Climate Action and Adaptation

Host: City of Alameda
Region: Bay Area
Openings: 2
Project Focus: Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency
Skills Needed: Project Management, Policy development and analysis, Communication

Service Needs & Plans

The City of Alameda, a low-lying island city of 78,000 is one of the most climate-vulnerable cities in California, facing a future of rising seas. At the same time, the City’s infrastructure is well beyond its useful life and designed for a much less threatening past. These and other climate risks factors are complicated by social, economic, and governance challenges, such as socioeconomic inequity, high housing costs, the expense of sustainability and resilience projects, and silos within government.

The City of Alameda strives to be a leader in climate action and resilience. The City’s first Sustainability and Resilience Manager was hired in 2021, new programs are being launched, and new policies are being adopted. Through adoption of its award-winning Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) in 2019, Alameda has set an ambitious goal of reducing emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral as soon as possible. The CARP charts a course to achieve this goal through improvements to transportation, buildings, energy use, and waste management. If we are successful, we will reduce Alameda’s greenhouse gas emissions, increase quality of life, and build a resilient, thriving city.

As we accelerate CARP implementation, there is great need and opportunity for Fellows to provide creative input and leadership to shape future programs and initiatives. The Fellows will report to the Sustainability and Resilience Manager and will be supported by staff and department heads in many departments, as well as engaged community groups who will all be eager to support and mentor the Fellows as they do their work. 

The role of the Fellows will be to expand the capacity of the sustainability and resilience program to take bold action, rooted in equity and community resilience, and to reduce our GHG emissions through decarbonization of transportation and buildings, adaptation to climate hazards and carbon sequestration initiatives. Specifically, the Fellows will work to complete and implement the City’s equitable existing buildings energy efficiency and electrification roadmap, support implementation of EV charging in rental and multi-family properties on city-owned properties, prepare for sea level rise and expand the urban forest.

Project Description

Alameda is seeking two Fellows to support equitable CARP implementation. One Fellow will focus on building and transportation decarbonization efforts while the second Fellow will focus on the city’s climate adaptation and carbon sequestration efforts.

The Decarbonization Fellow will focus on planning, programs, outreach, education, and policy development to support Alameda’s goals of decarbonizing the transportation and building sectors. With Alameda Municipal Power providing 100% clean energy to all customers, the stage for a transition to an all-electric future. Alameda is developing an equitable existing building energy efficiency electrification roadmap in partnership with AMP and beginning implementation of priority actions to equitably electrify all existing buildings in Alameda. 

The roadmap will provide a phased approach that includes new policies, financing options, expanded rebates, and community education and outreach. The roadmap will align with other citywide efforts to create affordable, safe, healthy and resilient housing. The role of the Fellow will be to finalize the roadmap and begin to implement priority initiatives. As funding increasingly becomes available to support public EV charging, Alameda is looking to increase the availability of EV charging citywide. We believe expanded public charging is key to increasing adoption of EVs and supporting renters and multi-family dwellers who have more difficulty installing home EV charging. Staff anticipates receiving funding for a number of EV charging projects in 2022 and the Fellow will support implementation of these projects and coordinating with Alameda Municipal Power to provide additional resources and support to multi-family and commercial property owners to install additional chargers on their properties. This Fellow may also work on related efforts to seismically retrofit older residential buildings, recruit Cool Block leaders and support the city’s Cool City Challenge to implement a carbon moonshot strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.

The Adaptation and Sequestration Fellow will support Alameda’s efforts to adapt to a changing climate by equitably preparing for sea level rise and other climate related hazards and expanding our ability to sequester carbon already in the atmosphere. In 2021, staff convened the San Leandro Bay/Oakland-Alameda Estuary Adaptation Working Group of more than 25 agencies, jurisdictions and community organizations to coordinate flood and adaptation projects to protect and restore water quality, habitat, and community resilience.

This Fellow will support development of a coordinated and inclusive future-looking subregional organizational structure and action plan with shared vision and needs assessment to accelerate sea level rise adaptation in alignment with the BayAdapt Joint Platform. The Fellow will also support development of a citywide adaptation pathway master plan that will achieve the larger regional vision and identify the range of shoreline protection, groundwater management and adaptation strategies needed in the short- to long-term, as well as land use, building and infrastructure design standards needed to help Alameda adapt to rising sea and groundwater levels.

The Fellow may also support update of the city’s Urban Forest Plan with an expanded scope to include park trees and select water efficient, shade-producing, fire-resistant tree species adapted to Alameda’s changing climate. The plan will also focus on ensuring an equitable tree canopy distribution to protect from extreme heat and air pollutants. This Fellow may also work on sequestration projects related to compost and mulch application, wetlands restoration and implementation of priority adaptation projects.

Both Fellows will support deep community engagement and education around their respective focus areas and support data collection and communication of our progress towards achieving CARP goals through the 2022 annual report and dashboard.

Desired Skills

The ideal Fellows will be passionate, creative, critical thinkers who have a strong understanding of the root causes of social inequity and are dedicated to inclusive community engagement and creating sustainability and resilience solutions that achieve equitable outcomes. Interest in planning, policy development and analysis, public outreach, clear communication, marketing, and the ability to juggle multiple projects demands at once will all be important. These position have the rare opportunity to work closely with multiple department heads and high-quality work products will be expected.

In turn, the Fellows will have the opportunity to work on interesting and complex problems and can expect high quality mentorship and experience with a city at the front lines of climate impacts.

Organization & Community Highlights

Alameda’s relatively flat geography, and compact urban form make it particularly conducive to biking and walking. Some of the city’s highlights include a 3-mile beach, stunning views of San Francisco, and lots of sunshine tempered by a cooling Bay breeze. The community is relatively diverse and very family friendly. Just over half of the population are renters, and just over half are people of color, with Asians being the largest group after whites.

Alameda has a strong sense of community connection and local pride. Alamedans are enthusiastic about climate action and focused on adapting to the rising seas threatening the city. Many community organizations are actively involved in a variety of aspects of climate action and adaptation. Both city government and the community are focused on living out our unofficial motto, “everyone belongs here”. That commitment takes many forms across the community and has catalyzed the community to declare itself of sanctuary city, focus on reimagining policing, setting up an alternative mental health response team, and being the first city to pay a Shuumi Land Tax to participate in rematriation of land to Indigenous people.

Alameda’s livability, access to recreation, compact urban design, and central location make it an ideal place for a Fellow to stay. Previous Fellows have also stayed in nearby Berkeley and Oakland during their service year. Alameda is easily accessible from those cities by bike, ferry, bus, and train. Alameda is in the center of the 9-county Bay Area, meaning that a wealth of recreational and professional development opportunities are easily accessible.

As a microcosm of the Bay Area’s resilience and sustainability challenges and a leader in climate action, Alameda is a fascinating place to work. The City of Alameda is a welcoming, diverse and supportive place to work and the Fellow will have many opportunities to work with a wide range of professionals across many different departments as well as with the community. The island city is both small enough that a motivated Fellow can make a meaningful impact in 10 months and large enough to be dynamic and exciting.

Remote or On-Site Placement

Alameda staff is currently working 50% remote and 50% in the office at City Hall. Staff may transition to full time in person in 2022, however no definitive plans have been communicated. We are also beginning to transition to more in person community events and accordingly the Fellows will be expected to be physically located near Alameda during their service.

Menu
Skip to content