‘Summer in the City’ Invites Interns and New Hires to Experience Toledo

Jeff Schaaf, Toledo Region Brand Manager, has been working closely with EPIC Toledo and other Toledo organizations to create an experience similar to what other cities have been doing for years.  “Summer in the City is designed to help interns and new employees build networks and show them what life would be like if they called Toledo their hometown. The program consists of 4 components: The Experience, Let’s Do Lunch, EPIC Matchups, and The Boomerang Party.” he says.

Summer in the City: The Experience
Summer in the City is a 10 week experience (late May- mid August) that provides interns with social opportunities to explore the lifestyle and vibe of the Toledo Region. At each event, participants will have the opportunity to network with their peers, young professionals, community leaders and Chamber Board members while being exposed to unique Toledo events. Participants will receive a MENU of things to do in the region over the 10 week period.  Each participant will receive the Toledo Region electronic newsletter to keep them informed after the internship has completed.  Each participant will receive a t-shirt and lanyard/name tag and is encouraged to wear it at each event.

Summer in the City: Let’s Do Lunch Series
The Let’s Do Lunch series provides the chance for interns to network with employees, tour facilities, and learn about the industries and the economy of the Toledo Region.  Each Friday for 10 weeks, a company will host and provide lunch for interns.  Up to 20 interns will be selected to participate each week. Interns will sign up via ToledoChamber.com for each lunch.

Summer in the City: EPIC Matchups
EPIC Toledo’s goals include attracting and retaining talent of young professionals to the Toledo Region.  EPIC members are young professionals in the community who have chosen to live and work here and are passionate about others choosing the same.  For this reason, EPIC members are natural mentors for the Summer in the City interns and will help them throughout the summer with any questions they may have about living and working in the Toledo Region.  Interns will be grouped with one EPIC Toledo member serving as the mentor for the group.  The groups will be announced at the beginning of the summer and each group will have the opportunity to meet up, get to know each other and most of all, explore and learn more about life and work in the Toledo Region from the EPIC Toledo member.  EPIC mentors will be made up of current and past EPIC Toledo Advisory Council members.  The groups will also give the interns the opportunity to meet other interns in the Toledo Region for the summer who are working for different companies.

Summer in the City: The Boomerang Party
After a fun-filled, educational summer experience, interns will be ready to head back for another year at college.  To reinforce the connections and experiences they had over the course of the previous 10 weeks, there will be a farewell BOOMERANG party to send them off in the hopes they will return.  This party will take place the first week of August. This will be the final opportunity to wish the interns well, promote the Toledo Region, and encourage them to “boomerang” back. The party will include photos and reminders of the places and people they encountered during the summer.

Companies wishing to participate in the program can learn more at http://www.toledochamber.com/region/summer_in_the_city.aspx