Temple students spent the summer interning with organizations across Philadelphia, gaining hands-on experience while building connections and making a meaningful impact on local communities throughout the city. 

Over the summer, Temple students took what they learned in the classroom into communities across Philadelphia. At internships with organizations throughout the city, they put community engagement into action by building connections and contributing to places that make the city thrive.

Get to know four Owls who made a meaningful impact in the community as interns during the summer of 2026.  

Jared Macario
School/college: College of Liberal Arts
Major/class year: BA, Political Science and Global Studies, Class of 2027
Hometown: Hamilton, New Jersey
Internship title: Legal Intern
Internship company: Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation

Jared Macario, a political science and global studies major, completed an internship at the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), a public-private economic development agency for the City of Philadelphia that leverages its financial and real estate services, networks and other resources to drive economic growth in every corner of Philadelphia. She applied for PIDC’s internship scholarship after a friend who works at the agency told her about the opportunity.

In Macario’s internship role, she assisted PIDC attorneys with legal research, such as filing and storing documents to support the agency’s economic development efforts. Her days also included industry and small-business tours of PIDC’s clients, seeing firsthand how the agency supports businesses across Philadelphia, from institutions like the Eastern State Penitentiary and Reading Terminal Market to small businesses like Milk Jawn and Triple Bottom Brewing.

She sat in on a meeting with one of PIDC’s clients, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, which gave her a behind-the-scenes look at the museum’s plans and how PIDC plays a role in helping make their vision possible.

“Learning about the day-to-day tasks in PIDC’s legal department has been a stronger pillar in my future career development,” said Macario. “Nicole Stokes, one of the attorneys that I worked with, allowed me to see the different parts of the legal field, like being an attorney in economic development and the business side of it. My fascination for economic development just kept growing.”  

Taking courses like Philadelphia Arts & Culture and Politics of Poverty at Temple helped strengthen her understanding of the communities and issues she encountered during her work at PIDC. An issue that stood out to Macario during her internship was how housing affordability affects different communities across Philadelphia. She did brief work on Opportunity Zone research, which gave her exposure to how investment decisions are made and how they can influence a neighborhood’s development.  

“The internship drew me closer to the city of Philadelphia. With Temple being centered in North Philly, I was able to actually visit small businesses and meet the real people behind them, which really humanized things for me,” said Macario. “In the future, I hope to become an economic development attorney.”

Kiran Thomman
School/college: College of Liberal Arts
Major/class year: BA, Geography and Urban Studies, Class of 2027
Hometown: Princeton, New Jersey
Internship title: Clean Energy Workforce Intern

As a clean energy workforce intern with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, Kiran Thomman spent much of her time researching the city’s clean energy workforce, examining trade associations, building databases and compiling reports on her findings.

She was connected to the internship through Temple’s Climate Justice Field School, an internship-matching program directed by Kimberly Thomas, associate professor of human-environment geography. The program pairs Temple students with organizations working in climate justice and also provides financial and professional support for interns to work in that space.

Taking geographic information systems (GIS) classes at Temple prepared Thomman for the research she conducted during her internship by teaching her to analyze spatial data and identify trends across different landscapes, such as mapping transportation routes and tracking deer to examining the effects of wildfires.

During her internship, she compiled two reports examining Philadelphia’s clean energy workforce entrepreneurship ecosystem. Her research filled an important information gap that can help advance sustainability efforts across the city—work that the division’s employees had not previously had the capacity to explore.

Thomman identified weaknesses in supports and structures of the clean energy workforce, which can address the goals of integrating clean energy tech, such as heat pumps and solar panels, that could be integrated into housing to improve sustainability across the city.  

“One thing that stood out in my internship experience was learning firsthand how much research and planning it takes to develop and integrate certain programs and how labor-intensive it is to work as a public servant.” said Thomman. “The experience helped prepare me for the future work I hope to do in environmental planning and sustainability.”

After Temple, she is interested in pursuing a career in planning and GIS before going to law school to practice environmental law. 

Jonah Hudson
School/college: College of Liberal Arts
Major/class year: BA, Geography and Urban Studies, Class of 2026
Hometown: North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Internship title: Community Engagement Intern
Internship company: HACE CDC and HERE 4 Climate Justice

Jonah Hudson, a geography and urban studies major at Temple, also completed an internship through the university’s Climate Justice Field School apprenticeship program. During his internship, he primarily worked with nonprofit HACE CDC, a community development organization focused on neighborhood development and revitalization in Eastern North Philadelphia.

His day-to-day work focused on mapping vacant lots in the neighborhoods that HACE serves, including Fairhill, Hunting Park and Allegheny. He helped identify areas that needed programming and structural improvements, such as community gardens, tree planting, and expanded access to parks and other green spaces.

One of his presentation projects involved analyzing spreadsheets of HACE’s inventory data to create a visualization map of vacant lots using different datasets from the city’s website and data that HACE had acquired during development and engagement projects over the years. He valued engaging with different teams in the organization to gather information for the project. He also valued the opportunity to apply the data analysis and GIS technical skills he developed in his Temple classes, which enabled him to create the neighborhood needs maps for HACE.

“I was proud that the maps I worked on could support HACE’s future development ideas and proposals for vacant lots in Hunting Park through their work at the CDC and as a neighborhood advisory committee,” said Hudson. “HACE has a greater jurisdiction and a direct say in the Hunting Park’s area development, so seeing how my project contributed to that work made me especially proud and excited.”

Hudson also contributed to HERE 4 Climate Justice, a coalition that advocates for safe, healthy, affordable and fossil-free housing for everyone in Philadelphia.

With HERE 4 Climate Justice, he worked on different projects, including with Community Legal Services (CLS), which provides legal advice and support for low-income Philadelphians. He interviewed community members who have worked with CLS to learn about their experiences with home repair programs such as Build to Last and Basic Systems Home Repair, using their testimony to advocate for increased funding for these city programs.

Looking ahead, Hudson hopes to pursue a career as a city planner, using data and community input to help create better opportunities for the people and neighborhoods he serves.

Bharati Sahani
School/college: Fox School of Business
Major/class year: Master’s in Business Analytics; Class of 2027
Hometown: Balapar, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Internship title: Business Analytics Intern
Internship company: City of Philadelphia

Bharati Sahani worked as a business analytics intern in Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Office of Philly Stat 360, a team that works with city departments to improve delivery and performance of city services and make data more accessible to Philadelphia residents.

In Sahani’s role, she worked with datasets from city departments, analyzing and applying data to help city professionals make more informed decisions and achieve outcomes that better serve the community. Through meetings with city leaders, she gained a better understanding of their programs, identified areas where more support was needed and learned about the timelines for reaching key milestones.

Her coursework at Temple included training in data visualization software such as Tableau, which was valuable in preparing her for the internship. She applied that training to clean and analyze raw data that she presented through Philly Stat 360’s Power BI dashboards and ultimately to the office’s directors and First Deputy.

At Philly Stat 360, she learned how to create story maps using ArcGIS, a GIS that helps understand trends across the city. The map visualizations highlight specific areas where the city had invested in or supported businesses, such as installing security cameras to improve public safety.  

Beyond creating these visualizations, Sahani had the opportunity to help bring this information directly to Philadelphia communities. In Kensington, she engaged with residents, helping them understand how to access and navigate valuable information and resources through Philly Stat 360 and other city department websites.

She concluded the internship by working on a group capstone project focused on Mayor Parker’s executive order to end street homelessness. Her team analyzed Philadelphia’s progress toward the goal and compared its approach with other cities to understand what success could look like, identifying the best practices and opportunities for improvement, which they presented to department leadership. For example, the team examined Houston’s live public-facing homelessness dashboard, which allows residents to view available shelter beds, placement information and services offered at different locations.  

“The internship is a reminder that with Temple’s location in the heart of Philadelphia it gives students direct access to the city’s organizations and opportunities,” said Sahani. “It helps students build connections and gain professional experience that can increase their chances of settling into careers that align with their interests after graduation.”