“Fellows are creating change, starting a movement, and putting their passion into something bigger for other people to be a part of.”
Maureen Albero, a junior double majoring in English and Communication, served 
as George Washington’s 2019-2020 Newman Civic Fellow. Maureen approached the fellowship “already inspired to serve others, but the exposure to service oriented fellows, who are passionate about so many different things, motivated” her beyond measure. Aside from Maureen’s lasting knowledge and fulfillment through service, the fellowship allowed her to connect with a mentor which helped her cultivate her knowledge about the community and transform her relationship with respected professors into a lifelong allyship.
“There are a ton of incredible fellows in the program who bring their own perspectives and methods to creating change.”
When asked about the national convening, Maureen discussed how eye-opening it was to learn the ways that policy, collaboration, and creativity could shape her own initiatives in the community. While at the conference, fellows participated in a “ simulation of passing a bill'' which allowed Maureen “to learn more about the Policy & Governance pathway of service.” To Nneka, George Washington University’s 2020-2021 Newman Civic Fellow, Maureen advises, “be open to building as many genuine relationships as possible and try to maximize the amount of people you meet.”
“As much as it is important to share your own ideas, it is equally as important to hear others’.”
This year, Nneka Onyekwuluje, a junior double majoring in International Affairs and Africana Studies, serves as George Washington University’s 2020-2021 Newman Civic Fellow. After “reading about the students Campus Compact pulled together,” Nneka appreciates that other fellows share her pursuit for “innovative” and “creative” community based solutions. Next year, Nneka looks forward to “getting to know the fellows in the area.”
“When you’re the entrepreneur of an organization,” it’s always great to “learn about what others are doing.”
During the fellowship, Nneka plans to continue working with “the M.H.I. Street Project, a program dedicated to providing mental health resources to Black youth in Wards 7 and 8 D.C.” Over the course of the next year, Nneka is “helping to create the curriculum for the organization’s pilot program.” If the pilot program “is successful,” Nneka intends to “use the findings to recreate more effective approaches to embedding mental health awareness into community education models.” The success of the pilot program will be donated as a “blueprint” that other organizations in the DC area will be able to use and adapt.
Since at GW, Nneka has “wanted to start a liberal arts program that cocreates different approaches to understanding mental health in the Black community.”
Nneka became “involved with the M.H.I. Street Project,” while working with Erin Yeagly, a Nashman Affiliate faculty member, at One Care, a mental and behavioral health clinic in Southeast DC. From this experience she has gained experience necessary to start a nonprofit organization and hopes to implement a youth program with similar innovative approaches to learning in DC or her hometown Covington, Georgia. As a result of her program, Nneka hopes to ignite a conversation addressing mental health within the black community.
To learn more about Maureen’s civic engagement, pleased click here.
To learn more about Nneka’s civic engagement, please click here.
