Aquidneck Island Project Coordination and Implementation Fellow

This position is part of the NOAA Coastal Resilience Fellowship Program, supporting the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC) projects. The fellow will support the project: Growing Regional Resilience Coordination on Aquidneck Island.

Host Organization: Aquidneck Land Trust
Location of Position: Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island (Newport, Middletown, or Portsmouth)
Duration of Position: Two years (June 2025 to June 2027)
Annual Salary: $48,363
Benefits: Medical insurance, 11 paid federal holidays per year, 15 paid personal days per year, professional development training, travel funding, relocation allowance

Work Environment:

The fellow will be able to work a hybrid schedule but should be based locally. They will have access to local co-working spaces where they can collaborate with project staff and the other fellow. The coordination and implementation fellow might also be able to work out of municipal or partner office spaces as needed since they will be working closely on project implementation with our collaborators. When not needed in these co-working spaces, the fellow will be allowed to work from home.

 Fellowship Position Description:

The fellow will focus on project implementation, specifically with municipalities and local partners. While a key component of the “Growing Regional Resilience Coordination on Aquidneck Island” project is to establish a framework in which regional resilience efforts can be more efficiently accomplished across the three municipalities, the U.S. Navy, and local partners, project staff and fellows will be able to help progress  many ongoing implementation efforts. Assisting with these simultaneous projects will demonstrate the benefits of the added capacity brought by this project while reducing the burden of these much-needed initiatives on municipal staff. The municipal staff from Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth, in addition to Naval Station Newport, are core collaborators in this project. These partners are committed to leveraging the assistance of a fellow and excited to provide an environment for professional development. The following projects will provide ample opportunities for the fellow to contribute to and learn from over the course of their two-year fellowship:

• Newport’s King Park coastal resilience project was awarded a $2.4 million grant through the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank’s (RIIB) Municipal Resilience Program (MRP).

• Middletown’s Dunlap-Wheeler Park will receive design and implementation improvements, which include making the coastal property more resilient to climate change impacts. About$90,000  in funding is currently allocated from town funds to an engineering firm for design.

• Portsmouth’s Weaver Cove Boat Ramp project has components of shoreline access and coastal resilience improvements ($750,000 in grant funding through the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank’s Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program awarded).
• Naval Station Newport and the region’s Elizabeth Brook flood mitigation project includes a renewed contract by the City of Newport with an engineering firm to continue to study the flooding in this area and look at daylighting efforts. Additionally, a portion of the City of Newport’s recently passed $98.5 million bond provides funding for this project. The project was also awarded approximately $680,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund.

For all of these projects, a discrete task could be presenting notable project updates and progress to municipal councils. A deliverable could be a case study, including all projects the fellow assisted with over the course of the two-year fellowship, to outline lessons learned and best practices in municipal resilience project implementation. As the state grows their regional resilience coordinator program at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, a case study could be a valuable tool shared across Rhode Island.

The fellow will be tasked with:

• Assisting to liaise with project partners and across municipal staff and departments
• Assisting with and attending relevant working group meetings 
• Assisting with keeping projects moving forward and on time
• Working with staff on grant administration and reporting
• Assisting with community engagement efforts of priority projects listed above to keep the public involved and up-to-date
  • Assisting with hosting workshops and outreach events or creating materials for posting on the website, social media, or in e-newsletters
  • Ensuring materials are easily accessible to and reaching environmental justice communities, including doing specific outreach, attending local events, etc.
• Attending relevant local municipal commission meetings 
• Finding future funding opportunities for high-priority municipal projects

Establishing a sustainable island-wide framework for regional resilience is our first activity and has a goal of adding capacity to assist Aquidneck Island municipalities and community-based organizations (CBOs) implement climate resilience projects. The fellow would be centrally involved in helping to implement such projects by leveraging to-be-established Aquidneck Island Climate Collaborative working groups to organize efforts. We anticipate having established 3–5 working groups when the fellowship begins in the summer of 2025, which likely include water resources and flooding, transportation, and emergency management. These working groups will reflect the categories of the ongoing projects most needing a framework for organization. The timeline will highly depend on specific projects, but we can anticipate a general timeline as follows: 

June to August 2025: The fellow integrates into relevant Aquidneck Island Climate Collaborative working groups and gets up to speed with ongoing or upcoming projects and efforts by working with municipal staff.

September 2025 to June 2027: The fellow assists municipalities and community-based organizations to advance project implementation across a variety of ongoing projects. The fellow will assist staff with community engagement and public education.

Anticipated Travel:

We anticipate the fellow traveling to project sites mainly around Aquidneck Island and within the surrounding area to places such as Providence or the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resource Center to visit state-wide collaborators. Additionally, our dialogue with other local regional resilience initiatives is growing; should these conversations continue as we expect, occasional travel to places like Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Kittery, Maine, might be possible. 

Desired Qualifications:

• Minimum education: college degree
• Subject matter expertise in climate or environmental science, project management, engineering, community development, policy, sustainability, resilience, social or environmental justice, or urban planning
• Skills should include strong project management, written and oral communication, and organizational skills; ability to work and collaborate with diverse partners, including community groups, organizations, businesses, and municipal and naval staff; willingness to learn; attention to detail; and experience with Microsoft 365 products, apps, and services
• Local or regional knowledge or connection to Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island, or the New England region

Fellow Mentoring:

The fellow will be mentored by the to-be hired resilience and sustainability specialist.

To apply, please upload the following materials in one PDF file:

• Resume (two-page limit)
• Statement of interest, where the candidate describes what they hope to gain from the fellowship experience and what they can contribute. Candidates should also highlight any connections to or special interests in the region, including Indigenous or local knowledge and relevant life experiences (500-word limit).
• Unofficial academic transcripts to show coursework (or joint services transcript for veterans)
• Two professional or academic references (names and contact information)