Host: City of Encinitas
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Transportation / Mobility, Waste Management
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Project Management, Community Outreach, Data Analysis,

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid – Fellows may take advantage of the City of Encinitas remote work policy with the supervisor’s approval. The City operates on a 9-80 schedule with every other Friday off. The policy allows 1-2 days per week telecommuting depending on the week. The policy requires remote work to occur at the home of the employee.

Service Needs & Plans

This project would serve the City of Encinitas and the Fellow would serve as a team member within the City’s Sustainability Division. This division oversees the implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). The City’s CAP 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 division 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.

The City of Encinitas understands that it is not able to achieve its Climate Action Plan targets without the support of the community at large. It is essential to have residents and businesses take part in reducing emissions. The CivicSpark Fellow would take the lead on engaging the community in this effort.

Encinitas has an active public that would very much like to participate in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the City is missing key staff that have dedicated time to connect the Climate Action Plan to the public. By sponsoring a CivicSpark Fellow, the City of Encinitas would be able to address public outreach 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. The fellow would also track and publicly report the City’s progress toward emissions reduction. This two-pronged approach will create the positive feedback loop of emissions reduction that the City lacks.

Project Description

The prospective fellow will serve 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

• GIS Mapping
• Graphic Design
• Technical Writing
• Data collection
• Basic Webpage Design

Organization & Workplace Highlights

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.

Community Highlights

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 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.