Philly Fellow Prepares to Work With Mt. Airy USA

is getting ready to take on its first-ever Philly Fellow.

Hilary Malson, who graduated from and who is originally from Washington, D.C. (she graduated from The National Cathedral School there), has been selected to receive a one-year fellowship through the Americorps VISTA-funded program.

The program essentially pairs recent college graduates with non-profits throughout Philadelphia and allows them to work with the organizations for a year. The organizations have to apply to get a Philly Fellow, and recent graduates of area college have to apply to be part of the program as well. This is the first time Mt. Airy USA has gotten a fellow.

Malson will be a commercial revitalization communications associate at the non-profit. Mt. Airy USA Executive Director Anuj Gupta said she will work to help launch a new neighborhood business association and will also coordinate communications for the non-profit.

She'll participate in leadership training during the year as well.

"You're getting really really talented people, and you give them a year to get their hands dirty to do community-based work," Gupta said. "It's a huge asset to the organizations."

Mt. Airy USA will shoulder $12,000 of the program's cost during the year.

Malson will begin her work in August—just in time for The Food Trust's inaugural , which will take place Aug. 4. That will mean, according to Gupta, that "she'll be put to work right away."

The growth and structure of cities major said she's ready for the challenge.

"After spending the past few years living in greater Philadelphia and working and learning in the city itself, I decided that a year of service with one of Philly Fellows' non-profit partners would be a tangible way to give back to a community that has given me so much," Malson said in a news release.

She is one of four Haverford College graduates to be a Philly Fellow. There are 12 other fellows from other schools in the region.