Are you passionate about making a difference in your community and eager to gain experience addressing climate change and water management needs?
CivicSpark has been excellent, because it pairs you with local leaders. It has been a huge professional development experience. It is the ultimate way to dive in head first without hitting your head on the bottom.Trevor Wilson
I would consider CivicSpark just the program I needed to jumpstart my career and provide me with more possibilities for my future. Additionally, I feel so grateful to have been part of the CivicSpark fellowship program. Beyond the professional development, I have also gained friendships, knowledge and expertise as well as a great community with the Sonoma County Energy and Sustainability Division.Lauren Lum
We are not all ‘kids who just graduated from college’, we are young professionals looking to introduce our skills and talents to a field about which many of us are passionate. We are looking to get a strong foot in that door. The times when CivicSpark helped to foster those kinds of opportunities, such as being able to participate at the California Adaptation Forum or the SEEC Forum or even meeting in professional environments, are the times I appreciated most.Arya Moalemi
I personally feel that CivicSpark has opened an endless collection of doors into many different sectors of society–certainly within the climate change, environmental and sustainability industries, but also with a variety of social justice movements that are connected in so many ways to the work that we are doing. I truly feel like we are strengthening communities–not singlehandedly, but as a collective group of passionate people working to get things done.Kriselda Bautista
CivicSpark has been excellent, because it pairs you with local leaders. It has been a huge professional development experience. It is the ultimate way to dive in head first without hitting your head on the bottom.
I would consider CivicSpark just the program I needed to jumpstart my career and provide me with more possibilities for my future. Additionally, I feel so grateful to have been part of the CivicSpark fellowship program. Beyond the professional development, I have also gained friendships, knowledge and expertise as well as a great community with the Sonoma County Energy and Sustainability Division.
What does it mean to be a CivicSpark fellow?
The program offers two fellowship tracks: the CivicSpark: Climate Action Fellowship (50 fellows) and the CivicSpark: Water Action Fellowship (20 fellows). All fellows will spend 1700 hours over 11 months working full time with their host agency. The eight CivicSpark regions include Southern California/Los Angeles, San Diego, Central Coast, San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, and North Coast. Fellows will work on multiple projects during the service year, which gives them the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in climate change response and integrated water management, while learning technical skills and building a strong network of sustainability professionals.
Climate Action fellows, organized in regional teams with a Regional Coordinator, work on mitigation and adaptation projects on a range of topics including sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, implementation of climate action plans, and GHG inventories and benchmarks.
Water Action fellows will be placed in ten pairs of two in regions across the state. Fellows will serve with local leaders responding to statewide priorities in water resources, such as implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and the California Water Action Plan.
All CivicSpark fellows will provide support to local governments through the following four-step process:
On a day-to-day level, CivicSpark fellows will work on tasks ranging from data collection and analysis to community outreach. All fellows will leave the service year with an understanding of work within local governments, experience working with key climate change and water resource management, ability to analyze data, and ability to work successfully in a team office environment.Topically, CivicSpark fellows are likely to work on a range of areas related to climate change and water management such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation, or public health. However, because the program will be supporting a number of different local governments during the service year, fellows are unlikely to work exclusively on any one topic.
To view the projects currently happening in each region, visit our 2016-17 Project Catalogand Descriptive Project Examples.
2016-17 Service Year Calendar
Local projects get underway!
Benefits
CivicSpark fellows receive the following benefits for the term of their service year:
- $16,000+ Living Allowance (before taxes) spread evenly over 11 months
- $5,815 Segal Education Award
- SNAP (Food Stamps) – for those eligible
- Forbearance on existing qualifying student loans and payment of interest accrued during service
- Health insurance
- Childcare assistance to qualifying fellows, paid to an eligible provider of your choice
- Significant professional development training
- Network development with regional and statewide contacts in the climate protection field
- Valuable experience in the sustainability field and the local government sector
- Connection to a network of hundreds of thousands of AmeriCorps Alums
Qualifications
CivicSpark fellows will have completed at least a 4-year degree and will have relevant experience in the sustainability field. An ideal candidate might have the following characteristics:
Required
- A 4-year degree from an accredited college or university
- Ability to pass FBI, CA DOJ, out-of-state (if applicable), and NSOPR background checks prior to service
- Commitment to the full term of service (11 months)
- Be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident alien of the United States
- Capability to work in a professional office setting
- Strong communication (both verbal and written) and teamwork skills
- Water Action Fellows: Background knowledge of water-related sciences (coursework or project/professional experience), water policy, or water management
Strongly preferred
- A degree in an environmentally related field (e.g., climate, water, etc.)
- One year of relevant experience
- Past service commitments (e.g., volunteering, community service, etc.)
- Experience with, or training in, outreach, facilitation and/or grassroots organizing skills
Desirable
- Experience with local government operations and structures, especially as they relate to climate protection
- Comfort with quantitative work, including data collection and analysis
- Climate Action Fellows: Experience with California climate change mitigation- and/or adaptation-related policies and practices
- Water Action Fellows: Experience with California water-related policies and practices and/or water use efficiency-related policies and practices
This is an equal opportunity position and we prefer to place a candidate who already lives in the community being served.
What is AmeriCorps?
AmeriCorps is a civil society program created to address the needs of local communities. AmeriCorps engages 75,000 Members annually who complete intensive service to meet community needs in education, health, public safety, security, and the environment. Since 1994, AmeriCorps Members have served over 1.4 billion hours for their communities. CivicSpark fellows work full time, completing a total of 1700 hours over 11 months, working to support local communities while gaining valuable experience and training. AmeriCorps is administered by CaliforniaVolunteers and sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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