Host: County of Tulare – Resource Management Agency
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation (e.g., sea level rise planning, environmental justice, climate migration planning), Water Policy, Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, General Plan Safety Element, and General Plan Water Element
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Research, Community Outreach, GIS Mapping,

Remote or On-Site Placement

On-site –

Service Needs & Plans

The County of Tulare continues its effort to prepare and adopt a comprehensive General Plan. The General Plan guides future physical, environmental, and safety elements to develop sustainable efforts that fosters prepared resources and services that benefit underserved and disadvantaged communities. The General Plan is broken into several long-range planning elements. Outreach guides the input and effort to develop land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety policies.

Organizational Needs:

1. Enhance resource capacity by collaborating on more appropriate and effective responses through community outreach opportunities e.g., streamline educational and media marketing to enhance community knowledge base, coordinate and implement outreach events in various communities, and identification of stakeholders.
2. Enhance project capacity by creating simple GIS maps, help maintain a pipeline of projects and data compilation, website development, and collaboration of educational presentations to the public.

Environmental:

1. The General Plan Update will address disaster response and preparedness of physical and environmental hazards, risks and vulnerabilities; identifies actions for risk reduction; and focuses local resources on greatest risks while communicating priorities to underserved and disadvantaged communities.
2. The project will provide a strong sustainable focus on long-term environmental impacts such as climate change and water resources to create a risk management framework while implementing new laws affecting the General Plan Update.

Project Description

1. Overarching goals of the project: The overall intent of the program is to encourage local solutions at the community level that guides efforts to develop land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety policies. The project will develop resource capacity through a number of outreach activities by collaborating with the general public and stakeholders to develop sustainable efforts that fosters prepared resources and services that benefit underserved and disadvantaged communities.

2. Role of the Fellow in the project

A. The Fellow will collaborate on more appropriate and effective responses through community outreach opportunities e.g., streamline educational and media marketing to enhance community knowledge base, coordinate and implement outreach events in various communities, and identification of stakeholders.

B. The Fellow will create simple GIS maps, help maintain a pipeline of projects and data compilation, website development, and collaboration of educational presentations to the public.

3. Desired project outcomes in terms of resources developed:

A. GIS Mapping and Update Website
Outcome: Create project maps and finalize website with scheduled web updated.

B. Streamline education and media marketing to enhance community knowledge base.
Outcome: A repository of educational and media materials for easy distribution.

C. Develop Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, General Plan Safety Element, and General Plan Water Element
Outcome: Collaborate on effective community outreach opportunities to obtain feedback that will guide plan(s) development.

D. Maintain a pipeline of Projects and data compilation.
Outcome: A repository of projects and data identified by conceptual, design, planning, and Implementation.

4. How these resources will help increase the agency’s capacity to address the resilience challenges:  The desired projects will increase agency capacity by creating a framework of policies, programs, and partnerships that increases equity in underserved and disadvantaged communities. It will also strengthen partnership approaches to strategy by building a collaborative approach to stewardship investment within a changing climate.

Desired Skills Organization & Workplace Highlights

Tulare County Resource Management Agency has approximately 270 combined regular and extra help employees supporting a variety of programs through Administration, Planning, Inspections, Building and Housing, Surveyor, Environmental Planning & Special Projects, Public Works, Economic Development and Grants. The diverse workforce enhances our organizations thoroughness and ability to create an environment of respect, fairness, and cultural competence. The Fellow will experience confidence in bringing new ideas from a Novice viewpoint and will walk away from an enriching diverse perspective of values that will shape positive cultural fluency in its commitment to create healthy communities.

Community Highlights

Tulare County is divided into five (5) supervisorial districts and is a steward local government agency who shares responsibility in creating healthy pathways for communities to live and thrive in our region. Each community has unique characteristics with landscapes, cultures and traditions providing a snapshot into its history. Tulare County’s unique geography is home to the Giant Sequoias and the gateway to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There is noticeable interruptions of climate change impacts signaling a need for Fellow assistance in helping to create sustainable and resilient communities.