Join the 2019-20 Community Resilience Student Team

 

2017-18 student fellows from across the UC convene in an outdoor classroom during a leadership training intensive led by UCI Community Resilience Projects

UCI Community Resilience Projects invites student applicants to join the 2019-20 Community Resilience student team. Participating students will receive an academic experience in which the focus is hands-on learning in a professional environment. The opportunities are open to UCI undergraduate and graduate students in good standing from any discipline. Work-study and DREAM Center students are welcomed and encouraged to apply.

There are currently three open spots on the 2019-20 student team. Student team members work under the mentorship of director Abby Reyes together with a host of faculty, students, staff, and community collaborators to fulfill project aims.  General details applicable to all three open spots:

  • Each opportunity is paid;
  • Each opportunity will take approximately ten hours per week during the quarter throughout the 2019-20 academic year and target start and end dates vary by opportunity;
  • Project locations include the campus office of the UCI Community Resilience Projects, UCI Sustainability Resource Center, and, in the case of the Projects Team Member, at community-designated gathering spaces in Santa Ana, California, as well;
  • Each opportunity will remain open until filled.

Visit opportunity-specific details below for project descriptions, application processes, and other important information. If you are interested in applying for more than one opportunity, take care to indicate so in your application materials. Please direct questions to communityresilience@uci.edu.

Note: there is also a distinct opportunity to participate as a student in the Community Resilience Projects through the student-led co-lab. The opportunity to apply to become part of the 2020 co-lab cohort will be announced here during Fall quarter 2019.

The Community Resilience CNI Fellowship is one of several fellowships offered through the UC President’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) and Global Food Initiative (GFI). To view the full range of CNI and GFI fellowship opportunities, visit here. While most fellowships for Academic Year 2019-20 have been filled, the Community Resilience CNI Fellowship remains open.

At the UCI Office of Sustainability, we are working on several projects that foster people-centered and inclusive solutions to climate and sustainability challenges. These projects are driven by students, faculty, staff, and community collaborators who come together for meaningful exchange, education, research, and action for social transformation. We work from a shared understanding that the problems of climate change, racism and all social injustice, economic inequality, and our challenged democracy are connected, and so are the solutions. “Community resilience” describes our efforts to create the human infrastructure needed to ensure that climate and sustainability solutions protect and defend both biological and cultural diversity.

The selected Community Resilience CNI fellow will work with UCI Community Resilience Projects to integrate and align UCI’s sustainability and climate activities with UCI’s wide-ranging activities that forward understanding and progress on racial and social justice. The fellow will also support the UC-wide efforts to integrate social equity into the work of the UC Sustainability Steering Committee and the UC President’s Global Climate Leadership Council. At UCI, this work will include involvement in UCI’s Community Resilience Co-Lab. The student-led Co-lab aims to build a stronger campus community response to the enduring and intersecting crises of environmental, racial, and social injustice. It brings together UCI graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff from across disciplines and departments to co-generate critical and collaborative shared space for community, experimentation, skills-sharing, and action. The selected fellow will work with staff and faculty mentors from the Co-lab to plan and carry out AY 19-20 fellowship activities to continue to weave together students, faculty, and staff working at the intersection of these issues.

This fellowship runs from September 23, 2019 – June 13, 2020.

The fellow will receive:

  • hands-on, project-based experience in the fellowship area;
  • approximately $4,000;
  • campus and university-wide recognition as a member of a select group of student leaders;
  • an opportunity to convene in person with climate and food fellows from across the UC system at the beginning and end of the fellowship year;
  • an opportunity to participate in intensive sustainability leadership training and retreat; and
  • guidance from prominent scholars and mentorship from practitioners in the field.

In return, the fellow is expected to:

  • contribute approximately 8-10 hours per week to the fellowship during academic year 2019-20;
  • orally present one status update each quarter at select campus-wide events;
  • attend one fellows’ study break each quarter;
  • write at least one blog post each quarter for select social media platforms;
  • create at least one additional way to engage at least 20 additional members of the campus community in the fellowship project;
  • complete work products specific to the fellowship project by June 12, 2020; and
  • write a short mid-term report (date TBD) and final report by June 12, 2020.

The fellow is expected to participate in the following UC system-wide activities (expenses paid):

  • attend one multi-day residential Sustainability Leadership Training (October 4-6, 2019);
  • participate in quarterly meetings and/or conference calls as needed;
  • attend Fellows’ field trip in April 2020; and
  • participate in a symposium and poster presentation held in conjunction with CHESC in June or July 2020.

To apply for the Community Resilience CNI Fellowship, send a cover letter and résumé to communityresilience@uci.edu.

In your cover letter, please indicate (a) what interests you in this fellowship and (b) what qualifies you to participate in this opportunity.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until filled.

The Communications team member will contribute to UCI Community Resilience Projects through web, email, and social media communications. The opportunity provides an experiential learning and professional development opportunity to apply and expand skills in writing, graphic design, and creative expression as a key means of building community resilience. The target dates for this opportunity are August 19, 2019 – June 30, 2020, which is a bit longer than the academic year. This opportunity is structured as a student assistantship at the rate of $13.50/hour.

Requirements to apply: Willingness to learn. Initiative. Strong written and oral communication skills. Familiarity with website maintenance. Demonstrated experience with graphic design, social media, HTML, and email campaigns. Familiarity with WordPress, MailChimp, Flickr, Canva, SurveyMonkey, Formstack, and similar platforms a plus.

To apply to become the 2019-20 Community Resilience Communications team member, send the following to communityresilience@uci.edu:

  1. Cover letter,
  2. Résumé,
  3. One writing sample, and
  4. Two samples of your graphic design work (e.g., website URLs or samples of graphically-designed documents).

In your cover letter, please indicate (a) what interests you in this fellowship, (b) what qualifies you to participate in this opportunity, and (c) whether you are available to begin as early as August 19, 2019. Applications will still be considered for those who are unable to begin by this target start date. For your writing sample, please provide an excerpt of your writing from a recent class assignment, publication, or another endeavor. The purpose of both the writing and graphic design samples is to help demonstrate your communication style and skill.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until filled.

The Community Resilience Projects team member will contribute to the Cooperation Curriculum Project, a collaboration among UCI Community Resilience Projects, UCI Sustainability Resource Center, and members of Cooperacion Santa Ana and the CRECE Cooperativa. The project provides an experiential learning opportunity for professional development. The Curriculum Project aims to prepare UCI students, faculty, staff, and residents of Santa Ana to engage in on-going community-driven efforts to build healthy communities based on community ownership, cooperation, and land stewardship for food sovereignty. The team member will play an administrative and facilitation support role in the project’s upcoming workshop series, which will take place in Santa Ana on Thursday evenings during August-November, 2019. The student will also play support roles in research, writing, administration, and facilitation for the project’s anticipated subsequent co-curriculum series on shifting our work from community engagement to ownership.

This opportunity is structured as a student assistantship at the rate of $13.50/hour. Written and oral Spanish language fluency required. Demonstrated experience with and commitment to working with low-income communities seeking racial, economic, and/or environmental justice required. Familiarity with small business planning desired but not required. The target start date is August 19, 2019.

To apply to become the 2019-20 Community Resilience Projects Team Member, send the following to communityresilience@uci.edu:

  1. Cover letter,
  2. Résumé, and
  3. One writing sample.

In your cover letter, please indicate (a) what interests you in this fellowship, (b) what qualifies you to participate in this opportunity, and (c) whether you are available to begin as early as August 19, 2019. Applications will still be considered for those who are unable to begin by this target start date. For your writing sample, please provide an excerpt of your writing from a recent class assignment, publication, or another endeavor. The purpose of the writing sample is to help demonstrate your communication style and skill. It may be in English or Spanish.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until filled.