UNH Sustainability Fellowships 2024 for Collaboration on Climate Change
Sustainability Fellowship
Climate Change Vulnerability and Resilience Assessment
Town of Eliot
Eliot, Maine
About the Sustainability Fellows Program:
UNH Sustainability Fellowships pair exceptional students from UNH and across the U.S. with municipal, educational, corporate, and non-profit partners to work on transformative sustainability initiatives each summer. Sustainability Fellows undertake challenging projects that are designed to create an immediate impact, offer a quality learning experience, and foster meaningful collaboration. Fellows work on-site (or online) with their mentors at partner organizations during the summer, supported by a network of Fellows, partners, alumni, and the UNH Team.
A detailed description of one Fellowship follows. To learn more about the other Fellowships offered this year, and for application instructions, click here.
Eligibility:
- Students and recent graduates who will have earned an undergraduate degree from ANY accredited college or university by May 2024 (current seniors, recent graduates, and graduate/PhD students).
About the Host Organization:
The Town of Eliot is home to over 7,000 people, located along the Piscataqua River in York County, Maine. Eliot is proud of our beautiful natural resources, trails and other recreation assets, agricultural activity, small businesses, and engaged community members. It’s an exciting time in Eliot, with updates to the Comprehensive Plan and Open Space Plan underway. We have two municipal solar arrays and are actively working to expand our walking and bicycling network. The Town is a member of the Community Resilience Partnership (CRP), a program of the Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF). With the help of this partnership, we are excited to expand our work on climate resilience.
About the Fellowship:
In early 2023, the Town of Eliot successfully completed enrollment in the CRP, which offers grants to support Maine communities to reduce emissions and prepare for climate change impacts. This process included completing self-assessments about the town’s potential needs related to climate resilience, and then holding a community workshop to discuss and prioritize resilience actions. In December 2022, the Eliot Select Board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to join the CRP. This resolution identified a range of impacts affecting Eliot and the region and underscored the need for Eliot to take action to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The Town identified a climate vulnerability assessment as the priority next step and was selected to receive a Community Action Grant for this work. The Town is in the process of identifying a consultant to work with for this project. This grant-funded project will run through September 2025, and the Fellowship will overlap with the project’s early stages.
During their tenure, the Fellow will:
- Review existing literature, data, and reports on climate change vulnerabilities most applicable to Eliot (e.g. SLR effects on the Piscataqua River, riverine flooding, intense rainstorms, impacts to agriculture, etc.) to help us begin to understand how these trends may negatively affect our community in the future
- Research potential resilience strategies to introduce ways the community can reduce risks from these vulnerabilities, and research funding sources that can help us implement these strategies
- Create GIS maps that show climate-vulnerable areas and risks
- Analyze community survey data collected using Maptionnaire, the Town’s survey platform
- Plan, prepare for, and help facilitate community engagement activities
- Support and participate in Community Working Group meetings
- Develop a report that summarizes the Fellow’s findings – including the above research, maps, and analysis, as well as recommendations – to be incorporated into the overall Vulnerability Assessment
Outcomes:
Overall project objectives and deliverables include:
- The Town of Eliot establishes an assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and resilience capacities.
- The Fellow will contribute to various work products as part of this assessment (e.g., data collection and analysis, GIS mapping, literature review, etc.)[AD1]
- Eliot community members are engaged in the assessment process, share input about local climate impacts, and identify opportunities to build resilience.
- The Fellow will contribute to Community Working Group meetings, including supporting development of agendas, meeting materials, and notes/summaries.
- The Fellow will also support development of products related to the community engagement activities, such as an engagement plan, survey data analysis, and communication products related to the project.
- A Fellowship-specific final deliverable, such as a summary of the Fellow’s findings and recommendations for the remainder of the assessment project.
Impact:
Expected skills and experience gained through the Fellowship
The Fellowship will offer the Fellow the opportunity to gain or further develop the following skills and experience:
- GIS and mapping
- Data collection/analysis (quantitative and qualitative), literature reviews, synthesis of information, data visualization
- Planning and implementing community engagement activities – e.g., public workshops, surveys
- Communication skills – e.g., developing written, visual, and/or audio content such as a factsheet, poster, video, social media posts, StoryMap, etc.
- Meeting planning and facilitation
- Experience working with municipal staff and volunteer boards, as well as the consultant, likely with opportunities to engage with additional organizations/agencies in the state/region working on climate resilience
There is room for the Fellow to identify priority skills they would like to develop through this project that can be emphasized in the Fellow’s work. The Mentor team can also support the Fellow to identify relevant professional development and networking opportunities they would like to pursue during the Fellowship.
Broader impact
This vulnerability assessment project has been identified by the Town as a critical next step that will set Eliot up to prioritize subsequent actions to prepare for climate impacts and build resilience. The Town built funding for a Fellow into the proposal for this work, which could be an example for other organizations/municipalities to replicate. The Fellow’s work will occur at an important stage in the larger project to provide added capacity and creative input that can inform the remainder of the project after the Fellowship. Eliot’s resulting vulnerability assessment, to which the Fellow will contribute, can offer an example for other municipalities in the region which haven’t yet taken this step, and much of the information and actions will likely be relevant to nearby communities as well.
Desired Qualifications:
- A bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences, urban planning, or a related field
- Interest in climate adaptation/mitigation particularly at the municipal scale
- Familiarity/experience with climate vulnerability assessments
- Transferrable skills that would be helpful include:
- Experience with literature reviews and data collection/analysis
- Experience facilitating or supporting community engagement activities
- Communication skills – e.g., developing written, visual, and/or audio content such as a factsheet, poster, video, social media posts, StoryMap, etc.
- Basic GIS proficiency
Location:
Town of Eliot, Maine – 1333 State Rd., Eliot, ME 03903
The Town of Eliot can offer the Fellow a flexible work arrangement, including the option to work remotely most of the time. Some in-person work is expected, such as attending an initial orientation meeting, participating in an in-person tour of climate-vulnerable areas of town, and assisting with setting up and facilitating public information sessions. For weekly check-ins and Working Group meetings, the Fellow has the option to participate in-person or remotely.
Mentors: Jeff Brubaker, AICP, Town Planner (primary mentor); also supported by project consultant (TBD) and Conservation Commission member Lisa Wise
Compensation:
$8,000 (post-bac)
(taxable and distributed on a two-week payroll cycle over the course of the Fellowship)
Expectations:
Fellows are expected to be primarily dedicated to their assigned projects throughout the summer, and also participate in a variety of networking activities, professional development opportunities, and presentations coordinated by UNH Sustainability Institute (UNHSI). Specifically, Fellows are expected to:
- Attend a mandatory virtual orientation prior to the start of the Fellowship term, May 28 and 29, 2024.
- Work full-time for the partner organization, May 30 – August 16, 2024
- Complete 400 hours of work, including project work with host organization as well as UNHSI activities, between May 28 – August 16, 2024.
- Complete a Fellowship project according to the work plan.
- Participate in weekly webinars and advisory group meetings.
- Present work at in person launch event on June 17 and 18, 2024 and virtual final presentation on August 8.
- Engage in additional professional development, networking, and advisory activities as offered.
- Provide and receive feedback at the end of the Fellowship.
Apply by February 10 at
