The County of Santa Clara, Facilities and Fleet Department has two Sustainability Internships for the summer of 2013.  Please send the requested documents (see below) to Jill.boone@faf.sccgov.org by May 15 if you are interested in either of these positions.

Positions are limited to 500 hours and are paid internships. Scheduling and timing are open to discussion with chosen candidates.

Qualified interns will

· Have a 3.0 GPA,

· Be an undergraduate or grad student or graduating in May or June of this year.

· Have a major in a relevant field.

· Have an interest in environmental and sustainability that is reflected in courses of study.

· Have excellent writing skills.

· Be able to pass security clearance for our jails (no DUIs, no record, etc.).

Zero Waste Internship: this would be appropriate for an environmental studies or chemistry major and should be someone comfortable doing public presentations, able to communicate clearly and willing to get “into” trash, including moving bins around.

The work will include three main tasks, (subject to change or substitution!):

1. County Zero Waste Program: We have just created new graphics for the County’s internal program and want to revisit the different departments with these new products. The intern will assist by doing departmental and group presentations and trainings (as many as we can line up for the summer) to talk about the program and answer questions and, at the same time, evaluate the service levels or identify areas where we could reduce waste.

2. Elmwood Sustainability Program: In order to launch some major changes at Elmwood (our County jail), we need to start with waste audits. The intern will work with our Sustainability analyst to supervise waste audits in the jail and report on what was found. Intern will support the planning of a project at Elmwood to do internal sorting and to handle greenwaste on site. May also work with other intern on developing program plans related to waste, recycling and composting.

3. Green Cleaning / Environmental Purchasing: County will be implementing the green cleaning policy and intern will support this process as needed and do any research requested by Procurement to meet the Environmental Purchasing Policy needs. A toxicology background or understanding of chemicals would be helpful but not required.

Sustainability Programs Internship: Students with background in social sciences and ability to craft surveys and evaluations based on qualitative data are encouraged to apply. Other majors might include Justice Studies, Transportation (Planning) or majors which include program planning and analysis. This internship will begin on June 24 or later.

The work includes two primary tasks at this time:

1. Commute Program Options Research and Report: Intern will research the options for the County to support alternative commutes and determine what each of these options would cost and require in terms of staff time. This includes internal employee research (possibly a focused survey) that is needed for the County to apply for a shuttle grant and would include determining appropriate shuttle routes based on grant funding and employee schedules. Intern may also do some work on bicycle locker placement.

2. Elmwood Sustainability Program: The Elmwood Correctional Facility has an emerging sustainability program. Intern will develop baselines and evaluations, including surveys, for the various sustainability programs at Elmwood and will also do some analysis and write-ups on the program plans.

Students and recent graduates who are interested in applying for these internships should email me with the following information:

1. A cover letter explaining which internship you are interested in, your background and major and how these relate to the internship, and how the internship will help you reach your career goals. Please include your current educational status.

2. A copy of your transcript (unofficial is fine) with grades.

3. An up-to-date resume with relevant information.

4. Please note: we do not require an application at this step.

From these, we will select potential interns to interview.

Please note: The County has specific requirements for interns. Any student who is a junior or above must have a relevant major. Pay is based on what year you have just completed or if you are a grad student. Interns must be enrolled or have just graduated. Graduates may only intern for 6 months following graduation. You do not need to be enrolled in summer classes if you are a recent graduate or enrolled in the fall semester.