioners and highlights cohort learning, which Goldin finds not only stimulating but also beneficial to his role as assistant director at Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School: “The fellowship, too, consists of a wealth of incredible educators, community organizers, and more. It offers opportunities to connect with these individuals and organizations for the benefit of our students.”

In addition to formal education, the Vision Fellowship also supports self-designed, Vineyard-based projects, and social enterprises that address or advance one or more of the organization’s areas of interest. For example, Healthy Aging M.V.’s project fellow Karen Tewhey and mentor Marge Dolan are researching, developing, and testing a pilot program that aims to leverage technology to create a volunteer bank that connects volunteers over 60 with Island organizations, to combat loneliness and isolation. Additionally, the two are exploring the possibility that the volunteer bank could operate as an “hours bank,” allowing older adults who volunteer to “deposit” their time for later “withdrawal” when they require services.

Luiza Mouzinho’s fellowship focused on education and social work. She earned a dual master of arts degree in mental health counseling and theology and ministry from Boston College and currently provides counseling in Portuguese and English at Island Counseling Center.

Fellowships cover the cost of tuition and related expenses associated with education based on an approved project budget. As follow-on funding, after fellows complete their program, alumni can apply for a Community Vision Grant to support initiatives that further their development or promote their work and, ultimately, help benefit the Vineyard.

The Vision Fellowship’s impact extends to Island students as well. The organization nurtures young people through its Vision Scholar Award for college-bound high school seniors. Students whose educational goals align with one or more of the areas of interest are nominated by their guidance counselors. Award recipients receive up to $10,000 annually for tuition for two years, with the option to reapply. While in college, Vision Fellowship staff assist students in developing strong relationships with mentors on or off the Island and participating in internships related to their educational objectives. “We support the Fellows financially for their internships and the sponsoring organization for hosting them,” says Hackney. BiodiversityWorks, the M.V. Hospital, Community Services, and Island Health Care are just a few organizations that frequently host Vision Scholar interns.

Because the Vision Fellowship believes young students grow and gain valuable education and experience by living and working off-Island, the young awardees are not required to return after graduation. However, if they return, they can apply for a full scholarship for their master’s degree.

The Vision Fellowship’s network of support extends to an alumni program — 165 alumni and counting — and expands the exchange of ideas, collaboration, and connection between fellows and sponsoring nonprofits. For instance, Luiza Mouzinho, following her mentorship, collaborated with another therapist, April Knight, to translate a cognitive behavioral therapy workbook for Brazilian clients.

“We find it useful for people to support one another across disciplines. It allows participants to share knowledge of their particular fields and work toward a sustainable future for Martha’s Vineyard,” says Hackney.

The cross-generation, discipline, and organization approach appears to have realized Vision Fellowship’s initial vision and then some. Other organizations, like BiodiversityWorks and Vineyard Conservation Society, collaborate across habitat awareness and policy approaches. And MVYouth and ACE MV collaborate across educational and social impact work. Some two decades along, the Fellowship vision holds true.

For more information, visit vineyardvision.org.