Are you passionate about making a difference in your community and eager to gain experience addressing climate change and water management needs?
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:

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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