As their internships come to a close, enFocus’ Summer Interns hit another milestone this week: joining the Fellows in the annual Impact Celebration, a community event during which enFocus shares the impact of its projects over the past year.
Interns play a supportive role implementing this event. Many of them will even have the opportunity to share their internship experiences with community stakeholders.
This year, enFocus Fellow teams completed over 80 projects–generating meaningful change and positive impact across Elkhart, Marshall, and St. Joseph Counties in Indiana, as well as Berrien County in Southwest Michigan. Interns have made incredible contributions to many of these projects, even in just eight short weeks.
Brigid Reilly, a South Bend native attending Northwestern, has been tasked with internal marketing and communications initiatives–the most important of which has been assisting in the planning of the Impact Celebration. “It has been incredible to see how widely enFocus affects our community. Planning and preparing for the Impact Celebration has allowed me to view the organization’s regional influence through a unique lens. In preparation for the event we have connected with companies and community members that I grew up hearing about. It has been a really full-circle experience.”
Joe Russo, an MPA student from IU Bloomington, worked directly with the Engagement and Economic Empowerment Team at the City to create the MLK Financial Empowerment Center. “Through conversations, writing, and work with the EEE team, we have developed a long-term vision for the financial independence of South Bend's Black community–and the budding of a roadmap to get there–while additionally figuring out how the Financial Empowerment initiative fits into that overall plan.”
Jack Rosette, an industrial and operations engineering major at the University of Michigan, set in motion plans to help increase bystander intervention during instances of opioid overdoses in St. Joseph County: “For my project with NaxosNeighbors, I set up an interview with a developer of a health crisis and harm reduction app” to understand how what that organization has learned might help NaxosNeighbors make a measurable impact in the South Bend - Elkhart Region. “Speaking to that developer was engaging, enlightening, and shifted my paradigm on how to measure the impact of an organization with the intent to save lives.” Ultimately, “I helped create a way for people in crisis to find connection without fear of being stigmatized, and made it more likely for these people to seek the help that they need to save their lives and the lives of their community members.”
Sheila Xu, a Information Systems graduate student at IU - Bloomington, has been working with an Elkhart-based manufacturer to improve their ERP system. “I have worked with ERP systems before, which equipped me with some basic concepts that have helped me develop work plans and process maps for this project. This company is a major employer in the region; by making their day-to-day operations significantly easier and more efficient, we can save costs and bring more opportunities to the region.”
After the Impact Celebration, enFocus interns will close their internships by sharing their findings with external stakeholders–before finishing out the summer with a Final Presentation Day with the enFocus team this Friday.
We will close out this Meet Our Interns series next week by highlighting intern reflections on their experiences. In the meantime, are you interested in hearing more impact stories from our interns and Fellows? Be sure to register to attend our 10-Year Impact Celebration tonight!