Host: Cool Boulder
Region: Colorado
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation (e.g., sea level rise planning, environmental justice, climate migration planning), Climate Mitigation, Ecosystem / Habitat Conservation / Biodiversity Protection, Public Health, Community organizing
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Project Management, Environmental Justice, Volunteer Management,

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid – The Climate Initiatives Department expects employees to be on site 2 days a week on average. The position is very flexible and balances many remove meetings with some in-person events on weekends and evenings.

Service Needs & Plans

The CivicSpark Fellow will serve with the City of Boulder to help meet the growing communication and volunteer coordination and coordination needs of the Cool Boulder campaign, a city-sponsored nature-based climate solutions campaign. The campaign seeks to facilitate connections between the city of Boulder staff and the community, and among community members. The project has increasing communication and coordination needs specifically focused on national and international level biodiversity work. Connecting multiple levels of biodiversity work to Boulder community members and decision-makers is part of the groundwork of the new city team focused on nature-based solutions. The team needs to establish a baseline on the critical issue of biodiversity, and is ramping up these efforts.

This project addresses both environmental and social equity needs. The campaign addresses climate change through nature-based climate solutions, and community outreach and coordination must be rooted in strong equity-centered values.

Project Description

The Cool Boulder campaign forms partnerships between the city, local organizations, and people to address the climate crisis and biodiversity loss through nature-based climate solutions.

The CivicSpark Fellow(s) will play an important role mentoring a new CivicSpark fellow in managing and coordinating Campaign communication and engagement systems (website, social media, communication materials) and be involved in program development and administration in the various Cool Boulder programs and initiatives. A key program capacity need has arisen around biodiversity. The fellow will support members of the city team in baselining communications and metrics around biodiversity, and they will be responsible for developing key communications to the public through Cool Boulder on biodiversity.

The goal outcome is increased engagement with the city of Boulder including tracking and follow up, with the end result of increased application of nature-based climate solutions in the city and surrounding areas in the front range. Specific outcomes include coordinating several biodiversity-themed public events, providing support for city staff who are hoping to attend international conferences, and developing a communication campaign centered on the critical need for protecting and bolstering biodiversity to develop resilience in light of climate change.

Strategic and equitable communications and engagement on biodiversity have the potential to create community buy in for different land use practices and increases the potential for individual action. Increased action and political will should increase our community resilience by bolstering biodiversity.

Desired Skills

The City of Boulder is seeking fellows who are excited to work in a fast-paced and constantly shifting environment. The field of nature-based climate solutions is emergent, and our work moves very quickly. We need team players who can adapt to an emerging understanding of the Boulder community and the ever-growing field of climate mitigation and adaptation.

The ideal candidate will be organized, adaptable, and excited to work with a dynamic community. Desired skills include strong communication skills, project management basics, event organizing experience, and a general background in ecology and biology (or at minimum, a willingness to learn). Spanish would be helpful in this role, but it is not necessary.

Organization & Workplace Highlights

The Climate Initiatives Department is a collaborative and innovative group that is always excited to welcome new members of the team and to teach and share information whenever possible. Networking and connecting interns and Fellows to future job opportunities is a priority. We also have a lot of fun! Our work is challenging, and we care deeply about taking care of each other while we work on new and innovative ways of thinking through the climate challenge.

The city of Boulder operates under the SER (Sustainability, Equity and Resilience) Framework, and the department has a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) team. Equity is one of the lenses through which all department work is analyzed, and Cool Boulder is developing its own equity principles by which actions can be held to account.

Community Highlights

The city of Boulder and Cool Boulder strive to serve our whole community equitably. For Cool Boulder this can mean creating specialized and targeted programs for communities who do not typically interact with or have many barriers to interacting with city programs. We are also fortunate to have many knowledgeable partners working in nature-based climate solutions in our community. Connecting with them creates increase opportunities for community members to become involved in ecosystems work.

Boulder is a beautiful city located in the ecotone (where two ecological communities meet) of the Rocky Mountains and historic short grass prairie. The city is very bikeable with great access to outdoor recreation.