Bay Area Climate Justice Fellowships 2023: Improving Community Outreach for Climate Resilience in North Fair Oaks

Overview

NFOCA is a new, grassroots nonprofit organization established by community leaders in North Fair Oaks (NFO), an unincorporated community surrounded by the cities of Menlo Park, Atherton, and Redwood City. NFOCA seeks to increase community representation and participation in NFO, in order to empower residents, promote unity and support understanding of social, cultural, economic, environmental, and health issues. The founders of NFOCA are long-time residents of North Fair Oaks who bring diverse, professional backgrounds as well as a combined 50+ years of community work and activism. NFOCA’s current projects address issues of health, environment, education, safety and preparedness, society and culture, and economy.

Climate change has created new challenges, particularly for marginalized and people of color communities. Much of NFOCA’s work relates to mitigating, planning and preparing for climate change-related events, including more frequent heat waves, wildfire smoke impacts, and flooding. Accomplishing this requires building a strong base of community participation and engagement in community activities and in decision-making processes that affect North Fair Oaks. As one of its initial projects, NFOCA seeks to create Block Action Teams to support community preparedness and emergency response. These Block Action Teams will also provide a strong foundation for building involvement in other NFOCA programs, including a current effort to plant trees in order to reduce heat impacts and improve overall community well-being.

The founders of NFOCA have been working with Stanford faculty and students, particularly with the Stanford Future Bay Initiative, for several years on understanding and building resilience to climate risks in the community. Much of this collaboration has focused on mapping vulnerabilities and data analysis to inform implementation of programs such as a tree-planting effort, to reduce heat impacts and provide other environmental benefits.

About the Fellowship

The intern would play a key role in establishing key organizational functions, outreach, and communications, as well as contribute to critical projects. Activities may include:

Improving outreach and communication with the community:

• Assist in creating and implementing an effective social media outreach plan

• Develop and test strategies to determine best ways to engage and inform residents, particularly during climate-related events, but also for civic engagement and community participation.

• Logistics of mailing materials community-wide and assist with NFOCA’s newsletter.

• Assist with production of training materials that include handouts, videos, social media posts and webinars.

• Help advance the Tree Planting project in North Fair Oaks by testing and evaluating the most successful ways to reach community members, then getting the word out to the community about the free trees program in collaboration with Canopy.

• Assist with dissemination of information of DIY air filters, which includes community outreach and training including social media and webinars.

Assistance with the organization’s operation:

• Help identify potential funding sources and assist with grant writing and innovative nonprofit organizational sustainability options

• Compile information about NFOCA’s work to date and incorporate it into NFOCA's website for public display/access.

• Create essential documentation/tools for future onboarding interns, including a basic description, history, list of useful websites, contacts' info, etc.

• Assist in launching the NFO Emergency Block Action Team (BAT) Program to prepare for climate change events, including outreach & recruitment needs.

• Assist with identifying funding sources and proposal preparation/submission for additional emergency kits that can be donated to BAT participants

The student would gain an understanding of how a small grass-roots community organization works, as well as different efforts to outreach to and engage with a difficult to reach, diverse community. 

Preferred qualifications: 

• A passion to advance equity and environmental justice and a commitment to working with people of color and marginalized communities to improve the environment and overall health of the community 

• Experience working with community-based organizations, and an interest in being part of launching new, grassroots programs 

• Experience and interest in communications and community outreach

• We prefer undergrad or masters-level students

Stipend

Undergraduate Cardinal Quarter Fellows receive a base stipend of $6,500 to support living expenses during the fellowship. Financial aid and supplemental funding may be available to students who qualify (learn more here). Masters students will receive a stipend of $8,500.