Below is a list of projects in Colorado for the 2025-2026 service year.
Each project section includes the project name, agency name, city, the number of Fellows that will be serving in the project (“Openings”), the focus areas, and desired skills for the project. To view a full description of the project, click on the “Project Description” drop down.
Organization: Colorado Energy Office
Location: Denver, CO
Openings: 1
Desired Skills: Workforce Development, Stakeholder Engagement, Community Engagement, Facilitation
ABOUT THE PROJECT
This project will serve the Colorado Energy Office Weatherization Assistance Program (CEO WAP) and it’s 6 local weatherization service providers to increase program awareness and support workforce development.
Identified needs:
– Capacity to manage the Weatherization Registered Apprenticeship (WAP RAP)
– Support engagement efforts to raise awareness of the weatherization program and foster a two-way communication stream between CEO WAP and Colorado communities.
– Capacity to leveraging information from the workforce and engagement work when analyzing the WAP Client Satisfaction Survey to identify trends for training opportunities. This allows for a seamless blend of community/client input and increased workforce retention from robust training.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Communication & Engagement:
– Monitor and analyze weekly survey responses, ensuring prompt flagging of client concerns to weatherization subgrantees and collaboration with the WAP Training Manager to create responsive training recommendations based on client feedback.
– Assist with engagement projects to foster an open communication stream between the Colorado Energy Office, industry stakeholders, and Colorado communities. This includes supporting external presentations, event coordination, and efforts to implement or respond to external feedback.
-Support the creation of clear, accessible, and culturally relevant multimedia materials, including client testimonials, public education, promotional materials, and social media content, for weatherization communications and engagement projects to reach diverse audiences.
Workforce Development:
-Manage WAP Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) reporting for CEO’s internal metrics and reporting through the State Apprenticeship Agency’s RAPIDS portal;
-Manage subgrantee RAP needs including support for external funding, recruitment, evaluations, monitoring, revising as needed the curriculum
-Lead Weatherization Workforce Advisory Group, including creating the agenda, finding external/internal speakers, note taking and managing any related meeting needs.
-Responsible for WAP workforce metrics data collection and reporting
-Develop content for and send out monthly workforce development newsletter
-Support the CEO workforce team’s mapping efforts
-Support CEO workforce team’s funding research and sourcing
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) mission is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consumer energy costs by advancing clean energy, energy efficiency, and zero-emission vehicles, which will benefit all Coloradans. CEO works to reduce pollution from some of the state’s leading sources of emissions: transportation, electric and gas utilities, buildings, and industry.
This fellowship will support the Weatherization Assistance Program through the Communications and Engagement Team (C&E).
The C&E Team is composed of staff representing a wide span of energy programs. This is a great opportunity to learn more about other energy initiatives, contribute to collaboration across sectors, and become a thought partner on industry-leading work.
All 80+ CEO staff are dedicated, passionate, and unanimously enjoy a good meme.
Organization: Keep It Colorado
Location: Boulder, CO
Openings: 1
Desired Skills: Data Collection, Marketing, Project Management, Facilitation [/vc_column_text]
ABOUT THE PROJECT
In 2023, Keep It Colorado led the development of Conserving Colorado: A 10-year Roadmap for the Future of Private Land Conservation, (Roadmap), as a unified vision for the state’s land trusts, conservation organizations, and other partners for the future of private land conservation. Keep It Colorado is now seeking an implementation plan and metrics to address and track progress towards the ambitious goals outlined in the Roadmap. While the Roadmap outlines a shared vision for the next decade, it is not an implementation plan. What’s needed now is a clear, actionable path forward.
Keep It Colorado is a coalition of non-profit land trusts, public agencies, conservation professionals and champions. Public agencies include city and county open space agencies such as City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program is a core partner that administers the Colorado Conservation Data Explorer (CODEX) and will be a close partner for this work.
The implementation planning process would support a community and stakeholder engagement process to identify the metrics that could support both accountability and storytelling around progress towards the Roadmap’s goals: doubling the number of acres of land protected through conservation, double the engagement of Coloradans in conservation efforts and programs, and double the resources needed to support conservation work over the next decade. The Roadmap also includes five focus areas, each with their own goals: resilient landscapes, community-centered conservation, collaborative water solutions, resilient agriculture, and lasting conservation movement.
Achieving these goals requires a network of organizations working collectively and pulling in the same direction. Having a shared set of strategies and metrics will both build in accountability and a shared sense of progress towards these goals. The process of developing the shared metrics will also support partners in further refining their shared values and identifying what they think is important. Ultimately, the strategic implementation and metrics can help the coalition celebrate successes and refine strategies.
This is also timely because the State of Colorado, led by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office (OREC), and the Governor’s office, recently launched Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy. The Roadmap is featured heavily in Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy, so there is an opportunity to contribute to statewide discussions around aligned and embedded metrics, goals, and plans.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of the project is to develop and refine, with coalition member, stakeholder, and partner input, a series of easily collectable metrics that can track progress toward Roadmap implementation. The Roadmap defines a shared vision, but is not a strategic plan with activities or metrics. The CivicSpark Fellow would be implemental in translating these shared goals into specific activities supported by the stakeholders and organizations (public and non-profit).
The Fellow will, with guidance and partnership from the rest of the Keep It Colorado staff: develop a close understanding of the Roadmap and its ambitious goals; facilitate a process with partners, coalition members, and other stakeholders to identify metrics; collect metrics on progress to date; conduct analysis and develop a report on progress to date; develop a communications plan for reporting on progress; and implement the communications plan.
Desired project outcomes include:
a)Obtaining a strong understanding of the goals and pillars of the Roadmap.
b)Identifying a set of metrics that measure progress on the Roadmap’s goals and pillars in collaboration with coalition members and partners. There is also an opportunity to connect the metrics with the Colorado Outdoors Strategy to align and embed metrics into the larger state-wide conservation and outdoor recreation planning effort.
c)Collecting metrics from the beginning of 2023 to present in collaboration with coalition members and partners.
d)Developing a report that shares an analysis of the data collected on successes and challenges thus far in achieving Roadmap goals. This report would serve as a supplement to Keep It Colorado’s annual report on coalition successes.
e)Creating a communications plan that would share the report more broadly. The communications plan would leverage existing communications channels, such as newsletters, social media, and press releases, as well as identify opportunities for new communications strategies.
f)Implementing (parts of) the communications plan, particularly around successes, challenges, and opportunities for the future.
The Fellow’s deliverables will enhance the efficacy of the Roadmap by increasing coalition member alignment with statewide objectives in relatable and tangible ways. By engaging in a collaborative, community-wide process, there will be a continued sense of ownership and shared success in identifying functional metrics. The following step of collecting metrics data will provide key insight into which aspects of the Roadmap have made more progress, and which areas have lagged. Data would then be analyzed and reviewed against 10-year goals in order to develop a report on Roadmap success. From there, developing a communications plan will serve to enhance transparency and accountability toward these important goals by ensuring that the results of this first phase of analysis during the ten-year Roadmap period are publicly available. Finally, implementing aspects of the communications plan will bring the report to life by ensuring that those with an interest in private land conservation can learn about our progress to date on achieving the goals of the Roadmap.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
The conservation community in which Keep It Colorado operates is deeply collaborative and made up of passionate, talented individuals dedicated to conserving private lands, advancing community engagement, stewarding natural resources, securing funding, and tackling complex challenges.
Although our work spans the entire state, and the Fellow would benefit from exposure to experts and projects from across Colorado, their office would be based in Boulder, where we share space with one of our member organizations, The Nature Conservancy. Boulder is a vibrant, welcoming place to live and work. Known for its safety, walkability, and extensive network of bike paths and open spaces, it’s a great place to be. With a wide variety of food options, cultural events, and easy access to hiking trails and mountain recreation, Boulder offers a dynamic quality of life. The presence of the University of Colorado Boulder also contributes to the city’s energy, diverse perspectives, and strong intellect.
Organization: City of Grand Junction
Location: Grand Junction, CO
Openings: 1
Desired Skills: Project Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Community Engagement, Project Planning [/vc_column_text]
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Housing Engagement & Outreach Specialist would be serving within the Housing Division at the City of Grand Junction. One of the City Council’s key priority areas (2023-2025) is “Welcoming, Livable, and Engaging” designed to foster a sense of belonging, where people are accepted as themselves and have access to the amenities and services they need to thrive, and actively seeks participation from our community which includes key affordable housing and houseless initiatives.
More specifically, the City of Grand Junction’s Housing Division is committed to enacting housing policies and partnering with outside organizations that seek to increase affordable housing options, diversity housing choice, decrease the gap between need and housing inventory, and assist those without homes to access supportive services. In 2019, the City conducted a Housing Needs Assessment that indicated nearly 50 percent of its residents rented and of those more than 50 percent were cost burdened paying more than 30 percent of their income to housing. Data shows that the greatest need for housing at or below $25,000 per year income and the largest concentration of need for aging, disabled, and female head-of-household persons/families. The City subsequently drafted and approved a Housing Strategy and most recently a 2024 Housing Strategy refresh designed to update and enhance current strategies to align with current trends and housing needs. Moreover, in the last two years, the City of Grand Junction’s houseless population has increased approximately 60 percent and additional resources, staff, and programming is being built to address houseless concerns and increase partnerships between service and housing providers.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Housing Engagement and Outreach Specialist (HEOS) will support the development and implementation of the Housing Strategies designed to increase housing production in the community – which may include work on the following projects:
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
Grand Junction is the largest city between Salt Lake & Denver along the I-70 corridor. It has great access to the outdoors and also provides many urban amenities such as arts, music, and dining. It is home to Colorado Mesa University that hosts approximately 10,000 students during the school year.
Organization: City of Grand Junction
Location: Grand Junction, CO
Openings: 1
Desired Skills: Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteer Management, Facilitation, Relationship Management
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The City of Grand Junction established its Mobility Division in 2023 to support and enhance the safety and viability of active transportation options in the city. This same year, City Council adopted its first Pedestrian Bicycle Plan, which identified 39 objectives to approach its vision of “a city where people of all ages and abilities can safely and conveniently walk, roll, and bike on a connected network of well-maintained facilities for transportation or recreation.” Roughly 20% of these objectives relate to outreach, education, and building partnerships. This may be with youth, with drivers, with employers, with law enforcement, or with developers.
In 2024, City Council adopted the Sustainability and Adaptation Plan, which includes a goal related to working towards a built environment which enables the community to live and travel more sustainably. For implementing actions related to these two plans, the Mobility Division is looking for additional capacity to focus on the relationship development, networking and building energy from the community.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The overarching goals for this project relate back to the city vision established in the Pedestrian Bicycle Plan, helping to foster “a city where people of all ages and abilities can safely and conveniently walk, roll, and bike on a connected network of well-maintained facilities for transportation or recreation.” The focus areas for the fellowship will primarily be in the realms of safety and multimodality. There will also be an opportunity to advise on policy that supports equitable development of high-quality and connected active transportation networks.
The Fellow will partner with youth and adult bicycling organizations in the community to disseminate Safe Cycling curriculum and other training materials, grow participation in Bike to Work Day and other community events, and facilitate volunteer opportunities related to active transportation. Ideally, the Fellow can help build this community energy to the point that it can be somewhat self-sustaining, growing the capacity of the Mobility Division to continue its focus on infrastructure development.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
The City of Grand Junction is the largest city on Colorado’s Western Slope and serves as a major commercial, employment, and recreational hub for the region. With many National Parks and Monuments within a short drive, lots of mountain biking, skiing, rafting, and climbing opportunities, there is no shortage of beautiful outdoors areas. The Mobility Division acknowledges the value of spending time outdoors, especially being active, and is working to enhance the ability to do so safely in our own backyards and while getting from A to B.
Organization: City of Grand Junction Sustainability Dept.
Location: Grand Junction, CO
Openings: 1
Desired Skills: Emergency Management, Research, Community Engagement, Project Planning [/vc_column_text]
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The City of Grand Junction established its Sustainability Division in 2022 to promote the livability of the community and the stewardship of resources. City Council adopted the Sustainability and Adaptation Plan in July 2024 to address six focus areas informed by community input: the built environment, climate resilience, energy stewardship, waste management, water conservation, and city leadership. The fellow would support work in all six of these areas, especially when outreach and program development or research is needed to bolster the work.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Sustainability Outreach
Each of the six focus areas from the Sustainability and Adaptation Plan have community outreach needs. The fellow would create resources and presentation materials to support outreach campaigns and support community engagement events. Project outcomes will supplement a resource library for future engagement opportunities.
Sustainability Program and Policy Development
The fellow would support program development, especially for internal programs to build a sustainability culture throughout departments within the City. Additionally, the fellow would research like programs from other municipalities to inform similar initiatives.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
Grand Junction is the largest city between Salt Lake & Denver along the I-70 corridor. It has great access to the outdoors and also provides many urban amenities such as arts, music, and dining. It is home to Colorado Mesa University that hosts approximately 10,000 students during the school year.