Are you interested in economic development, transportation, planning, housing, real estate finance, or environmental policy? Are you an organizer, a blogger, a policy person or just love making a difference? Are you looking to get experience working on federal and state policy to help make great neighborhoods? Well this is the place for you. Smart Growth America is seeking four Fellows for its core programs to engage with Congress, the Administration, state leaders and allies on the benefits of smart growth policies. This is an opportunity that features a great deal of responsibility, direct collaboration with organizations, and valuable hands-on experience.

Fellowships available

Leadership Institute Fellow Smart Growth America's Leadership Institute Fellow will support our burgeoning technical assistance program for state and local governments. Core responsibilities include: providing research, development, logistical, and administrative support for policy workshops for governors, multistate and local summits, authoring blogs, and promoting the workshops through social networking. Experience and skills required: Exceptional writing abilities, research experience, and ability to coordinate logistics associated with event planning. Complete Streets Fellow The Complete Streets Fellow will support the work of SGA's National Complete Streets Coalition, a diverse coalition of prominent national organizations working for the adoption of Complete Streets policies across the country. The Fellow will be an integral part of the Coalition's work, including: doing research and drafting new resources; assisting in projects to assess policy implementation efforts; working with the Coalitions' Steering Committee and Partners; providing administrative support for events and workshops; and writing blurbs for our newsletter and blog. This position is based in Chicago, IL. Policy Fellow The Policy Fellow will support the work of the Policy Development & Implementation team. Core projects may include: performance evaluation of state departments of transportation, water policy analysis, economic development research, and development of policy and technical assistance tools for field partners, especially regarding local and state policy solutions. The Policy Fellow will draft briefs and memos, organize and participate in meetings, play a role in partner outreach, and may provide support on additional research topics such as housing, brownfields and finance policy. Government Affairs & Outreach Fellow The Government Affairs and Outreach Fellow's primary responsibilities include: aggregating news and writing newsletters about smart growth issues; researching and writing policy briefs and case studies on smart growth policies; developing supporting materials for Capitol Hill; organizing and preparing for SGA's multiple coalition meetings and Hill days; writing original content for our blog about local, state, and federal policy on smart growth; monitoring and moderating a professional networking website for staff of regional planning projects around the country. Capitol Hill, federal agency or federal advocacy experience is highly desirable for this position.

Position details

Requirements: Each Fellowship requires a self-motivated, detail-oriented person with excellent writing, oral communication, research, and organizational skills and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision. Candidates should have a strong interest in smart growth, economic development, transportation, community growth or related areas. Candidates should have at least a bachelor's degree and either educational background or work experience in transportation policy, urban planning, environmental studies, real estate, finance, public policy, business, or a related field. Candidates should be highly computer literate with specific experience in web research, database management, and using the Microsoft Office suite of programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Timeframe: All Fellowships are full-time, 40 hours a week. Minimum commitment of six months required. Potential to extend fellowship to 12 months is possible pending performance. Positions begin July 1, 2013. All positions are based in Washington, DC, with the exception of the Complete Streets Fellow, who will be based in Chicago, IL. Equal Opportunity Employment: Equal opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at Smart Growth America. Employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.

How to apply

Interested applicants should send their cover letter, resume, three references and two short writing samples (no more than five pages) to jobs smartgrowthamerica org. The email subject line must include the fellowship name: 1) Leadership Institute Fellow, 2) Complete Street Fellow, 3) Policy Fellow, 4) Government Affairs & Outreach Fellow. Candidates may apply for more than one position, but this must be noted in the email subject line. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.