Do you want to springboard your career in beautiful and exciting Portland, Maine? The Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) Resilience Corps Fellowship is a unique opportunity to launch your career in climate, sustainability, environmental and community resilience, environmental justice, and coastal resilience planning. Fellows gain high-level ‘on the job’ experience, build their personal and professional networks, and receive training, mentorship, and professional development in their desired field of future work.
You can learn more about the program and current Fellows at https://www.maineresiliency.org/.
Service Activities
Activities for Corps Members may include some but not all of the following:
- Convening and coordinating community volunteers and driving community progress through volunteer engagement and retention, coordination, and follow-through.
- Conducting research on best practices, available data, and new systems.
- Collecting data, helping organize and analyze information, and where relevant producing storyboards, maps, and data visualizations that communicate complex information in a digestible way.
- Conducting targeted public outreach and equitable public engagement to form climate action plans, municipal comprehensive plans, and coastal resilience projects.
- Writing newsletters, social media, designing websites, and blogging as forms of public communication, education, and community engagement.
- Participating in all-cohort community service days to learn about a broad variety of community initiatives and organizations also working to enhance regional resilience.
Developing and supporting new partnerships to address community needs.
Community Need Addressed
The Greater Portland Council of Governments is a regional planning agency providing direct support to 30 member municipalities and collaborative regional projects in Southern Maine. The Resilience Corps adds new capacity to adapt and proactively build greater resilience in the region to climate change.
Position Outcomes
In the Resilience Corps, Fellows will develop invaluable professional skills and personal vision while advancing regional resilience and climate action for local government offices, regional planning organizations, and non-profit agencies. Projects are varied, complex, interesting, and deeply important to the state of Maine. Through projects centered around climate, environmental planning, coastal resilience, and sustainability, Fellows will engage and educate members of the community about climate impact ands strategies for resilience and adaptation, while adding essential capacity to do this important work at the community level.
Benefits
Childcare assistance if eligible, Education award upon successful completion of service, Health coverage, Living allowance, Stipend, Student loan forbearance, Training
The Resilience Corps is a comprehensive professional development program, training, and networking opportunity in addition to a volunteer service program, that can be used as a springboard into your future career. Corps Members will gain new skills in: public speaking, volunteer coordination, project management, event planning, effective cross-sector and intercultural communication, equitable public outreach, directed research, project implementation, storytelling, professionalism, problem-solving, teamwork, decision-making processes, facilitation, note taking, work planning, and time management.
Corps Members will participate in a one-week training and orientation at the start of their service term. Throughout the service term, the Corps Members will meet 1-2 times per week to connect, share with one another, and depending on the week, engage in on-going training sessions on various topics. Together, the cohort will participate in various hands-on volunteer days to further engage with and learn from community organizations. There will also be opportunities to connect and learn with members of other AmeriCorps programs in Maine in small learning sessions and the AmeriCorps Member Conference.
In addition to the living stipend and educational award, members receive a local public transportation pass for free and dedicated and intentional professional and career development, custom trainings and mentorship, and networking opportunities.
Skills you will gain
Public speaking, project management, event planning, climate change adaptation and resilience strategies, local governmental functioning and public service, effective cross-sector and intercultural communication, equitable public outreach, directed research, project implementation, storytelling, professionalism, facilitation, note taking, work planning, and time management.
Competencies You Will Develop
Communication
Demonstrate sensitivity and empathy, Lead group discussion, Listen to and consider others' viewpoints, Maintain open lines of communication with others, Speak clearly, in precise language and in a logical, organized and coherent manner, Turn taking, Write cleary and effectively
Creativity & Problem Solving
Able to identify and define the problem, Capable of generating possible solutions, Communicate the problem to appropriate personnel, Improvise, Select and implement well-considered solution
Teamwork
Develop constructive working relationships and maintain them over time, Interact professionally and respectfully with supervisors and co-workers, Stay positive and outcome oriented, Use appropriate strategies and solutions for dealing with conflicts and differences to maintain a smooth workflow
Decisions
Accepts responsibility, Anticipate the consequences of decisions, Identify and prioritize the key issues involved to facilitate the decision making process, Involve people appropriately in decisions that may impact them, Quickly respond with a back-up plan if a decision goes amiss
Tools
Carefully consider which tools or technological solutions are appropriate for a given job, Seek opportunities to improve knowledge of tools and technologies that may assist in streamlining work and improving productivity
Planning
Able to prioritize various competing tasks, Create environment of contribution, Create plan of action, schedule tasks so that work is completed on time, Demonstrate the effective allocation of time and resources efficiently, Effectively delegate tasks, Facilitate group planning, Set goals
Service
Be pleasant, courteous, professional and respectful when dealing with internal and external customers or clients, Understand the importance of one's role in the functioning of the organization