We’re excited to welcome three brand new members to the Tool Library family this summer! Thanks to the University at Buffalo’s Social Impact Fellowship, the Tool Library will work with an MBA, MSW, and Geography PhD student over the course of 8 weeks on developing a strategic expansion and marketing plan for the organization while also better understanding the communities we serve.
The Tool Library is one of ten local organizations who have been awarded Fellows and can safely say they will be a HUGE asset to us, bringing lots of passion and a unique skillset to bare on some of the Tool Library’s major challenges and opportunities.
More about the Social Impact Fellowship:
Through UB’s Social Impact Fellows (SIF) program, students from the School of Management and School of Social Work spend the summer learning about and creating Social Innovation in Western New York. The program pairs action-oriented Management and Social Work students together for a summer internship at a local mission-driven organization, where they work as a team to lead sustainable efforts which make an impact on the social issues impacting our community.
About the Fellows:
A brand new Tooligan, Sonya Tareke is our resident MBA Social Impact Fellow for the summer of 2018. A firm believer in Buffalo’s budding business boom, she is always seeking ways to better connect with local nonprofits in the community so as to become a true member of the City of Good Neighbors. In her spare time she enjoys food festivals, good laughs and a healthy daily dose of Zumba.
Melissa Cirina, our 2018 MSW/MPH Social Impact Fellow, joins the rest of the Rowdy Tooligans. She hopes to plant her roots int he city she now calls home. Her areas of interest are community empowerment, LGBTQ+ education and advocacy, and restorative justice, just to name a few. Melissa seeks to learn everyone’s story and serve as a bridge between communities. In her spare time she unwinds with a book between sets at the gym or listens to NPR while playing video games. Find her at local coffee shops deep in some sort of social inequity discussion among friends.
Qiuyi Zhang is currently a second year PhD student in geography (UB). Her research interests are in the areas of urban geography, health geography and GIS. She is currently a research assistant for Dr. Sara Metcalf (Geography) and has been working with her on two different projects that use agent-based modelling to understand barriers to access to oral health services in New York City. Also, Qiuyi has worked as an intern with the NFTA on demographic mapping of ridership and service profiles. Her research skills are in quantitative analysis, including census data mapping and analysis, and developing quantitative behavioral models.