Social Impact Fellows

Through UB's Social Impact Fellows program, students from the School of Management and School of Social Work spend the summer learning about and creating social innovation in Western New York. Presented in collaboration with the Blackstone LaunchPad at UB, the program pairs action-oriented MBA and Master of Social Work students together for an internship at a local mission-driven organization, where they work together to address pressing social issues and make an impact on our community.

The program has received philanthropic support from the Charles D. and Mary A. Bauer Family Foundation, the School of Management Alumni Association, the UB President’s Circle and several generous alumni and friends of the university.

In 2018, the second year of the program, 22 fellows worked with their partner organizations to help them improve services, enhance business performance and address gaps to better serve and strengthen their communities. New this year, three teams included a graduate student researcher from the UB College of Arts and Sciences, who provided additional context to help ensure their solution was sustainable. 

The Social Impact Fellows program prepares students to address societal issues using principles of entrepreneurship and sustainable social innovation.

• During the eight-week summer internship, one fellow from the School of Social Work and one from the School of Management work together with a mission-driven organization to address a systemic social issue troubling our region.
• At each site, the fellows learn about issues the organization tackles and meet with stakeholders who are working on or affected by these problems. Using this information and the entrepreneurial principles they learn, the fellows create a solution to address these issues.
  
• During the program, fellows conduct their internship Monday through Thursday.
  
• On Fridays, they return to campus for sessions with management and social work faculty, who collaborate to teach fellows how to identify, define and generate solutions for social challenges.
  
• Students also attend forums with guest speakers on economic development and social justice issues, share their internship experiences with one another in facilitated group discussions, and visit social enterprises throughout Buffalo. 
  

Across the globe, social innovation is rapidly growing, as companies, nonprofits and governments partner to bring together their skills and perspectives to tackle sweeping challenges. That's the spirit that guides the Social Impact Fellows program — and provides great benefits for each stakeholder.

• Students gain skills and experience in strategic planning, creative problem-solving, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship (the ability to innovate within an organization), making them more marketable and competitive in the job market. Additionally, students receive compensation for tuition and fees with a modest stipend.
• Through their internship and other experiences, fellows learn about and find creative ways to address such social issues as homelessness, gender equity, food waste and health care, thereby making an impact on the community.
• The program culminates with the Pitch for a Cause competition, during which fellows present their solutions and compete for funding to help their partner organizations continue to implement their ideas.
• After working closely with peers in another discipline, students gained an appreciation for the background and skills their counterparts from management or social work bring. Many told us the program inspired them to expand their career goals to include nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship.