Here's looking at you! Haley Loram on the white roof of ECA's Training Center

Last week, the Community Design Collaborative bid farewell to Haley Loram and Erik Kojola. Both Haley and Erik came to the Collaborative through Philly Fellows, a year-long post-graduate fellowship program which offers top graduates of Philadelphia-area colleges and universities opportunities to engage in the city’s vibrant neighborhoods and diverse nonprofit agencies.

Over the past two years, I’ve watched Haley and Erik sail into work on their bicycles in all kinds of weather, eat bottomless bowls of veggies for lunch, take advantage of all that Philly has to offer, and grow professionally.

Last week, I sat down with Haley to reflect on her time with the Collaborative, city living, and first jobs.

Haley joined the Collaborative in 2008 as our first Communications Associate. She wrote profiles about scores of Collaborative volunteers and projects; photographed events, volunteers, and clients; and helped establish our blog. Thanks to an AmeriCorpsVISTA post, Haley was able to continue working with the Collaborative another year, taking on the big task of developing our new database. Haley also introduced the Collaborative to a wider audience through articles in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal and Bridging the Gap, an anthology by Structures for Inclusion to be published in 2011.

One of Haley’s favorite experiences at the Collaborative was meeting Collaborative clients Reverend Martha Lang and Reverend Mary Moore, the determined community leaders behind Mt. Tabor Cyber Village. “It was a lot of fun meeting with them because they were so connected to their project,” recalls Haley, “They ended up with a building that really had the character and warmth they were searching for. It was a treat to see how we’d supported them.”

In Haley’s second year with us, “the Collaborative exposed me to learning through data.” Along with developing the database, Haley created tools to track and evaluate our work and initiated discussions with Azevea, an award-winning geospatial analysis software development company, about demonstrating the impact of the Collaborative’s projects. Haley concludes, “In one way or another, I have been trying to tell the story of the Collaborative—via stories, articles, and data”

Living in the city is a big part of the Philly Fellow and Americorps*VISTA experience. Haley says, “As a student at Swarthmore, I lived twenty minutes away but had never stayed in the city for a full 24 hours. Over the past two years, I’ve had the chance to live on several very close-knit, very different blocks… My block was my second-strongest support system after my friends. On my first block, a neighbor invited me in for gelato and gave me a place to sleep when I forgot my keys and my housemates were out of town. On another block, a three-year-old boy would meet my roommate every night after work and walk her to our house.”

Next up for Haley is six weeks at the Tuck Business Bridge Program, an intensive, career-focused program that teaches juniors, seniors, and recent graduates of arts and sciences colleges the basics of accounting, marketing, finance, and leadership. When she returns to Philly, Haley will join the staff of the Women’s Medical Fund.