PROJECT SUMMARY

Main Street America (MSA) leads an inclusive, impact-driven movement dedicated to re-energizing and strengthening downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts through place-based economic development and community preservation. We work in collaboration with thousands of local partners and grassroots leaders across the nation who share our commitment to advancing shared prosperity, creating resilient economies, and improving quality of life.

Since its founding in 1980, the MSA network has helped to generate over $100 billion in local reinvestment, rehab 325,000 buildings, create 700,000 new jobs, and start 160,000 new businesses in over 2,000 communities. Main Street America is a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Currently, MSA directly serves about 1,300 local programs in a variety of locales across the U.S., both rural and urban. Having now amassed a wealth of data about the communities’ social, economic, and built characteristics, we are newly beginning work to identify and understand the diverse archetypes of Main Street communities and districts in our network. Our aims are to (1) understand challenges faced in different types of communities and districts, (2) consider potential adaptations to the ways we work with these different types of places, and (3) explore potential benefits that could be realized by connecting program subnetworks.

We are looking for a curious and critically-minded student who has interests in the older and historic built environment, diverse communities, data analysis, and research. The ideal Main Street America Archetype Intern is well organized, inspired to strengthen and support communities, and motivated to conduct research with a public purpose.

National Trust internships are temporary experiential learning opportunities with no expectation of employment at the conclusion of the internship.

For this internship, the National Trust is offering a stipend of $4,000 to help offset expenses. The period of the internship would be from approximately June 10 – August 2, for approximately 28 hours per week (some flexibility of end dates may be available).

DUTIES

• Work with the Chief Program Officer, Senior Director of Research, Research Manager, and select other MSA staff to develop a broad understanding of the Main Street America network

• Analyze data on Main Street communities and districts and propose typologies based on data clustering and on conversations with MSA staff

• Conduct outreach to Main Street coordinating programs and local program managers to add qualitative insights and Main Street imagery to the quantitative data analysis

• Help craft 3-5 archetype “briefs” for select Main Street typologies

• Work collaboratively with the Senior Director of Research and Research Manager to write up a blog post summarizing key insights from the archetype analysis and potential next steps for engaging the archetypes as subnetworks

• As interest and capacity allow, the intern may also contribute to other Main Street research efforts

EDUCATIONAL VALUE TO THE INTERN

The intern will gain experience under the mentorship of respected economic development and research professionals, in an educational setting at one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations focused on re-energizing and strengthening downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. The intern will also have the opportunity to participate in educational programming offered via the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s organization-wide internship program. Students may also be eligible for college or graduate school academic credit at the discretion of their institution.

Specifically, the intern will gain knowledge in the following areas:

• Place-based economic development, in both urban and rural locales

• Data analysis focused on communities’ social, economic, and built environment characteristics

• The intersections of historic preservation, economic development, and community development

• Applications of GIS software, survey tools, and geospatial data in a nonprofit setting

At the end of the project the intern will have produced a set of “archetype briefs” that incorporate quantitative data, qualitative insights from interviews and focus groups, and photos and other imagery from local Main Street organizations. They will have also crafted a blog post summarizing the results of their analysis, which can be added to their professional portfolio in support of their future career pursuits.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Interest in the built environment; historic preservation and building reuse; city planning and policy; and the relationship between urban design and human behavior

• Availability to work an average of 28 hours per week and 224 hours over the course of the summer

• Basic analytical and problem-solving skills, including issue identification and prioritization. Basic project-organization skills.

• Excellent attention to detail.

• Ability to collaborate and achieve results with supervision, including ability to interact professionally with key internal and external stakeholders as needed. Public contact and ability to work successfully in close proximity to others required.

• Strong organizational skills required, with ability to prioritize, multi-task efficiently, and meet deadlines in a timely fashion

• Ability to adapt and be flexible in a dynamic work environment. Ability to work effectively with frequent interruptions required. Able to handle frequently changing and/or unscheduled tasks with accuracy.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills. Friendly and professional demeanor on the phone and in writing, with ability to speak and write clearly in English.

• Ability to work effectively with culturally diverse colleagues; connections to or experience helping to engage culturally diverse audiences and partners a plus. Bi-lingual language skills (especially English/Spanish) a plus.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office products required, including Outlook, Word and Excel.

• Experience working with GIS software (especially open-source software such as QGIS, PostgreSQL, and PostGIS preferred) preferred.

• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment, maintaining productivity and communications to meet deadlines and goals, is required.

• Bachelor’s level studies (or equivalent years of experience) preferred. Studies or demonstrated interest in urban planning, architecture and urban design, public policy, public administration, sociology, geography, or historic preservation preferred.

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