What is the Columbus Civic?
The Columbus Civic is an email newsletter produced in various languages that reaches local immigrant and refugee communities. The newsletter reaches these communities where they are at by translating local news into their native languages so they can be more informed voters and citizens. Along with providing the important news stories for every month, the newsletter also offers in-depth explanations of the issues. Through a combination of education and journalism, the newsletter helps immigrants and refugees become active citizens that are involved in their local democracy. The Columbus Civic is currently produced in Telugu, English, Tamil and French. We are actively working to expand to other languages such as Spanish, Somali and Nepali as well.
How The Columbus Civic Got Started
The Columbus Civic was started in 2018 by Saideepika Rayala. Coming from a family of first-generation immigrants, she has always been interested in the issues surrounding immigration. She started volunteering at US Together, a local refugee resettlement agency, in 2016 as a teaching assistant for the citizenship classes. After conversing with many of the immigrants there and observing her own situation at home, she noticed a common theme among many immigrant communities. Very few of the immigrants she had talked to followed mainstream English news, national or local. Instead, many of them followed their native countries’ media. By not following what was happening in their local community, there was a growing disconnect between immigrants and the rest of Columbus. Along with immigration, she is also heavily interested in journalism and believes in the importance of a healthy local democracy where everyone is informed and active. Yet, she found that here, in her own community, was a large group of people that were uninformed about the local issues. Furthermore, the local news system at present was not tailored to meet the needs of immigrant communities, and a high barrier of entry existed for immigrants and refugees to engage with local news due to lack of fluency in English. After recognizing this problem in her community, Sai was determined to use her journalism skills to provide a valuable link to immigrants and the greater Columbus community through the form of an email newsletter.
THE TEAM
Founding Editor-In-Chief: Saideepika Rayala
Saideepika Rayala is the founder of the Columbus Civic and also oversees the monthly newsletter. She also creates the English template every month for the writers to translate. Being an aspiring journalist, Sai has built up her journalistic skills and experience by being the editor-in-chief for her school’s news magazine, writing at local publications in the city such as The Delaware Gazette and the Columbus Free Press, and volunteering as a writer for the Central Ohio Red Cross Communications Team. Under the guidance of Professor Kelly Garrett at the Ohio State University, she is also working on communications research concerning the factors of susceptibility to fake news in adolescents. Outside of journalism, her other activities include volunteering at US Together, being a senior officer on her school’s student council, and being the team lead for the Olentangy Liberty branch of the International Business Internship Program. In her free time, you can find her down at her local target range practicing archery or binge-watching comedy shows on Netflix.
Social Media and Marketing Director: Miliana Bocher
Miliana Bocher is the social media and marketing director where she works on community engagement to raise awareness about the purpose and services provided by the Columbus Civic. Miliana has also been a head of the Social Media team for the National English Honor Society and currently interns for an international non-profit organization as a Youth Development Program Ambassador and GlobalGiving liaison. As the child of first-generation immigrants, Miliana is immensely attached to the Civic’s goals of increasing accessibility of crucial and prevalent news to diverse communities in the greater-Columbus area. She has also interned alongside Sai at US Together, teaching ESL to the children of refugees and providing interpretation services for French-speaking clients. When Miliana isn’t preparing for college or interning, she can often be found practicing her Arabic or listening to podcasts from NPR.
Videographer: Harshita Ray
Harshita Ray is the videographer for the Columbus Civic. She focuses on the visual aspect of the organization and films what is happening in immigrant communities. Harshita has also worked for the activism group You Are Not Alone, that focused on bringing awareness within the mental health community through videography and photography. As a child of immigrants, she is passionate about the story of immigrants and children of immigrants, finding importance in allowing them to have their story told and to also bring them the information they need. When Harshita isn’t filming, she can be found trying to bring awareness about issues happening within the United States and writing poetry about her experiences in life.
Political Contributor: Will Smialek
Will Smialek is a freshman at Dublin Scioto High School where he is involved in multiple political and service-oriented clubs, Boys Scouts, and plays tennis for his school. His passion lays in politics.
ENGLISH
TELUGU
English Writer: Sai Rayala
English Editor: Derek Burtch