Host: City of Arvada
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Disaster Response / Emergency Management, Community Engagement
Skills Needed: Research, Data Analysis, Flexibility/Adaptability

Service Needs & Plans

This project will serve the City of Arvada Resilient Neighborhoods Partnership. The Partnership consists of the Community Resilience Coordinator and the Neighborhood Engagement Coordinator within the City Manager’s Office. The Resilient Neighborhoods Partnership is focused on creating a connected and resilient community to respond and recover from hazard events and other disruptions the community faces. The project will address the areas of Arvada that are less connected, and target resources through program development and technical assistance to foster resilience at the neighborhood level.

The Fellow will be embedded in the work of the existing Partnership and add capacity to reach the City’s strategic goals.

 

Project Description

The Resilient Neighborhoods Partnership has a strong foundation of work to stand on. The overarching goal of the project is to thread the aspects of the work together into complementary strategic plans and strategies to guide the work in forthcoming years.

The role of the Fellow will be focused on data analysis, GIS, and plan development and implementation for the program.
The primary outcomes include developing a Neighborhood Engagement Plan and updating the Resilience Strategy and Sustainability Plan for the City of Arvada. This will be accomplished by assisting staff directly through initiatives such as:

• Performing data analysis of social cohesion metrics and neighborhood engagement activities to complete mapping and develop recommendations for the future of social cohesion mapping;
• Supporting resident neighborhood engagement efforts with technical assistance and provide recommendations to the Neighborhood Engagement Plan incorporating concepts of sustainability, resilience and equity;
• Collecting, organizing and interpreting data to identify locations for resilience hubs and develop a toolkit for neighborhood groups to use in building resilience hubs;
• In collaboration with staff, developing an internal roadmap for Council’s Strategic Goals as they relate to resilience and neighborhood engagement.

The resources of a Fellow will greatly increase the organization’s capacity. There are two individuals that create the current partnership, but they wear other hats such as the Emergency Manager for the community. By having a Fellow focused on the Resilient Neighborhoods Partnership, the resilience challenges faced by Arvada will have a dedicated resource in addition to the current staff as they continue to work toward outlined goals.

Desired Skills

The ideal and successful Fellow will be motivated by both the mission, vision, and values of the organization as well as the content of the work day-to-day. The Fellow must be an excellent communicator, organized, and willing to jump in with both feet. Desired skills include research and data analysis, GIS, and community engagement. Use of Google Drive and Zoom is required. Any previous work in community engagement, mitigation, climate adaptation, sustainability, or emergency management is a plus.

Organization & Community Highlights

The City of Arvada is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson and Adams Counties in the Denver Metropolitan Area of Colorado. Colorado was granted statehood on August 1, 1876, and the Town of Arvada was formally incorporated on August 14, 1904. A vibrant agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title “Celery Capital of the World.” Arvada grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century as a suburb of nearby Denver, the state capital. Arvada became a Statutory City on October 31, 1951, and a Home Rule Municipality on July 23, 1963. By the end of the millennium, the population of Arvada exceeded 100,000.

Today, the City of Arvada as an organization is guided by our Mission, Vision, and Values, which speak to the commitment of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work.

• Vision: We Dream Big and Deliver.
• Mission: We are dedicated to delivering superior services to enhance the lives of everyone in our community.
• Values: Innovation – We excel in creativity, flexibility and the use of best practices while valuing diverse backgrounds, ideas and perspectives; Passion – We are a high performing, inclusive team inspiring each other to pursue excellence; Opportunity – We value our diversity, embrace possibilities, face challenges, persevere and take action to deliver quality results.

For a fourth time, the City of Arvada was named a top workplace by the Denver Post in 2021.

Remote or On-Site Placement

The City of Arvada is operating on a hybrid work schedule and continues to monitor the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with the safety of employees as a priority. It is preferred to have in-person capability to attend community meetings and Neighborhood Leader events as well as to foster collaboration. The Fellow would have a hybrid schedule similar to staff.