Positive-Sum Games: Using a Summer Internship Program to Catalyze Community Impact

This presentation was a part of the Ignite Showcase: Part I at the NNIP Fall 2015 partners meeting. 

As a highly-visible organization in the Detroit community, Data Driven Detroit (D3) has often received requests from students interested in interning with us, but has rarely had the capacity to provide the sort of mentorship and opportunities that are so important to ensuring a valuable experience.  This summer, D3 piloted an internship program in partnership with the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation to address these challenges using a community-based approach.  The program was designed to maximize positive outcomes for the funder, D3, the interns, and community organizations in Detroit.  Its distinguishing factor was that when applying, the interns were required to propose community-focused analysis and outreach projects.  The selected candidates then executed these projects as a core component of their internship work.  The structure of the program also enabled D3 to make considerable investments in training the interns, and the lessons learned through these sessions are helping to lay the foundation for expanding future data engagement work.