During my internship, I have had the opportunity to work at the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership in Fort Wayne, IN. The Regional Partnership is a non-profit economic development organization on the cutting edge of collaborative regional development. Allen County and its 9 surrounding counties have come together and dedicated time, money, and other precious resources to the betterment of the entire region, with the goal of building, marketing, and selling Northeast Indiana to increase business investment and bolster the local economy.
As an intern, I am involved in almost all aspects of the Partnership. I have assisted almost everyone in the office with at least one project related to the work they do, including by not limited to, marketing, investor relations, business development, data analytics, and general administration. My main projects, however, have been related to Vision 2020. Vision 2020 is a regional initiative designed to transform Northeast Indiana into a top global competitor by focusing on a common mission to develop, attract, and retain talent. There are many aspects to the Vision 2020 project, but the main part is called the Big Goal Collaborative, led by Project Director, Ryan Twiss. The Big Goal Collaborative (BGC) is focused on helping to provide support at every point, cradle to career, so each child will exercise his or her right to succeed in school and life, and will become an economically prosperous adult. It is pretty clear why it is referred to as the ‘big’ goal, because it is essentially the all-encompassing task of uplifting an entire region’s population to be the best that it can be.
Because of the broad nature of the BGC, and the amount of time it takes to complete a project, it is impossible for me to help with everything, however there are some cool projects blooming right now, and my internship came at a perfect time to provide critical assistance in these areas. The two main projects I have worked on are the Talent Moves Here initiative, and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of the region. Talent Moves Here is a regional initiative, led by the Regional Partnership, which is working to bring elite talent to fill the jobs at local businesses.
This can take a lot of different forms, and part of my work has been researching what the best tactics can be for tackling this goal. The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem refers to the small business climate in the region, and most of my work has revolved around researching and creating a road map for the ecosystem, and where the regional strengths and weaknesses are.
The non-profit world is much different than any environment I have worked in before, and everyone is extremely busy due to challenging nature of funding new positions at a non-profit organization. I can tell that my presence over the last few weeks has helped the Partnership continue to lead to region toward economic success. I don’t think this is the career for me, but I am glad to have gained this experience. I would like to thank the Small Business Internship Fund for providing me with the opportunity to work at this great organization.
