Proof Happens in the Field: Lessons from 2026 PIN Host Site Summer Tour

Lessons from 2026 PSI Host Site Summer Tour

July 23, 2026, 8:07am EDT

How do you know whether innovation is actually taking root?

You leave the conference room, get out into the community, and ask the people doing the work.

Over the past five weeks, PIN’s Impact Team completed 31 site visits—a combination of in-person visits and virtual check-ins with project leaders and PSI Summer Interns across Georgia and the Southeast. From Atlanta to Savannah, Jackson, Mississippi to Danville, Virginia, each conversation offered a window into how communities build the partnerships and capacity that keep innovation moving forward.

For PIN, our Host Site Summer Tour is about understanding what’s working, identifying where additional support is needed, and learning alongside the organizations and students putting innovation into practice every day.

Every visit begins with three simple questions:

How are you feeling about your internship experience so far?
Tell us about the work you’re doing and what you’ve learned.
Is there anything PIN can do to better support you?

The questions are intentionally simple, designed to spark meaningful conversations.

Seeing the Work Up Close

Host Site Summer Tour at Coda with Achieve Atlanta

One of the highlights of this Host Site Summer Tour began at Georgia Tech’s Coda Building, where PIN hosted lunch with Achieve Atlanta and fourteen Achieve Atlanta Scholars participating in the PSI Summer Internship Program.

From there, the team visited three host organizations—the Atlanta Regional Commission, Georgia Tech’s Autonomous and Connected Transportation Lab, and ECO Action—to see firsthand how students are contributing to projects focused on transportation, sustainability, and regional planning.

Meanwhile, Clarence Anthony, Jr. spent time at the CDC Foundation, meeting with interns working across four separate public health initiatives. KeAndrea Rivers welcomed interns to the Emerging Innovators office for a behind-the-scenes visit, while virtual check-ins connected the team with more than twenty additional host organizations across sixteen cities.

Although every project is different, similar themes surfaced again and again.

Organizations consistently described the value of having additional capacity to move important work forward. Interns talked about gaining responsibility, confidence, and a deeper understanding of how innovation happens outside the classroom.

Host Site Summer Tour at Coda with Achieve Atlanta

What We Heard Again and Again

By the end of 31 site visits, a few patterns had become impossible to ignore.

The first was that every organization, regardless of size or mission, needed more capacity than they had. Whether it was a regional planning agency analyzing new data, a nonprofit trying to measure program outcomes, or a research lab moving a technical project forward, the challenge was having enough people to turn those ideas into action.

The second was how quickly interns moved beyond observation. Host organizations weren’t talking about “our intern.” They were talking about their team. Students were leading meetings, building dashboards, conducting research, interviewing stakeholders, and solving problems that otherwise might have waited until next quarter or next year.

Finally, we were reminded that innovation looks different in every community.

In one place, it meant helping entrepreneurs access better support. In another, it meant improving public health systems through data. Somewhere else, it meant applying AI to advanced manufacturing or helping conservation efforts engage local communities.

The common thread is the willingness of organizations to invest in emerging talent and work together across disciplines to solve problems that matter.

That’s the pattern we hope people see. Not 31 successful site visits.

Thirty-one examples of what becomes possible when communities have the people and partnerships to keep moving forward.