Opportunities for All - San Francisco - June 15 to July 23, 2020

Thank you to our Sustainable Infrastruct

About the Program

During this 6-week virtual Summer program, thirty-nine (39) San Francisco Bay Area Interns and Fellows teamed up to develop and present virtual tours of the Bay Area’s environmental infrastructure. They learned about specific job requirements, salaries, and the educational pathways leading to careers in these vital infrastructure services.

They interacted with twenty-three (23) Bay Area and national professional guest speakers from the across the public, private, non-profit, advocacy, and educational sectors.

In doing so, the Interns:

● Built their knowledge base of “mission-critical” jobs in environmental infrastructure
● Networked with local and national professionals-including Bay Area employers.
● Gained an understanding of infrastructure career pathways and career-readiness
● Learned about the skills and training needed to qualify for these opportunities.

Program Outcomes

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During the summer program, we also secured a number of additional resources on behalf of the Interns and Fellows:

Complementary professional level memberships were donated by the California Water Environment Association (CWEA)

One intern earned a three-week, on-campus transportation study scholarship for Summer 2021 from the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.

Two Fellows and one Intern had exploratory interviews; one with a law firm and two with a private energy firm.

SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

The OFA Sustainable Infrastructure program was developed and led by Drew Lehman, who has extensive knowledge and connections in this area. Through this opportunity, interns were able to explore career options in San Francisco’s sustainable infrastructure and operations, which include, among other areas: water, power, sewer, trash, and transportation. This project-based experience connected participating students directly with community-based leaders and provided them with opportunities to network with employers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors of the sustainable infrastructure industry. OFA Interns were able to learn about the environmental infrastructure in the Bay area and not only what types of careers exist within the field, but how much they pay and the pipelines that lead to this type of work. Upon completion of the learning project, the interns were also invited to be a part of an ongoing mentorship program, where they will continue their workforce as professionals.

This summer’s participants in the Sustainable Infrastructure cohort all received a free one-year membership to the California Water Environment Association (CWEA), gifted by Jenn Jones, the Executive Director. Additionally, based on his interest and active engagement during one of the networking sessions, an OFA participant was offered a scholarship opportunity to learn more about the CWEA in the coming year. This past summer, over 35 interns were placed in the Sustainable Infrastructure Community Safety Initiative cohort, and due to overwhelming positive feedback, OFA went on to offer a fall cohort to support ten students during the school year as well. The fall interns gave presentations to over 90 professionals who are members of CWEA. The interns shared what they learned about careers in water and had the opportunity to connect with some of the professionals.

Participants took a Post Program Knowledge and Interest Survey. A graphical summary of their responses is shown to the left.

54% are now interested learning more about infrastructure careers

80% want to learn more about job search tools and employment strategies.

71% want to expand their networks, career, educational, and professional development opportunities

Student Testimonials

"I learned about how there are so many opportunities in the public infrastructure industry.

I learned about how all these careers are essentially crucial so there will always be demand for jobs."

"I am now leaning towards working in the environmental infrastructure sector."

"There are many careers in sustainability, this includes those in the arts, private consulting, advocacy and activism, entrepreneurial, government and public service, non-profits, operations, and private industry."

"I appreciated the diversity of the speakers, especially regarding their backgrounds and how they got to their current employers."

"I am much less scared of presenting in front of a large [audience]”

"I am now looking into environmental law and considering it as a career path."

"I learned about what environmental justice is, which is the meaningful participation and fair treatment of all people regarding environmental regulations and laws."

"Environmental infrastructure is indispensable yet invisible to most. But thanks to this program, I can see it clearly now."

"I've already had a few informational interviews with professionals who spoke with us and I'm excited to career search."

"This program motivated me to look for more internship opportunities and start connecting with others through LinkedIn..." "...through OFA, I learned how to effectively use LinkedIn to network..."