Students, local governments benefit from internship partnership with MORPC

A summer internship collaboration between Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is gaining popularity as a win-win experience for both the students involved and the local governments where they work.

That assessment from interns and host governments during this summer’s cycle reflects an ongoing appreciation for the program, which had more applicants than could be accommodated again this year, according to MORPC Intern Program Coordinator Alli Mancz, ‘21.

The 2026 program, which included students from nine universities, placed 42 interns this summer after more than 1,000 submitted applications, she said. That total is up from approximately 300 in 2024 and 750 last year.

“It's been overwhelmingly positive feedback from students. You especially hear it in their final presentations, them having developed a greater appreciation for public service,” Mancz said. “Some may finish the summer not wanting to go into the public sector, but they understand it more. Others leave the program seeing it as a real career option that they hadn't considered before. That takeaway really stood out to me this year.”

MORPC Membership Services Officer Eileen Leuby said feedback from host governments also reflects the popularity of the program.

“When I approach a community about hosting an intern, it's largely to help provide some local talent to help them in some projects, very specific projects they can accomplish in a 14-week time frame,” Leuby said. “So it's a direct dollar-for-dollar benefit for that community from the Voinovich program, but the benefit is so much more than that. They're building a talent pool of students that we want to go into public service, and we especially like when they want to work in Appalachia.”

That happened last year when a student who interned at a MORPC host landed her desired job at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio in Nelsonville and ended up with a job there, Leuby said.

Mancz, who holds undergraduate degrees in English and Environmental Studies from OHIO, said the MORPC program is designed to provide college students with the opportunity to gain practical work experience.

“It's becoming tougher and tougher to find a job, so one way they can have a leg up on the competition is by already having an internship experience, ideally in their relevant field of study or what they want to go into next,” she said. “But as we always say with internships—whether or not you're sure about your ideal job, giving it a try before you're in the real-world workforce is a great idea.”

OHIO students in the internship program also have the opportunity to participate in supplemental events in addition to their work at their host community. These events allow them to create a community and network with peers, which can often lead to future jobs.

“They're able to create these kinds of connections through additional activities, as well as the intern cohort’s required biweekly virtual meetings. Beyond that, I think the mentorship aspect provided by our MORPC staff is invaluable to young professionals because you can reach out to your mentor and still connect with them after the summer. Mentorship doesn’t end in August—the hope is that these interns have them as a resource and a reference moving forward in their careers,” Mancz said.

Voinovich students laud their internship experiences

This summer, four students were sponsored by the Voinovich School:

• Adetola Fajembola is wrapping up a Master in Communication and Development Studies with plans to later pursue a Master in Environmental Studies degree from OHIO. She was hosted this summer by the City of Chillicothe.
• Aoife McLaughlin is a current Honors Tutorial College student who plans to graduate in the spring with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, a minor in Political Science and Urban Planning, and a certificate in Law, Justice, and Culture. She worked as an intern for the Perry County Commissioners Office.
• Shiwani Shrestha, an M.S. in Geography student expected to graduate in the summer of 2027, worked with the City of Logan's Code Enforcement team. 
• Sophia Kuhar, who plans to graduate next spring from the Honors Tutorial College with a B.S. in Geography: Urban Planning and Sustainability and certificates in GIS, Law, Justice and Culture, and Wealth and Poverty, was hosted by the City of Circleville.

A graduate school student from Nigeria, Fajembola joined the Chillicothe team as a communications intern but ended up gaining experience doing other tasks as well, she said

“It was a life-changing experience for me,” Fajembola said.

One of the most interesting things she did for the city was an eight-part video series on city projects, Fajembola said. Along with other communications-related work, she also assisted in policy research and grant-writing, which is a skill that aligns with her goal of working with a nonprofit after graduation.

“Even though I was doing work for the city, I was also learning skills that I can use now and in the future,” she said.

Aside from learning from her assignments, Fajembola said that working for the city gave her an unexpected, new appreciation of public service. In one instance, she recalled seeing a distraught resident come into the city offices and ask to see the mayor, who obliged and was able to address the concerns.

In another case, a resident came into the office with a question and one of the staff members was able to immediately get an answer after going to another office. The resident, she said, “was very surprised to get the information he wanted because he thought it was going to take a few days.”

“Just observing a lot of this was very inspiring to me to see that public service … was about meeting people’s needs in the community and that’s something I will take with me,” she said.

Fajembola said MORPC helped considerably throughout the process, and she stayed in close contact with her mentor Ralonda Hampton, the organization’s senior director of communications and engagement.

Perry County hosted McLaughlin, a Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar who serves as vice president of the university’s Habitat for Humanity chapter. McLaughlin said she applied for the MORPC internship program because it aligned with her career goals.

“I definitely know I want to work in the public sector post-grad, whether that’s serving constituents or working for a nonprofit or working for the government in a policy analysis position. So I was very excited about this local government internship,” she said. The Strongsville native plans to eventually seek a law degree.

“I took on a wide variety of roles. What I was surprised about going into this internship is how many caps rural governments have to wear because there’s only a few people working in the administration,” she said.

During her internship, McLaughlin used GIS to map Airbnb locations for a transient lodging tax program, helped with the county’s efforts to get the New Lexington Opera House on the National Register of Historic Places, shadowed the public health department and worked on an intersection safety traffic study.

The program’s orientation gave her a chance to meet other interns and learn about their diverse interests.

“People come from so many colleges and backgrounds, so it was cool hearing about their local government internships and what they wanted to do in the future," she  said. "Everyone in the program was intelligent and it was an honor to be part of a cohort that was so sophisticated.”

McLaughlin said working at Perry County was an eye opener in that what she observed ran counter to the “deficit-based lens” some media deploy in portraying rural America.

“The people in those communities are so much more progressive and engaged, and I think that was a huge takeaway being on the ground and working there,” she said.

Host governments welcome help, applaud MORPC internship program

Comments from government officials who hosted interns this summer echo past successes under the MORPC program.

“The City of Chillicothe has been part of the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service and MORPC internship partnership since the program began, and it continues to be a tremendous investment for our community,” Mayor Luke Feeney said. “Each summer, we are able to give students meaningful, real-world experience in local government while also adding talented people who help us improve the work we do for our residents.”

Feeney said Fajemobola “helped with social media strategy, video production, grant applications, research, drafting press releases, and a wide range of other projects. She brought additional energy and capacity to our team while gaining firsthand experience in public service.”

“Programs like this help us serve our community today while also building a talent pool for the next generation of public service professionals,” the mayor added.

Joe Posey, chief code official for the City of Logan, said the city has benefitted from the “high quality of work” delivered by the Voinovich School’s summer interns.

For example, he said Shiwani Shrestha, the city’s intern, “successfully brought together property condition data with information involving vacancy, crime, code enforcement activity, rental housing, and fire and emergency service demand. She used that information not simply to identify problems, but to identify patterns and develop practical, data-driven recommendations that the City can use to guide future policy and resource decisions.”

“Perhaps most impressive was Shiwani’s ability to recognize that the greatest opportunity for the City may not be simply responding to properties after they have reached severe deterioration but identifying and intervening with properties that are beginning to decline before they become the next generation of vacant, abandoned, or severely deteriorated properties,” Posey added. “That represents exactly what we hoped this project would ultimately accomplish: transforming raw information into a tool that can help the City become more proactive rather than simply reactive.”

More information about the Local Government Summer Internship Program and how students can apply starting in early December is available on the MORPC website.