ABOUT DATAHAVEN AND DATAHAVEN YOUTH ACTION COUNCIL

DataHaven is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that directly supports community, academic, government, health care, and institutional organizations throughout Connecticut by collecting, interpreting, and sharing high-quality public information. As an organization with a 30-year history of public service, DataHaven is also a formal affiliate of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a collaborative national effort by the Urban Institute and local partners to further the development and use of neighborhood information systems in local policymaking and community building.

The DataHaven Youth Action Council (DHYAC) is the youth action board for DataHaven. DHYAC’s mission is to educate and integrate youth perspectives into DataHaven’s publications with the overarching goal of increasing data accessibility, uplifting youth voices, and preparing youth leaders in the data sector.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROLE

Three (3) Student Facilitators will help lead the DHYAC, a youth-led group of young people across Connecticut who are interested in data and making it accessible to communities and enriching ways. Ideal candidates will have excellent professionalism as well as the ability to motivate a group and connect with diverse students. Candidates should have a strong interest in data collection/analysis/communication and DHYAC’s mission statement.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide leadership, ensuring that all initiatives, projects, and activities are aligned with the DHYAC’s mission and objectives;
• Facilitate meetings;
• Set meeting agendas;
• Ensure/track the progress of student projects;
• Administrative duties (sending calendar invites, maintaining minute meetings and attendance records, and sending emails);
• Serve as a liaison between DataHaven and DHYAC.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Currently residing in Connecticut, with reliable transportation to and from New Haven;
• Currently a rising high school sophomore to rising high school senior;
• Able to lead bi-weekly (sometimes monthly) in-person meetings in New Haven, from the first week of October 2026 to the end of May 2027;
• Ability to collaborate with your co-facilitator and DataHaven staff to guide the direction of the DHYAC;
• Enthusiasm for the DHYAC objectives.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience leading and organizing diverse groups of high school students;
• Experience coaching and/or tutoring students;
• Previous work with community-based organizations in Connecticut and an understanding of the diverse communities that reside in these areas;
• Demonstrated interest and knowledge of methods used to analyze, visualize, or describe existing datasets in ways that make them more useful to the general public.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND BENFITS

• This is a temporary position (August 2026–May 2027);
• Expected to dedicate 3-5 hours per week to role-related activities;
• A stipend will be provided, which is calculated based on expected time contribution and transportation-related expenses.

TO APPLY

Please submit your resume and cover letter to youthactioncouncil@ctdatahaven.org with the subject line “DHYAC Student Facilitator Application.” The cover letter should explain your interest in the role and describe your relevant experience, as well as potential availability for bi-weekly meetings throughout the year. This role will be open until filled, but for best consideration, please apply by 11:00pm on Friday, July 24th, 2026. Due to our small staff size, we are unable to respond to inquiries about this role, and phone calls will not be accepted.

DataHaven works with several intern research assistants and fellows each year. Over the past 10 years, DataHaven has hosted interns with fellowships and/or external funding from many of the region’s leading undergraduate and graduate programs, including those at Brown University, Connecticut College, Dartmouth College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Middlebury College, Oberlin College, Southern Connecticut State University, UAlbany, UConn, Wesleyan University, Williams College, and Yale University. We have also hosted several students with funding through the Connecticut Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP), a CT Department of Public Health (CT DPH) career pathway program.

DataHaven is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that directly supports hundreds of community, academic, government, health care, and institutional organizations throughout Connecticut by collecting, interpreting, and sharing high-quality public information. As an organization with over 30 years of public service, DataHaven is also a formal affiliate of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a collaborative national effort by the Urban Institute and local partners to further the development and use of neighborhood information systems in local policymaking and community building.

For all internship and fellowship positions, DataHaven has a strong preference for interns and fellows with external sources of funding (e.g., summer awards, students working directly under supervision of faculty for pay/stipend, fellowships from government or non-profit agencies/programs, and/or fellowships that are paid directly by a college or university that they attend). The external funding must be provided through a recognized institutional or fellowship program, not self-funding. Given that DataHaven is a non-profit organization, these external sources of funding help us expand our staff capacity and supervise additional interns/fellows without needing to allocate funding for a new position. During the past 10 years, nearly all of our interns and fellows have had external funding. If you apply for a research assistant, fellowship or internship position, please indicate your relationship with potential external fellowship funding opportunities.

We encourage you to contact us well in advance of the start of a potential internship/fellowship. We are currently considering research assistants for Summer 2027.

Description of Role

Internships and Research Assistant roles at DataHaven are full‐time or part-time positions based in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. The Research Assistant or Intern will help analyze data from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey, a statewide survey that has completed over 50,000 interviews with randomly-selected adults since 2015. The Research Assistant or Intern will also collect and analyze Connecticut town data pertaining to demographics, health, economics, equity and inclusivity, and quality of life. They may also conduct qualitative research, or work on communications, writing, and public outreach assignments. The ideal candidate will enjoy working with different research techniques to document and answer questions about social and economic well-being in our communities, and will use their strong written and oral communications skills to communicate these issues to a broad audience.

Minimum Qualifications

• Educational background including training in statistics and data science, economics, geography, sociology, political science, history, anthropology, city planning, public health, or related fields;
• At least 1 year of work experience processing and analyzing quantitative and/or qualitative data, and a rigorous attention to detail;
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with staff on multiple projects in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and within tight timeframes;
• Excellent oral and written communications skills;
• Curiosity and love of data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated interest and knowledge of methods used to analyze, visualize, or describe existing data sets in ways that make them more useful to the general public;
• Experience working with public opinion, social, or public health survey data with an understanding of how survey weights are used to create population-level estimates for different geographic areas;
• Over 1 year of experience working with raw data from large-scale, high-quality national or statewide surveys and databases using R, SPSS, or other statistical analysis software;
• Experience working within Connecticut and/or an understanding of the diverse communities that live in these areas, including proficiency engaging with multilingual communities;

How to Apply

Please submit your cover letter, and a resume, via email to info (at) ctdatahaven.org. Due to our small staff size, we are unable to respond to inquiries about this position, and phone calls will not be accepted. The cover letter should explain your interest in the position and describe your relevant experience, as well as indicate your potential availability and preferred start date and work schedule. Interns and research assistants should detail potential and/or expected sources of external funding, if available.

*Multiple positions available each year