Host: County of Sonoma
Region: Bay Area
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation, Waste Management, Government
Skills Needed: Project Management, Research, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Communication, Detail-Oriented

Service Needs & Plans

This CivicSpark Fellow would be hosted at the County of Sonoma’s Climate Action and Resiliency Division (CARD), within the County Administrator’s Office. Formally created in the fall of 2021, CARD is tasked with overseeing County-wide and community-based climate initiatives and is guided by the County’s 5-year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is organized around five pillars, one of which is dedicated to Climate Action and Resiliency. Within this pillar are many ambitious climate-related goals and objectives, including one that aims to make all County facilities zero waste. While this is a great target, the County does not have a baseline waste inventory to demonstrate what its waste profile even looks like. This CivicSpark Fellow would help conduct a municipal waste audit on all County facilities and aid in the development of a Zero Waste Plan. CARD currently hosts 12 full-time equivalent employees and is led by a County Deputy Director. Staff within the Division offer an array of subject matter expertise, including waste management, energy use, carbon accounting, sustainability planning, toxics and air pollution, climate policies, and more. The Fellow would be overseen by CARD’s Climate Analyst, who has extensive waste auditing and zero waste planning experience. Limited capacity has forced the division to postpone the development of this waste audit and subsequent zero waste plan to date, but bringing on a CivicSpark Fellow would aid with these capacity issues and allow CARD to refocus its efforts on this project. We at CARD are confident in our ability to meaningfully and successfully host a Fellow. We know that the work they complete will make a significant contribution to the County’s greater climate and waste-related goals and objectives, and the Climate Analyst is extremely excited at the opportunity to help oversee a CivicSpark Fellow.

Project Description

The information that this CivicSpark Fellow would gather and produce is critical for the County to effectively address its waste stream and make progress towards its zero waste goal. The Climate Action and Resiliency Division is very excited to submit this application to host a fellow to help conduct a municipal waste audit on all County facilities and begin drafting a County Zero Waste Plan.

More specifically, we anticipate the Fellow’s workflow to follow this outline:

First, the CivicSpark Fellow will spend an initial period familiarizing themselves with the County’s operations and facilities. They will also kick-off with some background work to obtain a level of understanding around waste auditing (dependent on experience). Then, they will help lead the data collection and analysis efforts which we anticipate being the most significant step (time-wise) of their project. Additionally, the Fellow and will translate all their data collection and analyses into a County waste audit template (or instruction guide), which is intended to make future waste auditing efforts streamlined and efficient. Depending on the level of experience and interest of the Fellow, they could also be involved in finalizing the approach and methodology, however the Climate Analyst is prepared to set the Fellow up in this regard. Once data collection and analysis is complete, the Fellow will shift their focus on drafting recommendations for the County’s Zero Waste Plan. This will involve evaluating their findings to highlight opportunities for maximum waste reduction, considering factors such as cost, capacity, and resources. We do not anticipate that the Fellow will be able to fully author the Plan in their Service Year, but we hope that their findings can be summarized to help guide the creation of the Plan after their departure. Lastly, we would like to invite the Fellow to help present these findings in ways that are tangible to the public. This will likely involve creating public outreach materials, such as flyers or infographics, and creating and giving public presentations.

Throughout the entire process, CARD’s Climate Analyst will be available to assist and guide the Fellow as needed. CARD’s suite of other sustainability staffers will also aid in making this an enriching experience for the Fellow.

The desired outcomes of this project are: 1) a current waste audit for all County facilities, 2) a waste template (or instruction guide) for streamlined future audits, 3) draft recommendations for a County Zero Waste Plan, and 4) outreach materials to present findings.

With the help of a CivicSpark Fellow, the County will be able to put itself in a ready position to conduct regular waste audits into the future, which is pivotal to achieving our zero waste goals. Their service hours and the creation of a waste audit template will make regular audits possible in the future – a hurdle our office just does not have current capacity to overcome.

Desired Skills

It would be most ideal to have a candidate who has some sort of waste auditing experience, or even noted interest in the waste field. Experience with other types of accounting, such as greenhouse gas accounting or water reduction and quantification, could also translate well! We would also hope for a candidate that is detail-oriented and excited about data collection and analysis. Experience with creating visual graphics is another plus, as is someone with demonstrated ability to have effective project and time management skills.

Organization & Community Highlights

The Climate Action and Resiliency Division operates within the County Administrator’s Office. Our workplace will offer a Fellow significant insight into local government operations. Because of the Division’s placement within the County Administrator’s Office and because of the cross-department nature of this specific project, the Fellow will be able to learn more about all of the County’s different departments and agencies, as well as gain awareness around local elected officials. Additionally, our Division deals with a very broad array of climate-related projects and inquiries, ranging from natural solutions, to greenhouse gas inventories, to environmental justice issues, to climate policies and legislation at the state and federal levels, and more! Our Fellow will gain lots of exposure by working closely with our team.

While Climate Action and Resiliency is one of the five key pillars of our County’s guiding Strategic Plan, so is Racial Equity and Social Justice. As such, the County has been making significant efforts to amplify its work as it relates to equity and justice, which has included the creation of a new department: the Office of Equity. CARD has been working closely with the Office of Equity on several projects, as environmental and climate justice is central to our work. CARD has recently drafted an evaluation framework for prioritizing projects, of which equity and environmental justice plays a central role in. We are also on a mission to improve and further our community engagement and local partnerships with community-based organizations. Additionally, our Climate Analyst (who would supervise this Fellow) has spent the past year as a part of the County’s Core Equity Team (comprised of staff from across County departments and agencies). She has dedicated many hours to different trainings and working sessions, and is currently in the process of developing an equity-focused staff working group within the broader County Administrator’s Office (which is anticipated to begin meeting in the coming months). She is also helping create an equity training session that the Board of Supervisors and Department Heads will undergo. Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is very much at the heart of all that we do in our office.

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.