Host: Tulare County Resource Management Agency
Region: Central California
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Affordable Housing, Climate Adaptation, Water Policy, Social Equity
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Research, Data Analysis, Technical Writing, Communication, Critical Thinking

Service Needs & Plans

An opportunity exists with Tulare County to support General Plan Update activities. The project includes working with stakeholders, various federal, state, and local agencies, and consultants to complete an Update to the Counties General Plan. Several updates the County is currently working on is the Housing Element, Environmental Justice Element and the Safety Element. As a part of the Safety Element projects include the water section and Climate Adaptation and Resiliency plan. Tasks include update the above mentioned documents, web tools; participate in educational outreach opportunities; and design and collaborate on outreach material. The goal of the project is to complete the projects..

•Specific agency/ies served, including specific organizational capacity needs, as they relate to this proposal.

Increase the Tulare County Resource Management Agency’s planning division capacity to research, plan and implement the above mentioned plans. Also collaborate with other Local, State, Federal, and Tribal agencies to address issues related to the plan. Assist in community workshops and committees to program outreach to educate the community, and complementary strategies to support all the County.

•Environmental (e.g ., climate, water, etc.) and/or social equity (e.g., affordable housing, mobility, etc.) challenges this project will address.

The above General Plan Updates include environmental justices, climate adaptation, water and affordable housing.

Project Description

1. Completing or working on the General Plan Updates.
2. Tulare County is in the process of preparing an update to the General Plan. The document will be consistent with the objectives of the State of California Statues. The project is one of the many state mandates intended to update planning documents to promote development consistent with the State Planning Priorities and ensure geographic equity in the distribution and expenditure of allocated funds. Major tasks include: 1) The preparation and adoption of an documents, 2) Coordination with Committees, 3) Community outreach, and 4) Collaboration with Community Based Organizations and project stakeholders.
3. Work toward completion and adoption.
4. The Fellow will improve momentum of the program by increasing capacity to move from planning to implementation. The resource will help broaden public agreement and support with diverse audiences to build resiliency and support the program through collective actions and strategies that will reduce climate change impacts, affordable housing, water, and Environmental Justice to the citizens, communities, and natural resources in the County.

Desired Skills

One of the main skills for planning is research. Even with no experience in a project, but having the ability to figure out what the project does, how to do it and then work on till completion. Knowledge of the Planning field is preferable but not a requirement. Working well with other persons, which includes coworkers and members of the public, including community meetings and outreach is a main part of the projects the fellow will participate in. Planning is a broad and complex field, with many project encompassing complicated laws and goals. Some projects take multiple years to completion. The ability to understand these complexities and achieving a degree of familiarity is preferable.

Organization & Community Highlights

Tulare County is a rural county within the State of California with a population of approximately 450,000 persons. It is one of the largest Counties in the State of California with over 3500 square miles. It is larger than the State of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. It is one of the largest agricultural producing counties in the nation, second only to Fresno County. However, a third of the County lies within the Sierra Nevada Mountains and contains Sequoia National Park, Mount Whitney speaking to its geographic Diversity. Though the County is not an urban area, it has embarked on projects that demonstrate its commitment to justice equity, diversity and inclusion, with such projects as the environmental Justice Element, Housing Element and Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Plan, in line with State guidelines. The Planning Department is low key organization committed to completing these large projects. The knowledge and experience gained of previous civic spark fellows associated with the County have obtained employment in their fields after completion of their service time.

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid or On-site preferred, Remote possible