Staff Highlight: Alex Alfonso

This summer Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS) is partnering with the Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellows program.  Launched in 2010 the Summer Fellows Program provides undergraduates and recent college graduates with the opportunity to intern with central Ohio non-profit organizations.Alex Alfonso is our Columbus Foundation Summer Fellow.  He is working with us for ten weeks this summer in the refugee resettlement program helping to prepare for and welcome newly arriving refugees to Columbus.  Last summer Alex volunteered at CRIS teaching basic employability classes and helping employment counselors.  He so enjoyed assisting refugees in their initial transition that he sought out a fellowship to return full-time this summer.Alex’s roles include picking up new arrivals from the airport, putting together home supply kits, and taking trips with clients to the Furniture Bank of Central Ohio so that they can furnish their new homes.  He also teaches cultural orientation classes for newly arrived refugees to help with the process of integrating into our community.

Please check out his weekly posts for the Columbus Foundation blog about his experiences at CRIS.  At the culmination of his summer project in August, Alex will present his experiences to the Columbus Foundation staff.When asked what he contemplates for the future, Alex expresses that he hopes to continue to work in the non-profit sector, specifically with refugee resettlement non-profits like CRIS, both here in the United States and abroad.  After delving into the non-profit world he hopes to transition to teaching, perhaps at a small liberal arts college much like his alma mater, DePauw University.  We at CRIS are so pleased to have his positive attitude and dedication as part of our team this summer.