The Regional Internship Program (RIP) was built to keep young, talented people in the South Bend – Elkhart region. Since it launched in 2020, the program has placed approximately 200 interns across the five-county region, and a look back at its first five years shows it’s working. Graduates who take part in RIP are increasingly choosing to start their careers here.

The program matches students seeking internships with regional employers, who gain access to a continually updated list of prospective interns. Qualifying organizations can also receive a partial wage reimbursement once the internship is complete.

At Barletta Boats, the program has paid off as both a talent-development and business tool. Over the past two years, the company has hosted four interns across Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Supply Chain, and Business Informatics & Data Analytics, drawing students from Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Minnesota.

“The program provides businesses with a unique opportunity to access emerging talent while simultaneously advancing key initiatives within the organization,” said Chad Hartzell, Vice President of Human Resources at Barletta Boats. “Interns can take ownership of projects that internal teams may not have the capacity to prioritize, delivering immediate value. At the same time, it creates a low-risk, high-impact pipeline for identifying and developing future full-time employees. At Barletta, this has already proven successful, with one intern transitioning into a full-time role post-graduation.”

Interns also take part in professional development, networking, and social events together, including South Bend Cubs games, running the East Race Waterway, and visiting the Studebaker Museum.

The Regional Partnership analyzed outcomes for every intern who took part in the program between 2020 and 2025, using LinkedIn data to track post-graduate employment and location. The region is retaining more of that talent each year, and the data points to one clear driver: interns who land their first job in the region overwhelmingly stay in the region. Being from the area helps too. Local students stay at a higher rate than those from outside it.

Class standing matters as well. Interns who take part during their senior year are retained at 73 percent. And while Purdue University sends the highest overall volume of participants, the University of Notre Dame produces the largest share of retained interns, followed closely by IUSB, making both high-priority partners for deepening recruitment and employer connections going forward.

“We designed this program to turn internships into careers, and interns into long-term residents,” said Lauren Thomas, Director of Talent Initiatives. “The results bear that out. Retention rates have climbed steadily since the program launched, and the evidence is clear that landing a first job locally is the single strongest predictor of whether someone puts down roots here. That’s why deepening our relationships with regional employers isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s central to everything we’re trying to accomplish.”

Learn more about the Regional Internship Program at southbendelkhart.org/internship-program.

Read more in the 2025 Annual Report

This story appears in the South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership’s 2025 Annual Report. Read the full 2025 Annual Report for more on the Partnership’s work and the region.