Internship Type: Unpaid
Start Date: October 17th
End Date: Flexible
Schedule: Approximately 10 hours per week, flexible schedule to be determined as mutually agreeable with the internship supervisor.
Position Summary
The Innovation Team at Forterra is looking for a graduate-level intern for fall 2016. We are currently working on projects at the regional and local levels to design and implement market-based programs to:
- Incentivize growth within the existing urban footprint while permanently protecting farms and forests
- Expand restoration of urban forests to reduce stormwater impacts and sequester carbon
- Pursue a vision for encouraging sustainable development around a major regional transit center
- Pioneer new markets in Washington for engineered timber products
The department is also pursuing a regional initiative to generate in-city livability and recreation- and conservation- based rural economic development in communities along Highway 2 and on the Olympic Peninsula.
The majority of the intern’s work will focus on general assistance with our projects including background research to support design and implementation of market-based real estate and conservation programs; evaluating opportunities for pursuing growth and conservation incentives in cities around the region; supporting the organization’s leadership role in a community visioning and implementation effort; assisting the design of green stormwater infrastructure programs; and supporting our emerging work in using new timber products to construct more sustainable buildings. Additional short-term research tasks may also be assigned as needed.
Depending on the amount of time the top candidates have available this position may be split into two separate internships with the responsibilities divided accordingly. We are looking for a minimum commitment of 10 hours per week for 10 weeks, with the possibility of an extension.
Examples of specific projects that the intern may work on include developer outreach in Pierce County, supporting design of a new conservation tool in Snohomish County, supporting implementation of an infrastructure financing program in several cities across the region, designing communications materials, researching opportunities for integrating urban forest restoration into cities’ stormwater management programs, supporting creation of a federally designated water trail system, and others.
Qualifications
- Research skills – intern must be proficient and comfortable utilizing various research skills for a variety of topics, including using academic journal research databases, making phone calls, conducting interviews, and compiling large amounts of information into useful, concise summaries. The intern should be familiar with generally accepted practices for citing references.
- Writing skills – intern must be able to communicate complex ideas/concepts through written reports/memos/presentations.
- Organizational skills – intern should be effective at working independently under broad direction and be responsible for managing workload to meet deadlines.
- Planning/Policy Background: general experience with planning and land use policy in Washington will be valuable.
- Creative thinking and comfort with uncertainty –research into new and innovative areas can be inherently nebulous. We need someone who can work in the fluid context of evolving needs. Initiative and the ability to take an idea and run with it are essential to this role.