Community Solutions Design Intern

Seeking a creative, energetic summer intern to help design unique rural community collaboration solutions and address local challenges through Bethel Strong – a unique community mutual aid and network building organization in Bethel, Vermont. 

The Community Solutions Design Intern will focus on understanding community needs and designing effective systems or creative solutions in areas like communications, public spaces and events, volunteer recruitment, access to information, accessibility, and community development, and building community connections and partnerships. 

The intern will work closely to connect the work and build collaboration with a cohort of UVM summer interns hosted at Bethel and other White River Valley organizations. It will also work to connect and support a range of Bethel and White River Valley organizations such as the Bethel Area Food Shelf,  White River Valley School, Bethel Public Library, Bethel Equity & Inclusion Committee, Trails Project, Bethel Council on the Arts, Bethel Revitalization Initiative, and White River Valley Herald.

About Bethel and Bethel Strong

Bethel is a small town with a lot going on – from trail and recreation development to arts and culture, placemaking and events to community and school collaborations. Like many rural communities, it's filled with committed organizations, town committees and engaged residents. These groups often face similar challenges, including recruiting and managing volunteers, communicating effectively about their work and impact, managing equipment and facilities, promoting programs and events, and fundraising. Too often, they lack capacity and easy systems to coordinate or share solutions, find resources they need, reach the public, and even share what they are doing. These organizations rely on committed volunteers who could do far more with cooperative systems to share information, skills and resources; connect with the public; and work together. 

Bethel Strong is committed to investigating creative ways to meet these
needs and offer a supportive framework to strengthen our community groups. We launched as a volunteer community aid group during the Covid-19 pandemic by a team of volunteer community organizers. Our mission was to help the community work together, connect people to resources and each other, and get help to those who need it.

Today, we maintain a website as a community resource for community and emergency information. We are ready to reactivate our mutual aid systems in times of emergency. We work closely with the town government, fire department, and other towns as needed. We now see a need to evolve our mission and become a more active resource for building connections and collaboration at all times – not just during disasters.  We aim to serve as a communications hub, umbrella, and platform to help solve local challenges and connect the people and organizations working to make Bethel, VT strong.

Community Solutions Design Intern

This intern will focus on creating innovative and cooperative design solutions/systems intended to enhance collaboration and strengthen the capabilities of various community groups, committees and organizations within Bethel and the White River Valley – and to start by prioritizing coordination and cooperation among the different summer intern projects and host organizations.
 

Specific intern projects and activities will be determined with community partners, but potential work may include:

• Community partner outreach and asset/needs assessment
• Collaboration with fellow UVM interns and host organizations to identify overlapping projects and opportunities to collaborate on coordinated work or solutions
• Design and pilots of experimental solutions and innovative systems to build community connections, stronger communications, partnerships, and durable systems for collaboration
  • Developing shared communication channels or newsletter
  • Launching or expanding a regular outdoor community gathering
  • Creating consistent templates for accessible and user-friendly manuals
  • Improving evaluation, tracking, and sharing impacts/stories
  • Integrating town branding, accessibility standards, and other guidelines into templates for signage, communications and outreach materials
  • Developing a shared lending library system and inventory for community equipment
  • Planning regular gatherings of community leaders to increase communication and information sharing

Top skills: 

• Strong written, oral, and interpersonal  communication skills
• Community outreach, organizing, event planning or coordination
• Project management or organization
• Systems thinking and community-centered design
• Comfort and general skills with graphic design, digital media, computers and technology

Potential skills:

• Meeting / group facilitation, speaking, presentation
• Website creation or web app/content work
• Digital / web-based research and reports
• Evaluation,  data collection, and impact storytelling
• Potential apps / tools: Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Squarespace, CRM systems, Adobe Creative Suite, social media platforms

This position is part of a cohort of 12 interns working with organizations that support the White River Valley Community Schools. Funded by the UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, free housing for interns will be provided at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, VT. Interns will participate in a week-long community orientation, weekly intern cohort workshops for professional development, networking, and reflection and a
final sharing event on Monday, August 4, 5:30-7 pm.
 

Questions about the cohort? Contact UVM Internship Coordinator kristen.andrews@uvm.edu