Host: County of Sonoma
Region: Bay Area
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation, Disaster Response/Emergency Management
Skills Needed: Relationship Management, Project Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Wildfire Recovery/Home Hardening, Communication, Leadership

Service Needs & Plans

This project will build a public-private pilot program to incentivize fire hardening by aligning available grants and financing with fire insurance cost or coverage benefits.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires in California. Catastrophic wildfires caused devastating impacts in Sonoma County in three of the last five years. Fire season now spans most of the year, and the question throughout California each year is not whether catastrophic fires will occur, but where. Losses from wildfires are so large, and the risk of future catastrophic fires so great, that fire insurance premiums are sky-rocketing and providers are declining coverage in high-risk fire areas across the state. Building our resilience to wildfires is critical for our future.

Fire science demonstrates certain building and landscape features substantially increase property resilience during wildfire, and meaningfully reduce the risk of losses. Some of these features represent a radical change to how homes and yards look and feel, and many features are costly to implement, so homeowners have been reluctant to undertake them.

The Climate Action and Resiliency (CAR) Pillar of the Sonoma County Strategic Plan prioritizes fire resilience through vegetation management and structure hardening. CAR Pillar Goal 1 is continue to invest in wildfire preparedness and resiliency strategies by (1) promoting fire hardening of homes; (2) providing outreach, education, and resources for vegetation management; and (3) leveraging grant programs.

The Climate Action and Resiliency Division of the Sonoma County Administrator’s Office coordinates County-wide implementation of the CAR Pillar. Within the Division, Energy & Sustainability implements a municipal financing program and offers education and financial incentives for fire hardening and resilience upgrades. Permit Sonoma, a separate department, develops land use policies, enforces building/zoning standards, and implements fire prevention programs. Permit Sonoma was awarded a Hazard Mitigation Grant for fire resilience and anticipates award of a Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant. With these grants, Permit Sonoma will award funds to property owners to undertake fire hardening; Energy & Sustainability is developing the application and funding processes.

These County staff are also working with representatives of the insurance industry, the California State Association of Counties, and others to develop a pilot program to further incentivize fire hardening. The pilot program will award fire insurance coverage or cost benefits based on certified homeowner completion of specified fire hardening actions. It will also align available grants and financing to fund those actions.

Project Description

The Climate Action and Resiliency Division in the Sonoma County Administrator’s Office is responsible for coordinating County-wide implementation of the CAR Pillar of the Strategic Plan. Within the Division, Climate Resiliency staff coordinates and advances County-wide efforts on climate and resiliency, and Energy & Sustainability implements the SCEIP financing program and other energy and sustainability programs. For this project, Climate Resiliency and Energy & Sustainability staff are collaborating with staff in Permit Sonoma to develop County proposals to the coalition developing the pilot program. This Fellow will be part of the Climate Action and Resiliency Division and will work closely with the Division’s Energy and Sustainability staff and staff of Permit Sonoma.

The Fellow will play a primary role coordinating and supporting the negotiations and development of the pilot program documents. With mentorship from the Division Director as well as Climate Action and Resiliency staff, the Fellow will coordinate the meetings of the coalition, create agendas that propel negotiations forward, and compile, update, or develop supporting materials. The Fellow will help moderate discussions of the coalition (via zoom, and occasionally in-person) and summarize agreements and areas of continuing work after each meeting. Working with senior staff, the Fellow will help frame questions and identify opportunities for agreement. The Fellow will also research and review fire-science and resiliency materials and summarize key points for members of the coalition to consider, and may also summarize aspects of County programs or processes related to the pilot program. Finally, the Fellow will help develop program materials and will support an effective transition of the pilot program to County staff who will implement it.

A successful project will result in:

•An agreed-upon set of certified fire-hardening actions/conditions that will, upon completion, result in certification;

•An agreement between the County of Sonoma and private sector partners outlining the insurance benefits a homeowner will receive for completing fire hardening and receiving a certificate;

•A blueprint for combining available incentives and financing to increase homeowner participation in undertaking fire hardening activities and achievement of certification;

•Program documents articulating the elements of the pilot program, including any needed application forms, certification forms, and other supporting materials;

•PowerPoint presentation materials for partner agencies and the public;

•Supplemental outreach materials for homeowners;

•A report to the Board of Supervisors summarizing the project and outcomes; and

•Organized hand-off of the program, including materials and knowledge transfer to the Energy & Sustainability Manager and at least one team member.

The pilot grant funding is only available to specified locations and parcels already identified through the grant proposal. If time allows, the project may also include negotiations by the coalition regarding fire hardening certification of community. This would involve completion of coordinated fire hardening by all homeowners in a community to provide added fire resilience, and achieve additional insurance benefit.

Although fire hardening is a top priority of the County, the Division does not have resources to appropriately staff this pilot program. This Fellow will bring dedicated and focused attention necessary to understand and help overcome the barriers to agreement between the parties of the coalition, and ensure the resulting pilot program has all of the requisite supporting documentation. This project is specifically intended to increase the fire resilience and safety of residents of Sonoma County, and decrease the loss of property and life due to wildfires.

Desired Skills

The ideal Fellow for this project is someone who is organized and outgoing. Coursework in climate and fire resilience would be helpful although detailed scientific knowledge is not required. Experience supporting collaboration between people with different needs and objectives would also be helpful, however the project will develop and refine those skills. The Fellow should be comfortable reaching out to coalition members who are senior representatives of organizations, and be able to convey empathy and respect for their positions. Skills in customer service would be helpful, and positive and persuasive communication. This project also involves data gathering, synthesis, and interpretation to develop practical solutions to a focused challenge.

Organization & Community Highlights

The Climate Action and Resiliency Division was created within the County Administrator’s Office in 2021. The Division helps the County respond to the climate crisis and achieve its climate resiliency goals and objectives. The Division also works with community groups and stakeholders to ensure that the County is contributing to community-wide climate action and building resiliency in our natural systems and the built environment for the County of Sonoma organization, and most importantly, the members of our public. The Division’s primary focus & responsibilities include:

•Implementing the Climate Action and Resiliency Pillar of the County’s Strategic Plan,
•Promoting climate equity and justice in County programs and funding considerations,
•Achieving carbon neutrality for County operations by 2030.

Energy and Sustainability moved from County General Services to Climate Action and Resiliency in 2022. Energy & Sustainability is responsible for planning, evaluating and administering the County-wide Energy Management and Sustainability Program, including:
•Energy efficiency and water conservation education, programs and services to all residents and business owners in Sonoma County,
•Financing energy efficiency, renewable energy, drought resilience, earthquake retrofits, and wildfire hardening.

The overall Division culture is very engaged, collaborative, and supportive. Team members cross-pollinate and back each other up. Each member of the Division staff is personally committed to climate action and resiliency; it’s a very enthusiastic and mission-driven team. The Division has also embraced equity as an essential element of our work, and considers climate justice to be integral to climate action and a successful transition to the green economy.

As a member of this team, the Fellow will have broad exposure to climate action and resiliency work underway across Sonoma County government. Working under mentorship of staff in Climate Resiliency and Energy & Sustainability, the Fellow will learn and apply cutting edge fire science, and will develop and enhance skills supporting public-private partnership and problem-solving. This project is offered in collaboration with Sonoma County’s land use and emergency response planning team that is marshalling a suite of fire-prevention policies, programs, and incentives. Lastly, this effort involves coordination with private sector insurance providers, research institutions, advocacy groups, and local partners in fire prevention and resilience, giving the Fellow a broad introduction to cross-sector collaboration to solve critical climate resilience problems.

We can offer our Fellow free, unlimited access to all Sonoma County Transit bus lines (please note that this does not include Santa Rosa City Bus or Petaluma Transit lines).

Remote or On-Site Placement

We would prefer a flexible, hybrid telework schedule. We envision that this would entail occasional site visits and work-from-the-office days, and would be open to setting a schedule that best fit for the right Fellow. We would like to avoid a fully-remote position.