Community Partner: Impact Hub Baltimore Intern: Irene Bantigue Site Supervisor: Michelle Geiss
What is Impact Hub? Impact Hub is part innovation lab, part coworking space, part civic forum. Our members are a vibrant, diverse and growing community of innovators and entrepreneurs dedicated to driving positive change in Baltimore and beyond. We provide an inclusive, inspiring, and functional space that connects our members to the ideas, resources, and people they need to make tangible social impact. We also serve as a gathering place for the global movement towards stronger cities and a new economy.
Before joining Impact Hub, I remember telling my supervisor, Michelle, that one of my goals was to make at least three mutually beneficial relationships by the end of my internship. Thinking back, she probably found this funny to hear knowing that I was likely to surpass my goal within the first week of being in the space. If so, Michelle was 100 % correct, because this is exactly how my summer at Impact Hub Baltimore transpired!
I am lucky to have had endless opportunities to meet at least two new people every day because of how Impact Hub promotes connecting and collaborating with one another. One of my tasks this summer was to coordinate in-depth interviews with a sample of its community to translate into stories. However, I met and learned about so many more social changemakers than my pre-internship self could ever have imagined. At Impact Hub, something as simple as refilling coffee mugs can serve as a catalyst for greater insights on important ongoing work in Baltimore, and even launch new collaborations to scale meaningful impact across the city.
• Utilized Impact Hub Baltimore’ s past strategic plans, grant proposals, and organizational data to inform the creation of an impact report that details its progress over its first 2.5 years in operation
• Coordinated in-depth interviews with a sample of Impact Hub’ s 210 + member community to gather qualitative data for storytelling
• Collaborated with Impact Hub’ s core team and graphic designer to create a mutual vision for the impact report and conceive designs for the visual execution of the report’ s content
People also seem to realize their best selves at Impact Hub: members often shared with me that they are both more motivated and innovative in being part of its network. In this spirit, I witnessed firsthand how crucial it is to have a supportive community that champions the success of others, while selflessly sharing needed resources and encouragement in the process. Even when I doubted my abilities to create Impact Hub’ s first impact report, those around me always reminded me that my unique perspective and skills are important. I quickly discovered that this culture of selflessly uplifting others is a strong sentiment amongst Impact Hub’ s community, and nurturing work environment at-large.
Overall, this summer has been filled with unforgettable individuals and learnings. Being a transfer student, my academic career at Hopkins( much less Baltimore) is considerably shorter than the majority of my peers. Thanks to Impact Hub, my love for Baltimore has exponentially grown this summer, and I am almost certain I will be sticking around longer after graduating next year.
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