Host Sites | Summer 2020

As part of its mission to support community economic development across New Hampshire, the Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) assembles and uses relevant demographic, fiscal and other data, along with public input, to help guide its planning and funding priorities.

Earlier this year, CDFA embarked on an initiative to update its data collection, analysis and visualization capacity, including using more accurate, timely and relevant data to help drive planning and deployment of CDFA resources and develop data capacity in communities. To further this commitment, CDFA has been working in partnership with the NH Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) to advance a data analysis and visualization project.

In 2018, NHFPI used town-based data from the US Census/American Community Survey to develop a report titled "Measuring NH's Municipalities: Economic Disparities & Fiscal Capacities." Data sets used in the report included population, median age, property wealth, median income and several poverty indicators such as free/reduced price lunch and Medicaid enrollment. This report provided a high-level overview of the issues and challenges facing NH cities and towns, as well as regional and town-based trends and patterns.

Over the past several months, CDFA and NHFPI hosted a fellow from the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy to help develop an updated data framework (Recommendation – Memo, below). The framework has two elements:

1. Developing an updated ‘core data community index’ to measure trends, opportunities and need.
2. Creating a data-visualization platform that will enable CDFA to display the ‘core data community index,’ as well as other data indicators, in a user-friendly and accessible way facilitating engagement.

Over the coming year, we expect to further refine the index, deploy the data-visualization platform, and incorporate both into CDFA’s programs, an updated CDFA web site, trainings and engagement with communities. Engaging communities and nonprofit partners is the basis for this internship.

Social Innovation Internship

The intern will advance CDFA data work in communities. The intern will understand the underlying values of communities by working in a local nonprofit sponsored by CDFA. The intern will build capacity in the community and the specific nonprofit by,

• Understanding the CDFA data index
• Working with the nonprofit to contextualize the index
• Presenting on the index to the nonprofit board and community
• Completing an assessment of the nonprofit data capacity and needs
• Identifying a data project within the nonprofit (tracking outcomes, building a outcome dashboard, aligning the index to the nonprofits strategic plan)
• Complete the data project
• Interviewing community and civic leaders

The goal of the internship is to,

• Pilot data capacity building in nonprofits and communities (based on the home to Texas model)
• Engage residents and employer
• Encourage participation in civically focused activities
• Identify ways to use, understand and take action with data
• Meet communities and nonprofits where they are

Location: Concord, NH

Social Innovation Internship

The intern will work with the CDFA team that plans and administers the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) resources, advancing investments in community and community-based nonprofits by:

• Providing assistance to the team, advancing CDBG resource objectives
• Encouraging participation in community development planning activities
• Identifying ways to use, understand and take action with resources
• Meet communities and nonprofits where they are

Location: Concord, NH​

Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) is New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves a population of 1.9 million across northern New England. D-H provides access to more than 1,800 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. DHMC was named in 2019 as the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in 13 clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth-Hitchcock also includes the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 51 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation; the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state’s only children’s hospital; affiliated member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, and New London, NH, and Windsor, VT, and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and 24 Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. The D-H system trains nearly 400 residents and fellows annually, and performs world-class research, in partnership with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT.

Social Innovation Internship

The goal of the internship is to develop a Metrics Dashboard that incorporates our data collection with our Healthcare Anchor Committee in order to report regularly on our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Over the course of the internship, the intern will receive the Metrics to be tracked and monitored regularly for reporting.

The intern will gain a wealth of knowledge of the operations of the Medical Center as well as what is important in Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare.

Location: Lebanon, NH

Lonza is a company of high-performing teams and of individual employees who are encouraged to act with an entrepreneurial spirit on behalf of customers. As a global organization, Lonza is focused on achieving the strategic vision of being the world's leading, integrated solutions provider for its pharma and consumer healthcare and nutrition customers all along the healthcare continuum.

The Corporate Citizenship team at Lonza Portsmouth has a mission statement that we believe defines who we are: We harness the passion of Portsmouth’s workforce to make positive impact on the seacoast community in the areas of public service, education, and environmental sustainability.

Social Innovation Internship

The goal is for the summer intern to help define and devise projects and beliefs that will drive behavior into the future at Lonza. For instance, in the past, the intern has helped set-up our community service initiative. Now that we all have a year more experience, we would like the intern to help us take our Corporate Citizenship team to the next level by focusing our efforts to help us achieve our vision statement (Corporate social responsibility is core to who we are. It is demonstrated by our actions and is recognized by others for the impact that we have on improving our communities and the surrounding environment.)

The intern will develop leadership skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills in this role as they will be the main driver for the projects they work on during the summer. The intern will have a large say in how Lonza move’s forward with the Corporate Citizenship team over the summer as the intern is fully dedicated to this initiative for the summer. The intern will be  expected to work independently, and prioritize activities based upon feedback gathered from internal stakeholders.  Therefore, what projects are tackled, and how they are tackled, is largely left to the intern.

The successful candidate will be flexible and proactive and work on 3 main projects

1. Help organize employee volunteer opportunities for New Hire Orientation
2. Work with various functional departments to set up future team-based volunteer opportunities.
3. Develop the Lonza Olympics further - A month long event (started in 2019) where points are tallied based on volunteering, alternative commuting, bringing in reusable utensils/mugs, exercise etc. Prizes are awarded to the winners.

Location: Portsmouth, NH

The NH Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force is a collaboration of law enforcement, service providers, attorneys, state agencies, and other community stakeholders dedicated to improving the statewide response to human trafficking. Our mission is to develop and implement a multidisciplinary response to human trafficking in New Hampshire that is coordinated and collaborative, victim-centered and trauma-informed, includes prevention, and holds offenders accountable.

The Project Director of the Task Force is embedded within the NH Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. The Coalition acts as the umbrella organization for the state’s 13 crisis centers (including 12 domestic violence shelters). Many of the individual crisis centers have responded to the needs of trafficking survivors since their inception and were instrumental in the effort that led to the enactment of NH’s strong human trafficking, domestic, and sexual violence laws.

Social Innovation Internship

One of the most common things that the Task Force hear from people is that they had no idea that human trafficking was happening in New Hampshire or that it could happen to New Hampshire residents. We use our digital tools to reach community members across the state and raise their awareness of this issue, what it looks like in their state, how to prevent human trafficking, protect their families/selves and how to get involved in the response. The more people who are aware and helping to prevent and protect, the less traffickers can succeed. A trafficker’s success rests in the community’s lack of knowledge. They fly under the radar. Good marketing leads to awareness and good reporting which leads to better investigations by police and a better chance that cases will be prosecuted. It also means that victims of this crime will identify as such or be identified and be directed to the right supports and safety.

The Task Force utilizes several avenues for our web-based marketing and would like assistance getting a schedule together that focuses on clear, consistent messaging to our target audiences via Social Media. We currently use Hootsuite to manage our Facebook and Twitter accounts and have a website (through Squarespace) within which we host a monthly blog. Finally, we provide a quarterly e-newsletter through MailChimp.

This internship will focus on enhancing our presence on Facebook, Twitter and possibly the website. The intern will be asked to review what posts/tweets have looked like in the past, review communication goals and target audience personas (communication guide already prepared) and put together a schedule of posts/tweets.

The intern will also be asked to look at how best to draw more attention to the Task Force’s media campaigns, review the possibility of using google ads, review any grants available for using ads (such as google ads), and other similar opportunities.

Sharing office space with the Task Force Project Director, the intern will accompany the Project Director to stakeholder meetings, Task Force meetings and training/community events which take place during the internship period, which will provide an intern with additional learning and networking opportunities with direct service organizations across the state, homeless services, law enforcement and others serving vulnerable populations and educating the community.

The intern will gain the following skills and expertise:

• Creating and executing a digital marketing campaign
• Using Hootsuite for a non-profit marketing campaign
• Applying marketing knowledge to social justice awareness
• Exposure to grant based work
• Communication in a multi-disciplinary program/response and communicating in a way that is meaningful to different audiences (social workers vs law enforcement vs community members).

Location: Concord, NH

The NH Small Business Development Center (NH SBDC) is the leading resource for business advising and education for small businesses in the Granite State. Through a network of advisors, the NH SBDC delivers one-on-one confidential business management assistance to a wide variety of industries.  Assistance is provided to businesses in all stages of life (launch, development, growth and sale).

NH SBDC’s Business Sustainability Program (BSP) helps companies improve their management practices to embrace principles around sustainability, advising around a business’ environmental footprint, sustainability and energy efficiency (including financing of energy projects).  This program was established in 1998 as a compliance assistance program and has adapted its mission to embrace and promote all aspects of sustainable management. The goal of the BSP is to help business owners adopt best management practices to reduce operational risk, increase profitability and therefore, enhance the value of her or his company.

NH SBDC recently received a $30,000 two-year grant from Eversource to support the BSP. The partnership will focus on strengthening the program in three key areas: awareness of available energy efficiency programs, services and resources through NHSaves; energy efficiency training and education for SBDC staff working with small businesses; and connecting businesses to those resources and programs. In addition, together NH SBDC and Eversource will develop an e-Learning course on energy efficiency for businesses to add to the SBDC’s robust curriculum of online business education opportunities.

Social Innovation Internship

The NH SBDC is proposing to incorporate the intern into four aspects of the BSP, supporting the greater NH business community around the topic of sustainability. The intern will help:

1. Develop a best practices document for advisors on how to support businesses as they look at energy improvements (an internal playbook);
2. Develop content (articles, social media) on BSP issues, including helping to coordinate strategic partners to write for us and adapting content from Eversource info and data;
3. Update the BSP website landing page, building content on topics such as B Corps, business resiliency, industry specific tips, and important tools to help businesses improve operations; and
4. Research and prepare e-courses/video outlines for NH SBDC’s e-Learning platform. 

The NH SBDC provides:

• An intimate, hands-on learning experience working closely with the NH SBDC State Director, Education Director and the Business Sustainability Program Director, giving the intern a high level of support and training.  In addition to working closely with the NH SBDC team, the intern will work with the BSP’s partner, Eversource, and organizations that support energy efficiency and sustainability programming for business, including: NH Saves, Clean Energy NH, and The Nature Conservancy;
• A vantage point that will introduce the intern to careers at the intersection of business and social mission, while helping SBDC create tools and resources that will help our clients and the NH small business community tackle social, economic and environmental challenges;
• An infrastructure to help the intern actively connect with other interns and partners throughout the network.

NH SBDC would like to leverage the information and tools developed from this internship to the greater SBDC network. The NH SBDC is part of a national association of Small Business Development Centers (America’s SBDC (ASBDC)) of which there are 63 programs located in each state and the territories. The work that is undertaken and the tools that are developed as a result of this internship can be shared across this entire network.  In addition, the New England SBDCs meet annually for a professional development conference, and the tools and information that are developed can be shared there.

The intern’s work will have an impact! The expression “Think Globally, Act Locally” applies in that the intern will be incorporating well-established sustainability concepts to bring to the small business community here in NH.  The information and tools the intern develops will give NH small businesses the needed resources to help them succeed. Since the NH SBDC is part of a national network, the work that is undertaken can be shared across the SBDC organization, affording the student an opportunity to impact thousands of small businesses here in NH and across the country.  Lastly, the NH SBDC is a well networked organization within the state; the intern will be exposed to many organizations, groups, businesses, and entrepreneurs with whom to network and connect.   

Location: UNH Durham, NH or UNH Manchester, NH

The NH Small Business Development Center (NH SBDC) is the leading resource for business advising and education for small businesses in the Granite State. Through a network of advisors, the NH SBDC delivers one-on-one confidential business management assistance to a wide variety of industries.  Assistance is provided to businesses in all stages of life (launch, development, growth and sale).

Paul College’s Business in Practice (BiP) Program is robust, experiential learning program. BiP forges together Paul College students’ business knowledge from the core curriculum with professional, in-the-field and practice-based skills and experiences.

Over the past 9 months, SBDC and BiP piloted a joint project through Paul College’s Voice Z Digital to provide digital marketing services for NH businesses without the capability or resources to devote to vital marketing efforts. Voice Z Digital is a student-run digital marketing agency initiated through BiP, and is now being advised by faculty from the Marketing Department and a BiP mentor from HubSpot. 

The piloted projects involved Voice Z Digital providing a marketing assessment and analysis for NH SBDC clients, TowGo and Hug Patrol. The Voice Z teams also contracted and implemented select marketing projects for each NH Business.

Social Innovation Internship 

The internship will focus on key areas to build this relationship between the NHSBDC and Voice Digital, covering areas of digital marketing and economic impact for small businesses, how to best assess and educate NH businesses on digital marketing, and creating best practices and infrastructure for this program:

1. Develop a strategic plan specific to incremental growth of the client base between Voice Z and NH SBDC
2. Research the marketing needs and demands of SBDC clients, including development of personas, from data and contacts available through SBDC
3. Perform SBDC client interviews to gather data and feedback on marketing services and client procedures
4. Determine the marketing services that will mostly likely lead to economic impact
5. Establish a marketing diagnostic and assessment procedures
6. Draft a service pricing structure for Voice Z’s SBDC clients
7. Create documentation of ‘best practices’ for client selection and onboarding/kickoff meeting
8. Develop a guide for SBDC advisors on how to promote Voice Z to NH Businesses about Voice Z, as well as recommendations on how advisors should support clients during process.
9. Outline the organizational structure of Voice Z-SBDC teams, key responsibilities, and knowledgebase needed

Founded in 1973, Timberland is a global outdoor lifestyle brand based in Stratham, New Hampshire, with international headquarters in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Best known for its original yellow boot designed for the harsh elements of New England, Timberland today offers a full range of footwear, apparel and accessories for people who value purposeful style and share the brand's passion for enjoying - and protecting - nature.

At the heart of the Timberland’s brand is the core belief that a greener future is a better future. This comes to life through a decades-long commitment to make products responsibly, protect the outdoors, and strengthen communities around the world. To share in Timberland's mission to step outside, work together and make it better, visit one of our stores, timberland.com or follow us @timberland. Timberland is a VF Corporation brand.

The Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) works to feed and reforest a renewed Haiti using a new agroforestry model in which smallholders plant trees to earn credits that they exchange for seed, tools, training and other agricultural and community services. Timberland has supported this SFA 'tree currency' approach since 2010, resulting in farmers planting 7.5 million trees, crop yield increases averaging 40%, and household income increasing between 50-100% for participating farmers. More recently the SFA has used tree currency to reintroduce cotton to Haiti, resulting in a high value export crop that is directly linked to planting even more trees.

Social Innovation Internship

Our work to re-introduce organic cotton growing to Haiti is a groundbreaking project that has received much interest in sustainability-oriented media. The intern who is chosen for this assignment will gain unique and valuable first-hand experience of launching a new sustainable business that will enrich the environment, improve farmers' lives and will be a model for other markets.

The goal of this internship project is to equip and empower the SFA to deliver sustainable cotton to a number of customers in the most efficient, traceable, and transparent way possible. The anticipated outcome will be a process map/guide that will chart the path for the cotton from field harvest to yarn spinner. The process map/guide will include recommendations for systems and potential vendors that will enable the SFA to adhere to the path and meet customer expectations going forward.

To create the map the intern will:

• Research and recommend a bar code system to track cotton bale testing and quality
• Research and define export/import requirements to move Haitian grown cotton to the US
• Liaise with cotton storage facilities, fiber testing facilities , and yarn spinners to identify how the SFA can adhere to all requirements and to recommend any investments the SFA needs to make to create a standard operating procedure to move cotton through the supply chain.

Knowledge of fiber processing and/or supply chain management is a plus but not required. Essentially, we're looking for someone who enjoys research, is comfortable asking questions, can work independently, can identify needs and/or gaps in a process and seek out ways to fill them.

The intern will become an expert on building supply chains and managing the movement of cotton fiber from emerging markets into the U.S.. The Fellow will also have the opportunity to play a much needed and pivotal role in the development of a new social business that will sell cotton through a program that not only reforests Haiti but that also improves farmers' crop yields and incomes.

This project creates long term positive and sustainable change for farmers in Haiti and the environment and it provides a replicable model for other organizations to use. The SFA's tree currency model has proven its value. Through the model, smallholder farmers volunteer their time to plant, transplant and maintain trees in local tree nurseries. They earn credits for their time spent in the nurseries that they can use to acquire better quality seed, basic hand tools and agricultural training that led to an average 40% increase in farmer crop yields and an average 50% - 100% increase in income. The increased income has enabled farmers to send more of their children to school. Meanwhile, the farmers are planting trees in their communities that is increasing tree cover in Haiti, which is one of the world's most deforested countries.

The cotton project complements the tree currency model by creating a crop for export that will enable the network of tree nurseries and the number of farmers engaged to scale. Meanwhile, the SFA is in conversation with other NGO's in other countries (including Puerto Rico) to explore adapting the model to meet the most pressing economic and environmental challenges in those locations.

Location: Stratham, NH

Unitil Corporation is an interstate electricity and natural gas utility company that serves areas in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. Unitil, as a small investor owned utility, released its inaugural Corporate Sustainability Report in 2019.

Social Innovation Internship

The project goals are twofold: assist with green building certification documentation and companywide sustainability initiatives. Unitil is currently building a new operation center in Exeter, New Hampshire – this will be the first company building project to incorporate the organization’s sustainability goals. For the project three different building certifications are being attempted: LEED, WELL, and Energy Star. Part of the requirements for WELL include creating educational materials on all the sustainability features of the building to share with building occupants; creation of this material will be anticipated outcome from the intern.  The information needed to compile the sustainable building guide is already available.

A strong interest in creating a more sustainable built environment, green building standards and some awareness of construction/building terminology would be helpful in developing the building guide. The intern will develop thorough knowledge of both the WELL Building Standard and U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Location: Hampton, NH

Piscataqua Savings Bank is a mutual savings bank dedicated to providing financial services and support to members of the Portsmouth community. We are focused on helping individuals and families reach their goals while seeking every opportunity to provide outstanding service.

While mutuality has been the core component in shaping the culture of Piscataqua Savings Bank, it is often difficult to explain to the public how mutuality works and why the Bank is different from other financial institutions.  Being owned by our customers allows us to focus our attention more on customers and community, instead of shareholder value and profit.  This focus is the driving factor in the Bank’s culture and the basis of the Bank’s reputation for outstanding customer service and doing right by our customers, community and employees.  So, how do we explain what makes us different from other financial institutions?  Our Board of Trustees determined the answer was for the Bank to become a certified B Corporation.

B Corporations are certified by a third party, B-Lab, to very rigorous standards to assure that the company is doing right for all stakeholders.  We joined with 2,800 other businesses from around the world that are certified B Corporations to demonstrate to the community that Piscataqua Savings Bank meets the high standards of a B Corporation.

Social Innovation Internship

We are a new B Corp with great potential and much room for improvement. Finding ways to help a financial institution become sustainable will be a challenge. There is also the opportunity to facilitate positive change in the organization to become more sustainable and create habits so that it is top of mind in the decision-making process.

We will be able to assist others who may want to achieve this status. The goal of the intern will be to help the organization find ways to improve the bank’s social impact scores, both in the short and long term and investigate ways that Piscataqua Savings can enhance employee engagement.  Piscataqua Savings is the second Bank in the state to become a B corp and the intern will help us look forward to our next B-Lab recertification.

Location: Portsmouth, NH

Impax is a leader in the field of gender lens investing. In 2014, we launched the first mutual fund that invests in the highest-rated companies in the world when it comes to advancing women’s leadership. The Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund is designed to capture the investment returns associated with gender diverse leadership. We are also a leader in promoting greater gender diversity on corporate boards. Our shareholder engagements focus on influencing corporate policies and behavior so that companies are well-positioned to take advantage of the benefits associated with gender diversity.

Social Innovation Internship

The focus of this internship will be on the latest research related to gender lens investing, as well as company disclosures about how gender-related issues are considered and managed. Impax uses this information to inform our investment process and our engagement with companies.

• Gender talent pipeline development
• Gender pay equity
• Adoption of gender-related goals and targets
• Initiatives to prevent gender-related violence and discrimination
• Mapping/tracking gender-related impact
• Mapping and tracking gender-related legislation by country

Location: Portsmouth, NH

Lonza is a company of high-performing teams and of individual employees who are encouraged to act with an entrepreneurial spirit on behalf of customers. As a global organization, Lonza is focused on achieving the strategic vision of being the world's leading, integrated solutions provider for its pharma and consumer healthcare and nutrition customers all along the healthcare continuum.

The Corporate Citizenship team at Lonza Portsmouth has a mission statement that we believe defines who we are: We harness the passion of Portsmouth’s workforce to make positive impact on the seacoast community in the areas of public service, education, and environmental sustainability.

Social Innovation Internship

The goal is for the summer intern to help define and devise projects and beliefs that will drive behavior into the future at Lonza. For instance, in the past, the intern has helped set-up our community service initiative. Now that we all have a year more experience, we would like the intern to help us take our Corporate Citizenship team to the next level by focusing our efforts to help us achieve our vision statement (Corporate social responsibility is core to who we are. It is demonstrated by our actions and is recognized by others for the impact that we have on improving our communities and the surrounding environment.)

The intern will develop leadership skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills in this role as they will be the main driver for the projects they work on during the summer. The intern will have a large say in how Lonza move’s forward with the Corporate Citizenship team over the summer as the intern is fully dedicated to this initiative for the summer. The intern will be  expected to work independently, and prioritize activities based upon feedback gathered from internal stakeholders.  Therefore, what projects are tackled, and how they are tackled, is largely left to the intern.

The successful candidate will be flexible and proactive and work on 3 main projects

1. Help organize employee volunteer opportunities for New Hire Orientation
2. Work with various functional departments to set up future team-based volunteer opportunities.
3. Develop the Lonza Olympics further - A month long event (started in 2019) where points are tallied based on volunteering, alternative commuting, bringing in reusable utensils/mugs, exercise etc. Prizes are awarded to the winners.

Location: Portsmouth, NH