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Community Resilience Associate, The Nature Conservancy - New Haven, CT

Community Resilience Associate

The Nature Conservancy
Professional Area: 
Community Development and Redevelopment
Experience: 
1-3 years

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to make a positive impact around the world in more than 35 countries, all 50 United States, and your backyard. Founded in 1951, the mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.
The Community Resilience Associate will help build a regional framework for resilience within and across coastal and inland municipalities through planning, policy, and projects that reduces risks from natural hazards and climate change.  The position will require extensive community-based engagement, partnership building, land use policy reviews, green/natural infrastructure project design, and on-call support for municipalities and regional organizations within New London County, Connecticut.  This position is a key addition to a highly effective team engaged with coastal resilience on local, state, national, and international platforms since 2007.  This is a one-year term position commencing upon hire date.  
Essential functions for this position include all of the following:
  • Advances and strengthens working relationships with priority municipalities, Council of Governments, and a broad array of stakeholders on behalf of the Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience Network and North American Urban Program;
  • Supports development of resilient practices, policy, and projects via community-driven workshops and design charrettes;
  • Gathers and synthesizes geospatial data relating to watershed hazard risks/strengths and green/natural infrastructure projects;
  • Reviews and develops local land use policy suggestions to improve resilience;
  • Conducts field visits and site reviews with partners at the municipal and regional scale;
  • Provides on-call services to priority municipalities on resiliency and hazard issues.
Minimum Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in science-related field and 2 year related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Experience with community outreach and workshops.
  • Experience in local land use policy review and interpretation.
  • Experience utilizing GIS software and data for geospatial analysis and product development for diversity audiences.
  • Experience conducting field visits and site reviews of coastlines and waterways with engineers, designers, and planners.
  • Experience managing databases and producing reports.
  • Experience coordinating multiple projects and managing timeframes.
  • Experience working with Microsoft Office Suite software. 
Preferred Qualifications
  • Knowledge of coastal systems, freshwater ecology, and resource management concepts in the context of risk reduction, hazard mitigation, and resilience at the local to regional scales.
  • Experience in municipal-based planning and innovative land use policy applications.
  • Background in environmental/landscape design – particularly green/natural infrastructure projects.
  • Solid GIS background and proven product development, including ability to utilize data and analytical tools and applications. Analyzing, manipulating, and interpreting data, including statistics.
  • Database management skills including creation of map products and report production.
  • Completing tasks independently with respect to timeline(s).
  • Working knowledge of common software applications (e.g. Word, Excel, Web browsers) as well as project conceptual design software programs. 
  • Communicating clearly via written, spoken, and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
  • Ability to understand program budget development and monitoring – successful grant writing background.
  • Ability to interpret guidelines and evaluate information and adapt accordingly.
  • Ability to work independently and/or with minimal supervision.
  • Bi-lingual and multi-lingual candidates are welcome.
How to Apply:
To apply to position #43538, submit resume and cover letter as one document via the following link.https://careers.nature.org/psp/tnccareers/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?Page=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL&Action=A&JobOpeningId=43538&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1
You can also go the careers.nature.org page on The Nature Conservancy's website and search the job board for position #43538 - Community Resilience Associate.
All applications must be submitted in the system prior to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 23, 2015.  Click “submit” to apply for the position or “save for later” to create a draft application for future submission. Once submitted, applications cannot be revised or edited. Failure to complete required fields may result in your application being disqualified from consideration.