Host: City of Elk Grove
Region: Northern California
Openings: 3
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency, Transportation / Mobility, Waste Management
Skills Needed: Project Management, Relationship Management, Community Outreach, Data Analysis, Communication, Flexibility / Adaptability

Service Needs & Plans

The City of Elk Grove is working to be a regional leader in addressing mobility, climate, and resilience. There are two teams within the City that will host CivicSpark Fellows, the Recycling and Waste team and the Strategic Planning and Innovation (SPI) team. SPI is responsible for the work related to active transportation and sustainability. With the active transportation work, the City has a Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Master Plan that includes a goal of creating a safe and accessible active transport network for all ages and abilities. The City would like to increase the population that uses walking or cycling as a safe alternative for short, local trips. This will provide many benefits for the community, including improving public health and air quality, reducing emissions and traffic congestion. The City currently has one Sr. Transportation Planner responsible for all active transportation and transit related activities. A Fellow would provide additional capacity to support high priority activities, move us closer to realizing the goal of increased active transportation users, and ensure equitable access to our active transportation network for all residents.

With the climate and resilience work, there are several projects that would be included, all with the overall goal of reducing GHG emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The City adopted a CAP in 2019, an update to the first CAP the City adopted in 2013. The process for the next update to the CAP just started with the goal of adopted in late summer 2024. For this update, we would like to have significant and meaningful public engagement to ensure the best outcomes. Given our diverse community, we want to ensure all demographic groups are able to fully participate in the CAP update process. In addition, the current CAP includes measures related to existing building electrification that have seen limited movement due to lack of capacity. The City currently has one staff person that is part-time devoted to climate and resilience work. A Fellow would provide additional capacity to support this critical work.

The Recycling and Waste team is responsible for ensuring the City is compliant with State requirements and regulations related to all commercial and residential waste. They also work closely with the community to educate and improve public awareness around recycling and waste. A Fellow would provide capacity to support the implementation of SB1383, ensuring City capacity to meet the organics waste reduction requirements.

Project Description

One Fellow would be working with the SPI team within the City Manager’s Office. The SPI team focuses on the long-term future and high priority strategic objectives to support a vibrant, inclusive, attractive and sustainable community. Staff in SPI explores growth opportunities and innovative solutions, assist diverse teams to embrace new ideas, increase efficiency in government, and provide policy support for the City Manager, City Council, and the broader organization on a variety of topics including land use, sustainability, resiliency, economic development, transportation, technology and other related policy topics. The team works collaboratively across City Departments and with local and regional organizations. The Fellow would work as part of the SPI team, primarily with two staff members on work related to climate change and active transportation.

The active transportation work would include undertaking three distinct projects. First, the City was awarded a SACOG grant to pilot an e-bike lending library with the goal of promoting e-bikes as a transportation option for a variety of local trips. The Fellow would support implementation of the lending library, including researching models, conducting community outreach, and data collection. Desired project outcome is a well-utilized lending library of e-bikes and e-scooters, available to Elk Grove residents. Second, the City is developing a bike parking inventory with crowd-sourced information that will be mapped in GIS. The Fellow would promote the inventory form and ground truth some of the information as needed. Desired project outcome is a GIS map of existing bike rack locations and a bike rack request program to construct bike parking where there are gaps. Finally, the City is developing a bicycle safety guidebook targeted at young riders to improve safety. The Fellow would help with outreach and promotion of the guidebook and data collection, including common characteristics of crashes involving young bicycle riders. Desired project outcome is a well-utilized guidebook that teaches young riders how to ride safely and decreases bicycle collisions in Elk Grove.

Related to climate change, the Fellow would work on several activities. One project would be to support the community outreach and engagement aspect of our CAP update. As noted, this work is critical and needs to reach a broad and diverse spectrum of our residents and business owners. The Fellow would support this effort in bringing greater involvement from the community to the CAP process. A second activity would support our existing CAP measure related to all-electric building requirements. The City is to develop a plan for the transition of existing building stock from mixed fuel to all-electric. The Fellow would support this work, including researching models, coordinating with local and regional stakeholders, and identifying feasible opportunities for moving forward. Finally, the City will be receiving funding from the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG). This funding will be used to support reduced GHG emissions in Elk Grove through supporting EV charger installation at existing low-income multi-family residential developments. The Fellow would support the implementation of the EECBG funding.

A second Fellow would be placed with the City’s Recycling and Waste team. The Fellow with the R&W team would conduct SB1383 organics program inspections, and facility audits, in addition to perform other duties to reduce waste, support awareness, and maximize community participation and SB 1383 compliance in recycling and composting programs. The Fellow would also support efforts and assist the community in meeting SB 1383 goals and other diversion mandates. The Fellow would do community outreach and develop marketing campaigns to support compliance efforts around SB 1383, for both commercial and residential efforts.

Desired Skills

We would like to have Fellows who is motivated, flexible and detail-oriented. The degree field is flexible, but having a commitment to sustainability and equity is important. Good communication skills, people skills, understanding the value of listening, and the learning that can come from failure are all important traits. Skills with data and/or infographics is a bonus.

Organization & Community Highlights

The City of Elk Grove is a collaborative and welcoming organization that encourages innovation and creativity. The organization is both small enough to get to know staff across the organization, and large enough to have interesting and exciting activities to work on. The position would be a good fit for someone who is motivated and a self-starter. The staff who will support the work are looking for someone who can bring vision and creativity. While guidance will be provided, someone who is looking to run with an idea is welcome. This experience can provide professional development in project management, community engagement, and innovation.

The City of Elk Grove is the second largest city in Sacramento County. Elk Grove is a majority minority community where a quarter of residents are foreign born. This diversity is celebrated by the city, which embraces how the uniqueness of each of us can make a better community. The City is in the process of becoming a Certified Welcoming community through Welcoming America to highlight our commitment to immigrant and refugee inclusion.

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid