Discover enFocus Portfolios and Sectors: Cultivating Skills through Collaborative Partnerships

Our Civic and Industry portfolios guide the work we do, and present our Fellows with a variety of projects they can work on at once. An enFocus Fellow can work on 2-3 projects simultaneously, differing in sectors, skills, and backgrounds.

When we were founded in 2012, and our civic portfolio took off. In the beginning, we focused on assisting local municipalities, facilitating healthcare work, and education projects. Shortly after our expansion into Elkhart County in 2019, we launched our Industry Innovation portfolio and established a partnership with iNDustry Labs at Notre Dame.

The Civic Innovation portfolio offers services for public and social services sectors, this includes healthcare organizations, government entities, education, and other nonprofits. This year alone, we will work on approximately 65 projects within the civic sphere and across St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall counties in Indiana and Berrien County in southwest Michigan. We collaborate with organizations within these sectors to enhance outcomes and to strengthen the South Bend-Elkhart community.

One way our Industry Innovation portfolio differs from our Civic sectors is by developing and executing pilot projects for regional companies. We continue to provide services to regional business partners in transportation and logistics, health services, advanced manufacturing, and IT services alongside our long-time partners at iNDustry Labs at the University of Notre Dame.

Although our Fellows tend to specialize in the Civic or Industry portfolio, it does not limit the intersectionality of our Fellow work. Fellow Amy Lee shares, “With a background in both engineering and healthcare, my interests extend beyond a specific sector. During my Fellowship at enFocus, I worked on Civic and Industry portfolios, expanding my perspective.” Amy’s work on Civic projects like the Niles Redevelopment Ready Certification, and Industry projects with manufactures like Pratt Chassis, cultivates a variety of skills in Fellows that apply to several projects and provides a multifaceted perspective for problem-solving.

Innovation Fellow, Overpower Gore, has a background in data science which has helped him facilitate work on a variety of projects. He shares, “Journeying through data science across manufacturing, transportation, and grant writing has enriched my skill set and expanded my business acumen. My work at enFocus has honed a versatile problem-solving approach that finds strength in the intersections of these diverse experiences.”

Amy agrees with Overpower and continues saying, “I discovered that the definition of innovation is remarkably similar across these somewhat unrelated fields, emphasizing creative problem-solving and the application of the new concepts for different purposes. This multidisciplinary view allows me to bring fresh ideas and facilitate collaboration across sectors, making my background a valuable asset in driving innovation in various domains.”

Our projects intentionally match talented young professionals to fulfill the needs of the organization collaborating with enFocus to solve challenges. Likewise, the match helps our Fellows gain hands-on learning with a variety of organizations and gain the skills they need to advance their careers.

Our Civic and Industry portfolios open pathways in our sectors of healthcare, education, government, nonprofit, technology, and manufacturing. We look forward to advancing regional partnerships and local businesses, while also developing the skills of the enFocus team to continue their impact on the region.

Want to learn more about the skills our enFocus Fellows are learning? Catch us back next week when we explore the ever-growing capabilities of our enFocus team!