Host: City of Riverside
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation (e.g., sea level rise planning, environmental justice, climate migration planning), Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency, Public Health, Renewable Energy
Skills Needed: Facilitation, Research, Stakeholder Engagement, Technical Writing,

Remote or On-Site Placement

On-site

Service Needs & Plans

The City of Riverside is California’s 12th largest city and is establishing a new Office of Sustainability and is embarking on the 3-year drafting of a climate action plan.
These initiatives will bolster the City’s influence in the region and Statewide as Riverside continues to establish credentials in sustainability and climate adaptation projects and programs.
This position will work to address municipal climate vulnerabilities in a region that is noted for environmental problems linked to heat and air pollution caused geographic location and exacerbated by a regional logistics industry.

Project Description

The Fellow will assist to map and establish the parameters for a new Citywide
Office of Sustainability that will be housed within the City Managers Office. The Fellow will also work to establish initial outreach and data collection planning for a Climate Action Plan which will be part of the City’s new General Plan development process. Outcomes will be two pre-plannning strategies for mapping a new sustainability office and a new sustainability strategy to make sure that both are relevant to the City’s needs and allow Riverside to become a regional leader in sustainability and climate adaptation.

Desired Skills Organization & Workplace Highlights

Riverside is a full service city with a population of 317,000 people and 2300 employees. The Office of the City Manager is a 35 member department that develops and implements policies and projects across 12 City departments. The City Manager’s is a high level policy implementer
for a large city and will give the Fellow valuable experience in learning how policy is developed and implemented across large and diverse groups of departments, divisions, and staff members.

Community Highlights

Riverside is a historic citrus community and home to the University of California at Riverside. The City grew up on citrus and later as a postwar hub of development that complimented the Southern California Region. The City is remarkably diverse and is a majority Latino city. The City serves as the Riverside County seat; a county as large as the state of New Jersey. Within two hours of beaches, deserts, mountains, and a variety of urban and suburban cities, Riverside is a great nexus of experiences and activities that will surprise any prospective Fellow!