Rêve Academy Interns Hired By Appetite For Change

One of the advantages of being located in North Minneapolis is our vibrant community of entrepreneurs who are working hard to revitalize our West Broadway neighborhood. We have many fantastic neighbors, such as Appetite For Change (AFC), a community-led organization that strengthens families, creates economic prosperity, and encourages healthy living through multiple social enterprises.

One of the many passions of AFC’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Michelle Horovitz is education, and in the summer of 2015 she was looking for an opportunity for her staff and Rêve Academy interns to work together. She hired RêveDev, Rêve Academy’s student-run marketing agency, to advance the marketing efforts of AFC’s shared kitchen social enterprise, Kindred Kitchen. The assignment included a website refresh and a redesign of existing marketing collateral. More specifically, Rêve Academy’s nine StepUp AchieveMpls interns were tasked with updating the brand identity, developing new brochures, postcards and business cards, and redesigning the company’s website based on specs provided by The Nerdery, a digital agency that lead AFC’s global website relaunch.

To prepare them for the task and to complement their digital curriculum at Rêve Academy, interns participated in a series of workshops with two branding professionals, learning about what’s involved in creating a brand and how to stay truthful to its vision. Based on their new skills, interns then conducted an audit of the Kindred Kitchen brand, and established updated brand guidelines.

Next, students joined one of two teams: one working under senior intern Michael Arnold to redesign the website, and the other working under senior intern Avery Weiler to develop Kindred Kitchen’s graphic identity and marketing collateral. Interns were asked to apply for the team that they were interested in with a cover letter and resume, and senior interns then gave feedback as they made their selection.

To deliver the project on scope and on time, interns took turns leading business meetings each week. Thus, each intern had an opportunity to build leadership skills by designing and leading a team building activity, setting priorities for the day’s work, and developing and enforcing deadlines and project milestones.

Throughout the creative process, Rêve interns met with their client to present their progress, collect feedback and iterate. After ten weeks of intense work, deliverables were presented to AFC on time, on budget and on scope. Watch Michelle’s testimonial:

 

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Rêve Academy helps students dream with direction by providing pathways to digital careers. We create marketable talent by combining immersive coursework with real-world experience.