One Mission, Five Regions: What a National Nonprofit Taught Me About Local Flexibility and Consistency

This post is written by current student Bam Purcell.

Bam Purcell is a current MPA student in the on-campus format.  Originally from Clayton, North Carolina, Bam completed her undergraduate degree in Classical Studies from Wake Forest University.  Before the MPA, Bam worked in affordable housing programs at the federal level. She is currently exploring her interests in the nonprofit sector and is completing her Professional Work Experience with Summer Search.

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This summer, I’m excited to intern with Summer Search as part of my Professional Work Experience (PWE) in the UNC MPA program. It is a national youth development nonprofit that empowers high school students from under-resourced communities. It provides long-term, fully-funded mentoring, transformative summer trips, and post-high school career support.

I’m on the national program team supporting monitoring, evaluation, and data efforts across Summer Search’s five-region network: Bay Area, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Each region has its own needs, challenges, and local ecosystem, but the organization is united by a shared goal of maintaining high standards of program delivery and equitably advancing its mission across every site.

That tension between local flexibility and national consistency is the kind of organizational complexity we often discuss in the MPA program, and it’s been rewarding to apply my learning and see this complexity in a real program context. I’ve found myself applying three concepts: creating a common line of sight so goals feel shared, communicating clearly to build trust and transparency, and empowering staff to shape a culture that’s both supportive and accountable.

One of my first deliverables has been writing a monthly newsletter for all staff. It celebrates wins and highlights hard work across the five regions, while also keeping program goals and metrics visible and showing staff where the organization stands. The newsletter is a direct application of clear, consistent communication that helps turn five regional teams into one aligned network.

As the summer continues, I can’t wait to keep learning what it takes to manage programs across sites with different needs and resources, and how a national team balances that local specificity with the drive to streamline for quality and equity. I’m thrilled to be putting MPA concepts to work in a real organization, and grateful to the Summer Search team for welcoming me in and trusting me with meaningful work from day one.

Although the internship is remote, it has been such a joy to have in-person meetings with my manager, Alex Bartz, Director of Program Implementation. Attached is a picture of us on my first day of the internship.