Host: City of Encinitas
Region: Southern California
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Transportation / Mobility, Urban Planning
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Project Management, Community Outreach, Data Analysis, Flexibility/Adaptability, Self-Motivated

Service Needs & Plans

Organizational Background

The City of Encinitas has one dedicated full-time employee working to implement the City’s Climate Action Plan. The City’s plan includes 20 very ambitious measures that the City will accomplish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Increasingly high demands are being placed on this individual to achieve progress on a number of specific projects. With a focus on these critical projects, limited time is left for the more indirect, but still important components of the Climate Action Plan, specifically public outreach and progress tracking.

Environmental Needs Addressed by the Fellow

City staff understands that we are not able to achieve our Climate Action Plan targets without the support of the community. It is essential to have residents and businesses take part in reducing emissions. The climate fellow will take the lead on engaging the community in this effort.

Overview of the Fellow’s Role in Addressing these Needs

In Encinitas, we have an active public that would very much like to participate in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, we are missing key staff that has allocated time to connect the Climate Action Plan to the public. By sponsoring a Climate Fellow, we will be able to address this from multiple angles. The fellow will focus on CAP outreach and reporting and will head a campaign to directly engage the public in supporting the City’s climate initiatives. This fellow will also track and publicly report the City’s progress toward emissions reductions. This two-pronged approach will create the positive feedback loop of emissions reduction that the City lacks.

Project Description

The prospective fellow will work in the city’s Sustainability Division and will be responsible for helping implement the City’s Climate Action Plan. This includes initiating and completing various measures prescribed in the plan, conducting outreach, and reporting on implementation progress. The prospective fellow will play a leading role in engaging the Encinitas community to become involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Utilizing an Outreach Toolkit, the prospective fellow will implement outreach activities throughout the service year and refine the toolkit as needed. Outreach will include both in-person and virtual events, as appropriate, to captivate residents and businesses and encourage them to be a part of the climate solution. Concurrently, to build capacity in the Sustainability Division, the fellow will utilize the City’s CAP Monitoring Protocol to track and measure progress being made toward Climate Action Plan targets. The City’s Climate Action Plan has specific numeric targets which must be achieved by 2030. This fellow will support staff by assisting with data collection and tracking, as well as reporting progress on the City’s Climate Dashboard and helping to complete the annual CAP Monitoring Report.

Desired Skills

Encinitas is seeking a fellow with both technical skills and people skills, someone who loves to dive into data and someone who loves to strike up a conversation. Knowledge of web design and Geographic Information Systems is a plus. The fellow will be expected to organize and host outreach events (with staff support), speak in front of large groups, as well as establish data protocols and manage large data sets (with staff oversight). A science degree in the climate or air quality field is preferred; however degrees in social science or computer science would also be supportive of the City’s needs.

Organization & Community Highlights

About the Organization

The City of Encinitas is staffed by a 250-member team of hard-working individuals, committed to supporting each other and serving the community. The professional yet laid-back culture of the organization makes the City an ideal place to work. Working with the City of Encinitas would provide an invaluable experience for young professionals looking to develop their career in the environmental sustainability sector. Few other cities in the San Diego region prioritize and embrace climate action initiatives as vigorously as the residents and leaders of Encinitas.

The City of Encinitas recently established an Equity Committee, the purpose of which is to help the City of Encinitas and Encinitas community create safe, healthy, accessible, and inclusive opportunities for everyone who lives, works, and visits Encinitas. The committee will provide the forum for a diverse mix of voices to provide suggestions to the City of Encinitas to help plan, prioritize, manage and build projects and programs; frame how we work with our communities and public safety personnel; define how we recruit and develop our employees; guide our efforts to compile and interpret data and set up expectations for stakeholders and sub-contractors that work with us.

About the Area

Located along six miles of Pacific coastline in northern San Diego County, the city of Encinitas offers a unique blend of old-world charm and sophistication, and new-world culture. Incorporated in 1986, the city brought together the communities of New Encinitas, Old Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Olivenhain and Leucadia to create a single city rich in history and steeped in tradition. With a population of 60,000 people, the City of Encinitas has something for everyone. With its pristine beaches and rolling hills, famous Botanic Garden and vibrant downtown business district, the City of Encinitas attracts visitors from all over the world.

The century-old Downtown 101 coastal shopping district features historic architecture, quaint shops, sidewalk cafes, specialty retail stores and upscale restaurants.

Encinitas is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in California and is known for its excellent surfing conditions. Each year, surfers from all over gather in Encinitas to compete in local surfing tournaments. The San Elijo Lagoon Reserve boasts the largest coastal wetland in San Diego County and is home to nearly 300 different bird species throughout the year.

The warm California sunshine provides for year-round enjoyment of our beautiful parks, beaches and trails and makes Encinitas a spectacular place to live, work, and visit.

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid