Host: Los Angeles County Public Works – Strategic Planning and Sustainability Office
Openings: 2
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation (e.g., sea level rise planning, environmental justice, climate migration planning), Climate Mitigation, Disaster Response and Preparedness / Emergency Management (e.g.,flood prevention, wildfire prevention, coastal protection), Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy
Skills Needed: Project Management, Research, Data Analysis, Data Collection,

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid – PW has a COVID-19 Prevention Plan that specifies recommended and required actions and behaviors designed to minimize the likelihood of COVID-19 transmission at all Los Angeles County Public Works field and office operations. This plan also applies to all individuals that enter Public Works facilities.

Service Needs & Plans

Los Angeles County Public Works (PW), the largest Public Works agency in the nation, builds and maintains a wide range of infrastructure related to water, transportation, waste, and public buildings. PW serves an important role as a steward for sustainability, while striving to meet the high expectations of PW Strategic Plan, Los Angeles County’s OurCounty Sustainability Plan, and 2045 Climate Action Plan (CAP).

With nearly 10 million residents and 88 cities, Los Angeles County’s demographic and geographic diversity, along with socio-economic and cultural factors, present many challenges and opportunities related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Climate change in Los Angeles County includes more frequent and severe heat waves and wildfires, worsening air quality, and increasing severe rainfall or drought, all of which disproportionately impact underserved communities and communities of color.

PW is leading the Climate Ready Communities initiative (CRC) to build resilience in areas where climate vulnerability is highest. The initiative is informed by the Los Angeles County Climate Vulnerability Assessment and will focus on addressing risks associated with extreme heat, wildfire, drought, inland flooding, and coastal flooding. CRC aims to build resilience, reduce vulnerability, and foster equitable outcomes in the face of climate change to ensure that communities are better prepared to withstand and recover from climate-related challenges. CRC will prioritize advancing equity and environmental justice by focusing on communities disproportionately impacted by climate hazards.

Project Description

Climate Ready Communities will focus efforts on understanding vulnerable communities susceptible to climate hazards; engaging and educating communities to foster awareness and preparedness; integrating climate vulnerability in data-driven decision-making; and leveraging existing resources to offer climate-ready opportunities.

PW will finalize an internal assessment of existing and recommended PW resiliency and sustainability policies, practices, initiatives, services, and projects to better support unincorporated communities that are most vulnerable to climate change. This internal effort intends to cultivate a culture where sustainability and resiliency are incorporated into all of PW planning, design, operations, maintenance, and procedures. These efforts will help PW understand our role is supporting our communities and ensure our projects and services build resilience, reduce vulnerability, and prioritize equity and environmental justice.

The Fellows will coordinate with PW Business Branches and Divisions to finalize development of a PW Strategic Action Roadmap (Roadmap) and Communication Plan. The Roadmap will include the development of a Sustainability Management Plan, Sustainable Procurement Policy, Monitoring and Maintenance Plan, and updating PW’s Envision Planning Process. The Fellows will also coordinate with the Council for Watershed Health, community-based organizations, and tribal partner to perform community engagement efforts that will be critical to understanding vulnerable communities’ lived experiences with climate risks as well as their needs and priorities in developing infrastructure projects. The Fellows will also support development of a public-facing Dashboard that will be repository for climate and resilience information, findings from community engagement efforts, and Roadmap related information.

As part of Climate Ready Communities, the Fellows will also support coordination of the implementation of the Los Angeles County 2045 Climate Action Plan (CAP), which establishes a path for the County and unincorporated communities to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Many CAP actions will help build resilience for unincorporated communities, and with data from Climate Ready Communities, PW will prioritize investment and actions where climate vulnerability is the highest. The Fellows will also assist with tracking key performance metrics to be incorporated into the annual reporting framework and optimize data management to effectively track PW’s progress towards carbon neutrality by 2045. Additional efforts include data collection and development of PW’s 2024 Operational Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and analyze emissions reduction progress and strategize additional opportunities to further reduce emissions. The Fellows will help strategize and implement large-scale renewable energy projects to offset PW’s energy usage and support development of a Climate Budget, which will include an investment target for projects and programs that will address climate change mitigation and adaptation goals each fiscal year.

The Fellow will gain experience in working for a large government agency and learn about PW operations.

Desired Skills

Some of the skills we are looking for include: self-motivated and critical thinking individuals.

Organization & Workplace Highlights

Los Angeles County Public Works (PW) is the largest Public Works agency in the nation, serving more than 10 million people across a 4,000-square-mile regional service area. Public Works has a vision to become the most trusted public agency in the region and a mission to plan, design, build, and maintain modern infrastructure that uplifts all communities of Los Angeles County.

Working for PW, specifically with the Strategic Planning and Sustainability Office, will be a great opportunity for the Fellow to experience working for a large, professional government agency. The Fellow will have the opportunity to understand the entire agency, including the broad range of services PW provides and infrastructure PW manages, collaborate with professional engineers, and build subject-matter-expertise on Sustainability.

Community Highlights

The Fellow will learn real-world Climate Action Plan implementation and enhance other skills like translating data into tangible and meaningful results that will lead PW to become a more sustainable agency.