Bay Area Climate Justice Fellowships 2022: Assessing Impacts of the Environmental Justice Academy in East Palo Alto

About the organization

Nuestra Casa has been serving the needs of the immigrant Latino/x population who reside within East Palo Alto and the mid-peninsula of the Bay Area since our inception in 2002. Our mission is to uplift Latino/x families in East Palo Alto and the mid-peninsula through community education, leadership development, and advocacy. Nuestra Casa’s programming also serves low-income residents and is community-led and informed.

About the internship

Nuestra Casa is looking for a highly-skilled, energetic, and assertive individual to assist us in evaluating our Environmental Justice Academy. Our Environmental Justice Academy organizes and empowers community residents to take ownership of their advocacy abilities. The goal is to ensure low-income and immigrant communities’ inclusion in discussions and policies related to climate change. Participants built their environmental understanding incrementally as a cohort during the 12-week session through this process.

Nuestra Casa is well known for adapting all of our workshops to local cultural identities, including Pacific Islander, African American, and Latino/x. A trainer who identifies with each group facilitates the meetings.

The internship has three components:

1. Analyze/summarize the data collected from program participants. Conduct brief interviews with facilitators and a handful of graduates to add context. Write a short report that we can submit to our funder and repurpose for a blog post.

2. Design a more rigorous evaluation plan to study whether and how the Environmental Justice Academy is scalable and replicable in other communities.

3. Identify potential academic partners and funders to implement a third round of the Academy using robust evaluation methods.

The Environmental Justice Intern will also be welcome to participate in our broader environmental justice efforts serving East Palo Alto and surrounding communities, including water quality and rights, edible food rescue, and disaster planning and mitigation.

The Environmental Justice Intern will report to the Environmental Justice Specialist. The Intern will benefit from additional (and enthusiastic) mentorship from our Executive Director and a Senior Consultant. Both staff members also have MPA and MPP graduate degrees and deep experience in research and evaluation.

Qualifications:

• Strong quantitative and qualitative skills. Ability to analyze data in spreadsheets or statistical software program.
• Past work experience in the field of environmental justice a plus.
• Strong passion and commitment to social and environmental justice.
• Knowledge of issues of immigrant communities and low income people.
• Ability to engage a diverse community for social justice.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team.

Fellowship stipend:

• Coterm students: $6,500 - $7,000
• Masters students: $7,500 (for a full-time role)
• PhD students: up to $5,000 in supplemental summer income (for a part-time role)