What is I-REN?
I-REN is a consortium of three regional agencies (Western Riverside Council of Governments, Coachella Valley Associated Governments, and the San Bernardino Council of Governments) representing over 50+ public agencies in the Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The I-REN Energy Fellowship will provide fellows with the flexibility of locale choice, each with its own socio-economic personality and characteristics. In any of the locations, fellows will be able to demonstrate their commitment to equitable and inclusive energy expertise to communities and areas that most need those resources. Their participation in the I-REN Energy Fellow will make them part of a group of like-minded individuals that will encourage frequent relationship building, peer learning, and sharing lessons learned and best practices.
Up to 27 Fellows will be supporting up to 27 public agencies across the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in Southern California). Fellows will be serving to support and fill organizational capacity needs in the area of Energy Efficiency, project identification, and energy building identification and benchmarking, climate/energy action planning, outreach of workforce, education & training into the communities, and other sustainability initiatives. Historically the cities in the subregion have lacked the capacity to track, monitor, implement and comply with various energy and environmental statewide goals and requirements.
The I-REN Energy Fellowship will encourage Fellows to support local agencies in “leading by example” by assisting in identifying, designing, developing, and implementing various energy efficiency projects in public facilities. In doing so, lead by example and provide that sustainability expertise to the surrounding communities. Additionally, fellows will create relationships with local communities and provide outreach of additional I-REN energy initiatives (trainings, certification/accreditation programs, etc) and city resources to the communities (underserved, rural, hard-to-reach, etc) that need them most.
Project Description
1. Overarching goals of the project – Develop a recurring annual cohort of up to 27 fellows across the 54 jurisdictions in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to identify and support local energy initiatives while also developing new projects that can benefit the host agency but also provide scalability to neighboring communities and cities to take on similar projects easily. The close proximity of fellows will allow for frequent collaboration, peer learning, professional growth, and sharing lessons learned and best practices.
2. Role of the Fellow – The Fellow(s) will support host agency(ies) participating in the identification and implementation of energy efficiency projects that help the city to meet statewide goals, reduce energy consumption, and save money for the city and the community. Many of these projects also have the opportunity to create more efficient, comfortable community spaces desirable for public gatherings. The fellows will also help to identify the key community groups within each of their agencies that are in most need of services and help make that connection with the desired resources.
3. Desired project outcomes – Identify and benchmark agency facilities on energy usage (data reporting), assist technical teams with identifying projects that can be implemented across the city to save energy (energy auditing and project management reporting), encourage community participation in regional energy trainings and workshops (relationship building, networking, and participation tracking reporting).
4. How these resources will help increase the agency’s capacity – The state of California has ambitious Energy and Climate Goals. Many of the cities in the Riverside and San Bernardino county areas do not have the capacity, either full or near-full-time staff to track or monitor these goals adequately, let alone work toward complying with all of them. The I-REN Energy Fellows will become these agencies’ Energy Specialists creating that capacity while also positioning themselves to receive the education, knowledge, and skills to become future subject matter experts in energy, energy efficiency, and the environment.
Who are we looking for?
I-REN is seeking fellows (recent university, or community college graduates) that first and foremost have an interest and/or passion for advancing energy initiatives and a willingness to learn how to do so in the public sector. Additionally, I-REN is looking for fellows that can manage, analyze, monitor data. Facilitate conversations with agency staff and technical experts, manage the implementation of projects, and have the ability to communicate – in a meaningful way – technical information to members of the public or other agency staff that do not have their level of knowledge/expertise. experts in energy, energy efficiency, and the environment.
