Celebrate Positive Awards

  It has officially been 5 weeks at Phoenix Sister Cities, which is hard to believe, considering that means this internship is already a third of the way done.  Time is going by so quickly.
   The last few weeks I've been working on nominating some of our different sister cities for a 'Celebrate Positive' award.  These awards basically recognize different communities or businesses for the positive work they have done in their community.  My job has been to email contacts in our different sister cities asking them to tell me a little more about the positive work they have done in the last year.  Once I received those emails I then had to edit down the information for the nomination (to a measly 500 characters, simply not enough space to get in many details).  Only a few of our sister cities have responded thus far, but it has been a cool experience learning about some of the things others around the country have been working on.
   So far we've nominated Ramat-Gan, Israel and an organization called 'The Hamarshal Society for the Blind and the Prevention of Blindness' for holding its first feature film production.  The film production competition made visual media accessible to the visually impaired and created an opportunity for these individuals to be part of the film making industry through writing, cinematography, acting, and directing. It seemed like a really great project.
   We also nominated Chengdu China for its efforts in rural and urban environmental management.  They have been focused on putting in new greenbelts in the downtown area, building green homes, and reconstructing streets and green landscapes. Furthermore, we also nominated the City of Phoenix for its effort in raising money for the City of Chengdu, China after the earthquake they experienced a couple years ago.  The City of Phoenix raised over $177,000 to build a new kindergarten in a village of Chengdu that lost its only kindergarten to earthquake damage.  Again, a great example of a community coming together to do great work, which is what the Celebrate Positive awards are all about.
  I really enjoyed working on these nominations, because I learned a lot about the positive contributions going on in Phoenix and abroad.  I just wish more of our sister cities had responded so I could have heard about even more positive contributions around the world.  The awards are distributed sometime in October, and I'm anxious to see what nominated communities receive the honor.

Getting Settled as an Intern

   Hello all readers :) My name is Elizabeth, and I am an MPA student at ASU.  This is my second semester in the program, and as you can see, I am interning at Phoenix Sister Cities for the next few months. For those who don't know what Phoenix Sister Cities is all about (I didn't before I applied), it is an organization devoted to building relationships with various "Sister Cities" around the world.  They have 9 active partnerships with different cities, from Calgary, Canada to Himeji, Japan.  Among many other things, Phoenix Sister Cities also hosts incoming delegations here in Phoenix, puts on cultural events throughout the year, sends youth ambassadors abroad, and hosts youth ambassadors from other cities.  If you want to find out more, the website is phoenixsistercities.com, because there is a lot more to be said!
   In my first few weeks at Phoenix Sister Cities I've been doing little things here and there.  My technical position is 'Assistant to the Executive Director'...which they tell me sounds much cooler than 'intern', so let's go with that.  My first week pretty much consisted of getting acquainted with the office and the work that is done.  My second and third weeks were still filled with learning the ropes, but by now I'm starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of things.  Some things I've been working on so far include: sending out emails about nominating different cities for an award, writing up some nominations, making packets for Board meetings, filling out applications in order to hold city events, and helping with whatever the Executive Director needs done that day.  If all of that sounds pretty vague, I'll get into it more in later posts.  If I keep writing I won't have much to say for the next one, so stay tuned if you're interested.  
  All in all, I think working in Downtown Phoenix is a pretty cool experience.  There's a lot going on, and our office seems right in the middle of some important people and events.  I'm looking forward to the people I'll get to meet and the things I'll learn from not only the people in my office, but the countless others I'm sure I'll be in contact with.  With all that said, I know I'm just an intern and I know that some days my work will be mundane. A few of those days have already come and gone, and all I can tell myself in those moments is that I can learn from the good and the bad experiences, because both can tell me more about what I do and don't want in a career. Furthermore, this internship is a learning experience that not everyone gets, so I'll be thankful for that!