Become part of a cohort of 135 Fellows throughout California, Colorado, and Washington making an impact in local communities!
Need help with a sustainability or social impact project in your community? Apply to receive support from a Fellow!
CivicSpark helped introduce the trials and tribulations that local governments and other agencies face to address climate adaptation, housing insecurity, or access to transit. The journey brought me into the field of city planning and demonstrated the importance of learning how policy interacts with the built environment and has given me a more holistic understanding on how to be solutions-oriented in addressing these issues.
Emmanuel Lopez - Associate, ECONorthwest
CivicSpark 2016-17 Fellow
The CivicSpark fellowship helped in launching my career in the environmental field. It was an invaluable experience and provided a vast network of connections and resources that I continue to use today.
Elektra Fike-Data - Director, Tree San Diego
CivicSpark 2016-17 Fellow
As a recent college graduate at the time, CivicSpark helped launch my career and provided me with an amazing network that I can lean on for support. I wouldn’t be where I am today without CivicSpark.
Linda Vo - Program Manager, California Water Efficiency Partnership
CivicSpar 2017-18 Fellow
CivicSpark has been invaluable to the successful launch of our building energy transparency requirement. Collaboration of the CivicSpark Bay Area team has enriched our program new perspectives and best practices from other cities. It has been a great experience for all involved.
Billi Romain
Sustainability Program Manager, City of Berkeley
CivicSpark provided a platform and space for me to explore my options for what I truly wanted to do with my passions and career. The program provided me with a deeper understanding of the inner workings of government, and opened numerous doors for me to further expand my environmental education and work experience. CivicSpark was sincerely a foundational experience for me as a young professional.
Angeline Foshay - Sustainability Management Assistant, City of Goleta
CivicSpark 2018-19 Fellow
CivicSpark gave me incredible opportunities to build my professional skills and solidify some of my career goals. The work I accomplished was beyond what I ever imagined I would have the opportunity to do right out of college, and my success with those projects has given me confidence to pursue the next steps in my career.
Rebecca Berg
19-20 & 20-21 Fellow, Central Valley Region
This program is providing a lot of value for us. When we are required to address the climate action plans, it is a requirement we can’t implement. This is providing us some real action and support and we are seeing progress.
Noah Smukler
Vice Chair, San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control District board
Knowing that the CivicSpark cohort and the LGC staff are applying themselves wholeheartedly and putting in long hours is constant motivation for me to do my best work as a fellow…Without [CivicSpark], myself and others would have missed out on this opportunity to fight against climate change and help local communities.
Ryan Silber
2016-17 Fellow, Central Coast Region
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
2015-16 Fellow, Southern California Region
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
2014-15 Fellow, SIerra Nevada Region
CivicSpark Fellows assist in many ways to build local government capacity to respond to pressing community resilience issues.
CivicSpark Fellows focus on a range of climate change, water, housing, and mobility projects. The video to the left shows an example of a project from the 2017-18 cohort year.
