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!
The fellows have been great to work with and I am confident they have great careers ahead of them. The work they are doing for us and the cities of the region is invaluable.
Grieg Asher, Southern California Association of Governments
CivicSpark Project Partner
Serving as a CivicSpark AmeriCorps fellow has shown me that we have the power to make an impact in the communities around us. Helping staff members of water agencies master leak detection in underground pipeline is just one project I’ve been involved in, and just one project will result in a very large amount of water and energy savings.
Alyssa Collins
2015-16 Fellow, Sierra Nevada Region
Our CivicSpark Fellows have brought a fresh perspective on how we engage the community in energy planning in the Sierra Nevada, and they are not short on ambition.
Nicholas Martin, Sierra Business Council
CivicSpark Project Partner
The projects [our fellow is working on] are important for the County’s success in designing and implementing climate action strategies. They are also significant components in broader thinking about long-term sustainability. Without our CivicSpark fellow, these significant pieces of work would be several years out for their completion.
Sally Seymour
Sustainable Napa County
I am so happy with what I have learned and how I have grown throughout this service year. The experiences and autonomy I had in my service project were invaluable. The amount that I learned about environmental sustainability and the workings of government has given me so much insight into the way I want to work on the issues I care about most.
Bree Swenson
2015-16 Fellow, Southern California Region
I have been presented with experiences that have allowed me to grow professionally and personally. Working through the challenges that this position generates has enhanced my professional development and my ability to think critically. I will certainly take what I have learned throughout this service year into the next steps of my environmental career.
Kyle Ramey
2014-15 Fellow, Bay Area Region
CivicSpark helped launch my career in water, pairing with me an excellent site supervisor during my service year. I have been able to turn to him for advice and guidance ever since my service year ended. Working with the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority on their Disadvantaged Communities Involvement (DCI) Program, allowed me to jump straight into another region’s Disadvantaged Community program with plenty of experience and insights to share. I have had the privilege to work with a fellow CivicSpark alumnus for the last several years on this program and our shared experience has made us a great team!
Ryan Hirano - Water Resources Planner, Woodard & Curran
CivicSpark 2017-18 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
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
The CivicSpark fellowship opened the door for me to the worlds of environmental planning and water efficiency. I was able to combine those two worlds into my current position, water conservation planning. CivicSpark prepared me to successfully launch my career.
Hannah Braun - Water Resources Analyst, Maddaus Water Management
CivicSpark 2017-18 Fellow
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.
