Reflections on a Summer Fellowship at Caring for Colorado
By Luca Rodriguez, 2026 Summer Public Interest Fellow
To be honest, I don’t think I really knew what I was applying for when I interviewed with Caring for Colorado. I was a week away from turning 19, towards the end of my second semester of college, and I’d already overeagerly joined the interview Zoom a week early. But now, having been 19 for a few months, getting ready to start my third semester of college, and sending out this reflection, the final project of my fellowship, right on time, I can say for certain this was the exact right place for me to be this summer.
The most striking thing about working at Caring for Colorado is working with the Caring for Colorado team. I was fortunate enough to work with many of the employees here, and I got to meet and have a conversation or two with all of them. I felt incredibly welcomed from Day One, and that continued throughout the summer. I was treated like a valued employee, which made me want to act like one and do the incredible work that was happening all around me eight hours a day.
This summer I worked on three projects about three different topics. One project asked what the relationship between nonprofit organizations and [social media] influencers is/could be, and how Caring for Colorado might best utilize the growing influencer industry to support grantees and redirect harmful misinformation. I also helped on a larger project that Caring for Colorado is doing about the reproductive health landscape of the state, and led another on youth voter engagement work being done in anticipation of the 2026 and 2028 elections.
My biggest project, on youth voter engagement, led me to meet and interview various organizations doing voter registration and engagement work for young people across the state. Starting the project with a baseline knowledge of zero, I gained incredible new insights and developed recommendations for CFC based on my research. These included key aspects of effective voter engagement to look for when funding organizations, as well as new strategies for supporting those organizations, and the systems the state has in place, beyond just funding and resources.
Working on the reproductive health landscape project allowed me to join other members of the Caring for Colorado team on a listening tour in Northeast Colorado. Jumping into the middle of a bigger and longer-term project was intimidating at first, but I learned effective methods of coding qualitative information and gained valuable experience analyzing the data for trends that would inform CFC’s future funding strategies. Influencers, on the other hand, was a project that kept me mostly at my desk, consistently shocked by the fascinating things I was learning about.
What I loved so much about working with CFC this summer was the variety of experiences and opportunities I had access to every week. Even as a summer intern, I joined the foundation’s all-staff retreat, traveled to our Pueblo office, sat in on board meetings, and made connections with so many amazing people and organizations in the public sector While I was working here, I was able to explore, think about my future, and learn skills that will stick with me no matter what I end up doing.
My time at CFC has been characterized by so many role models that it would take pages to call out everything they each did to make my experience what it was. Instead of saying goodbye and thank you to everyone I’ve met, I’m instead looking forward to keeping in touch, and keeping an eye on what this organization continues to do in the future. I have a feeling that it will be just as incredible as the past 10 weeks have been for me,
Luca Rodriguez is a sophomore at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He served as a Public Interest Fellow at Caring for Colorado in Summer 2026
A Summer of Learning, Listening, and Connection
By Gabby Hooper, 2026 Summer Public Interest Fellow
When I was planning for this summer, I was hoping to work for an organization whose mission mattered to me and to get clarity on my path after graduation. Not only have I fulfilled those goals, but I’ve also gotten to focus on youth voice and do research, two things that I especially enjoy.
I worked on two projects for Caring for Colorado on youth voice, identifying how CFC can better support grantees working on youth voice and how CFC can implement youth voice itself. Youth voice has always been important to me as a young person who had a lot to say about the world. As a part of these projects, I enjoyed meeting grantees and young people from across the state and hearing about the work they do and the changes they are making in their communities. I’m excited to see how Caring for Colorado continues to put their commitment to youth voice into practice.
One of my favorite experiences was attending Northeast Rural Philanthropy Days in Yuma, Colorado. It was amazing to get to know Colorado’s northeastern communities through the work of their nonprofits and community organizations, and I loved getting to meet regional and statewide leaders. I also attended the Pueblo Community Advisory Board meeting at the beginning of the fellowship, and I enjoyed learning about the place-based work that happens in Pueblo and meeting the community leaders that make up the Board.
I have learned so much in my time with Caring for Colorado. This was my first experience at a foundation and I’ve learned that a foundation’s role goes far beyond funding to include relationship-building and positively shaping the nonprofit landscape. I am also taking away many valuable skills from this experience. In my future career, I hope to do research for community organizations, so I was glad to expand my research abilities in non-academic settings in this role. I learned a lot about the importance of prioritizing community needs and understanding existing relationships when working in a foundation and how to pace research responsively. This was my first office experience, so I also gained technology and professionalism skills.
I’m about to start my senior year of college at Colorado College studying sociology. While I’m still deciding if graduate school is down the line for me in a few more years, I’m looking forward to spending the next few years working in the public interest sector, hopefully doing a job involving research or community engagement. I know all of the experiences, skills, and connections I gained this summer will be invaluable as I continue to pursue a career in this sector.
Gabby Hooper is a senior at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She served as a Public Interest Fellow at Caring for Colorado in Summer 2026.