06/16/2026
🎉 Congratulations to the inaugural class of the Janet L. Archer Summer Fellowship Program!
This summer, six talented young adults are putting their skills to work with Ashland County nonprofits, gaining valuable professional experience while helping strengthen organizations that serve our community every day.
We are excited to see the impact these fellows will make at Advocates for Families, Ashland County Cancer Association, ACCADA, Nuhop Center for Experiential Learning, Pathfinder Farms, and Ashland Main Street.
Thank you to Jan Archer, whose legacy of leadership and service inspired this program, and to all of our community partners investing in the future of Ashland County.
Ashland kicks off Janet L. Archer Summer Fellowship Program
ASHLAND – Six young men and women who are part of the inaugural year of the Janet L. Archer Summer Fellowship Program got right to work earlier this month following an orientation into the new program.
This is the first official year of the fellowship following last year’s pilot of the collaborative program between United Way of Ashland County, Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce, and Ashland County Community Foundation.
This collaboration benefits both the students and the participating nonprofits. It connects young adults with meaningful, paid summer roles inside Ashland County nonprofits—providing real capacity support while building a future talent pipeline. The fellows get experience and use their skills to advance the missions of the nonprofit organizations through various projects.
The fellowship is named for Jan Archer, who became the executive director in 1985 of what was then United Appeal. She led the change from United Appeal to United Way in 1990 and continued to successfully lead the organization until stepping down in 1994. Since moving to Ashland in the 1970s, she and her husband, Bob, have loved the town and been longstanding supporters of the community. They have contributed to the betterment of Ashland through both financial support and with their personal involvement in many organizations throughout the county. In addition to her leadership at United Way, Jan has served as director of Leadership Ashland, a program of the Chamber, has been a board member of ACCF, Rotary, and the Ashland University Center for Nonviolence, which she helped found.
Jan shared her background at the fellowship orientation and was eager to hear about the participants and what projects they planned to complete for their organizations.
The following 2026 Fellows were selected from a competitive application process and include Joshua Bonfiglio, Chloe Ediger, Mackenzie Parsons, Samantha Plank, Gabe Stack and Layne Stitzlein. All are Ashland High School graduates apart from Stack, who is a Hillsdale graduate. Ediger and Stack participated in the pilot program and are returning for a second year.
The nonprofits where they will be serving, respectively, are: Advocates for Families, Ashland County Cancer Association, ACCADA, Nuhop Center for Experiential Learning, Pathfinder Farms and Ashland Main Street.
The fellows[C1.1] will serve at these organizations from June 1 to August 12. They will work on projects ranging from improving mission transparency (Pathfinder Farms) to promoting awareness to college students of the risks of excessive alcohol use and party drugs (ACCADA). Other projects have the fellows assisting the nonprofits with social media exposure, data collection and analysis, donor relations, and promoting the organization’s mission.
“We look forward to all of the ways these young people will use their skills for the betterment of Ashland County nonprofits, as well as gain professional experiences along the way,” said ACCF Chief Operating Officer/CEO-Designate Kristin Aspin.
Aspin is leading the program along with Stacy Schiemann of United Way of Ashland County, and Amy Daubenspeck of Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce.
The program is free for the chosen nonprofits, thanks to financial support from the three supporting organizations. This program will help the nonprofits by building future leaders, investing in the Ashland community and strengthening the missions of these organizations.
