PROFILES:

2003-2004 Philanthropy and Human Rights Fellowship Recipients

Circe Torruellas is a graduate student in a joint degree program University of Minnesota at the Humphrey Institute pursuing a Masters in Public Policy and at the University of Puerto Rico Law School pursuing a law degree. Circe has returned to her native country, Puerto Rico to finish her law degree. Her academic interest is in how individuals and communities are involved in civic engagement. She was also actively involved in the community with International Institute of Minnesota and Public Achievement at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota.

For her fellowship, Circe developed a series of case studies of nonprofit organizations that have sought to use an organizational effectiveness grant from the Bremer Foundation to strengthen their ability to educate, communicate, organize and advocate positions in their communities. Through her research, Circe identified ways in which the Foundation can evaluate capacity building grants as well as to improve the grant making related to advocacy and public policy work of nonprofits. Circe was able to integrate her fellowship project into a capstone workshop, which allowed for her to connect her work back to her scholarship.

"My research [on the impact of the Otto Bremer Foundation's Organizational effectiveness grant in helping promote social justice advocacy for the public interest] gave me insight and understanding on how influential nonprofits could be in shaping good and effective public policy. I also found that organizational effectiveness plays a key role in the success of the nonprofits' social justice advocacy ventures. I felt that my work with the [five nonprofits] brought clarity in what advocacy means to each organization and how to approach it in terms of systemic change.

The professional level of the graduate fellowship helped me become a more independent and organized worker. Academically, I have broadened my knowledge about the nonprofit sector, advocacy and social justice. personally, I believe I made very good relationships with Otto Bremer Foundation and my fellow scholar in the program"

Ayana Weekly is a graduate student in the Feminist Studies Doctoral Program at the University of Minnesota. Ayana's is academic interest is in identifying how HIV/ AIDS has affected minority women, particularly in the African American community.

For her fellowship, Ayana completed a comparative analysis of a Minnesota Department of Health program, Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative (EHDI), grantees focused on HIV/AIDS in communities of color. Ayana identifies priorities of each of the organizations and did a comparison of the strategies chosen. Additionally, Ayana compared the EHDI grantees with organizations previously funded by the Foundation to identify intersections and divergences of priorities and employed strategies.

"As for my overall experience with the Graduate Fellowship, I gained new understandings about research. How much time it really takes to get a projects off the ground, how difficult community research is, etc. Although these aspects do not seem positive, I think they were valuable lessons. I also gained many insights into what is happeneing in the 'field' around HIV/AIDS. How we see things from the academy and how it is seen from the nonprofit sector or from any other vantage point differs. I found new ways to look at and understood issues concerning HIV/AIDS. My findings have already influenced my academic work. This project is directly linked to my research interests and my field, so it will be a part of my future work and more than likely have an impact on my dissertation topic.

As for the regular seminars intertwined with my research at the Otto Bremer Foundation, it was very helpful to talk with people in the field and get their perspective on issues. It helped ground me during the fellowship. It was some of the only time someone was willing to talk to me and answer questions since I was having trouble with that in other areas."