DURHAM, N.H. - University of New Hampshire students spending the summer interning at mission-driven businesses and nonprofit organizations as part of the Carsey Institute's Center on Social Innovation and Finance summer programs will highlight their experiences at the Social Innovation Showcase Wednesday, July 31, 2013.

The event will be held at Holloway Commons, Piscataqua Room from 10 a.m. to noon. The event will include student presentations and an open discussion about increasing UNH's focus on "triple bottom line" careers that take into consideration economic, social, and environmental impacts. It is free and open to the public but registration is requested. Last year's event attracted more than 100 people from business, nonprofits, government, and higher education. 

Now in its third year, the Carsey Social Innovation Internship matches UNH students with hand-picked partners that represent a range of sectors, from community development to sustainable investing, from local food to plastics recycling. In addition to their internship, students visit other host organizations and receive hands-on learning about how these organizations "harness the market" to solve social or environmental problems.

This year, 11 students are participating in the program. The UNH partners are Coastal Enterprise, Inc., Dare Mighty Things, New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection, Pax World Management, PLAN: The Post-Landfill Action Network, Poly Recovery, Portsmouth Historical Society, ROC USA, Timberland, UNH Foundation, and Veris Wealth Partners.

Senior Rebecca White of Pepperell, Mass., is interning with Veris Wealth Partners, a national sustainable wealth management firm in Portsmouth that aligns family and foundation financial objectives with their mission and values. She says the internship has allowed her to expand her knowledge of sustainability and social change, and learn how to apply that in a business setting.

"The internship has really helped me to bridge the gap between my knowledge of social and environmental problems, and the market-based solutions we can use to solve those issues. I have always been involved in philanthropy, but I've learned that business may be an even more powerful force for doing good on a broad scale," White says.

Senior Shannon Langtry of Londonderry is working this summer as an associate analyst intern at Dare Mighty Things in Portsmouth. Dare Mighty Things is a management consulting firm for large-scale programs that affect vulnerable populations. This summer, she is writing a training curriculum for the National Guard Youth Challenge Program that helps youth between the ages of 16 and 18 that have dropped out of school reclaim their lives.

"I knew the experience would be exciting, but I did not realize how empowered I would feel by having a real impact. I was surprised to find that after writing my first block of curriculum, I felt as if my work had a direct influence on helping the youth in these programs," Langtry says.

" White says the focus on the triple bottom line - planets, people, and profits - is important because of the power influence of money. "With so much influence, money can create a world of bad, or a world of good. It's amazing how much business and finance can positively impact a range of stakeholders -- not just shareholders -- when it's directed in a positive way," she says.

The work of the social innovation interns does not conclude with the end of the summer internship, according to Yusi Turell, executive director of Center on Social Innovation and Finance.

"After a transformative summer, interns return to campus motivated and equipped to support their peers toward careers that consider planet, people, and profits. Through the Net Impact student organization, our 2012 interns organized the Careers with Impact job fair with Paul College and NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, worked constructively with the UNH Foundation to research trends and performance in sustainable investing, and launched and led a sustainable investing sector of the Atkins Investment Group," she says. 

To register for the Carsey Social Innovation Showcase or for additional information about the Center on Social Innovation and Finance, visit http://carseyinstitute.unh.edu/csif/social-innovation-internship.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.

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