Host: City of Palm Springs
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation (e.g., sea level rise planning, environmental justice, climate migration planning), Climate Mitigation, Renewable Energy
Skills Needed: Facilitation, Research, Community Outreach, Data Analysis,

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid – Preference for us is 2 days in office, 2 days remote. We work a 4-10 schedule.

Service Needs & Plans

Our second year of the CivicSpark project will narrow in on learnings from the first project, generating specific products to improve resiliency in Palm Springs. Primarily working with the City of Palm Springs’ Office of Sustainability, the fellow will focus on internal climate mitigation work (leading the energy action planning effort in collaboration with I-REN and Palm Springs Public Works) and mitigation work for public buildings (identifying and assembling resources that help our most vulnerable residents improve their buildings and reduce emissions).

Project Description

Project 1: Developing Actionable Strategies for Retrofit Planning

Goal: develop a playbook describing sequencing retrofits, payback and planning estimates, and permitting overviews; host at least one education and outreach event per quarter.

Fellow role: lead the qualitative and quantitative research with departments, the building community, and residents; generate insights and assemble the playbook
Increasing capacity: By designing a playbook that works for all of our residents, especially our most vulnerable, we will be well-prepared to implement reach codes and support more electrification.

Project 2: Energy Action Plan for City buildings

Goal: complete the action plan with I-REN’s team to prioritize and plan projects to reduce carbon emissions from City buildings

Fellow role: spearhead data collection and assembly, connect Public Works staff to I-REN team for understanding and insights, translate action plan into prioritization framework
Increasing capacity: Completing this plan will allow Public Works to pull these projects into our Capital Plan.

Desired Skills

• Research
• GIS analysis
• Graphic design

Organization & Workplace Highlights

The City of Palm Springs is “like no place else!” The City team members pride ourselves on being an inclusive, world class city dedicated to providing excellent and responsive public services to enhance the quality of life for current and future generations. The Office of Sustainability is a small, collaborative organization that prioritizes equity and climate justice in our work.

Community Highlights

Palm Springs has a history of climate leadership, despite being a small city, and has a supportive team and environment to try new innovative projects. We also face climate change on a daily basis during the summer – heat is a major concern for us, as is a lack of water. Our natural environment mixed with our historic architecture and compelling city growth make a good environment for fellows.