Hands in the Soil

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VOLUNTEER AND INTERNSHIPS

WE ARE LOOKING FOR ...

 

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Bike/Walk Projects and Events

Biking you thing? Help with GreenTown’s WoW! program, working with PTA volunteers to encourage kids to walk and bike to school. Help organize community bike tours of historical sites, native landscapes, Hardy Jones artistic metal sculptures, and summer & winter solstice rides. Coordinate GreenTown’s Bike Valet service at community events. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Researcher/Writer

Love the written word? Research and write articles for our blog and for local news outlets to spread the word about green happenings in our community. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Marketing Events Outreach and Social Media & Blog Poster

Great at networking? Post events on local media datebooks and email schools and other organizations to promote GreenTown projects and events. Post to our Facebook page and Twitter account. Edit articles and post to the GreenTown blog and Los Altos Patch blog. EMAIL us if you are interested



Photographer/Videographer

Great with a camera? Like video editing? Take photos and videos at GreenTown events. Edit videos and upload to GreenTown’s YouTube channel. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Help Plant Trees!

Our 500 Trees project continues to plant trees throughout our local community. Help us plant trees! The hardest part is digging the hole. Someone with a truck would be helpful too. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Volunteer Development Leader

Actively recruit volunteers from our local community to get involved in GreenTown’s projects and events. Mentor volunteers, and organize a Volunteer Appreciation event. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Volunteer Recruiting Coordinator

Meet interesting local residents while finding volunteers to staff various GreenTown events. Note: These are primarily Biking events which are currently on hold due to covid-19. EMAIL us if you are interested.



Database Assistant

Enjoy working with computers and data? Help out with data entry and management using GreenTown’s database system ( Salesforce NonProfit version). EMAIL us if you are interested.



HIGH SCHOOL & COLLEGE INTERNSHIPS

500 Trees Intern (1 position)

One intern will work on our popular and successful 500 Trees Campaign to help us prepare for future tree plantings. The work will include:

  • Evaluate the Campaign that resulted in the planting of over 200 trees. What worked, what didn’t, what could be changed?
  • Evaluate the tree list. Talk to the participants and find out how their trees are doing. Talk to the experts who helped us - Canopy, Native Plant Society, Garden Club, Master Gardeners, Grassroots Ecology. Which trees should be dropped, which trees should be added? Contacts with each of these groups will be provided.
  • Evaluate the marketing campaign, including social media, and offer new strategies.
  • Time permitting, plan a bike riding event to visit some of the homes where we planted trees.



Green Business Certification (1 position)

One intern will work on obtaining the Green Business Certificate for the Los Altos History Museum. These certificates are issued by the California Green Business Network. Achieving this goal will show that the Museum cares about sustainability, shows a commitment to taking action to conserve resources and prevent pollution in both the facility and its operations, and it means that the Museum complies with environmental regulations in the areas of waste, energy, water, pollution prevention, and air quality. The work will include an evaluation of 71 measures in seven tiers of activities (Energy, Pollution Prevention, Solid Waste, Transportation, Waste Water, Water and Community). To qualify for the Green Biz Certification, it is necessary to complete the requirements for at least 52 of the 71 measures. The specific measures include the following items -

  • Evaluate and confirm compliance with the equipment maintenance schedules (air filter changes, irrigation system inspections, lighting inspections, HVAC maintenance, elevator maintenance and kitchen appliance maintenance).
  • Confirm the use of non-toxic laundry, cleaning and building maintenance products.
  • Set up easily accessible waste stations with landfill, compost, and recycle bins co-located.
  • Train staff and cleaning service personnel on proper sorting for recycling and composting.
  • Confirm that dumpsters and any other potential pollutants, such as paint cans, other chemicals drums, etc., are covered and impermeable to rainwater.
  • Confirm that plant material is California native or drought-tolerant for 75% of landscaping.
  • Encourage employee participation in sustainability efforts.
  • Incorporate sustainability best practices into employee training.
  • Establish a "Green Team" that meets regularly.
  • Measure and communicate progress on sustainability initiatives to keep visibility high.
  • Have an environmental policy statement that outlines the organization’s commitment to sustainability.
  • Complete a carbon footprint calculator to determine the Museum's greenhouse gas emissions.



Social Media Intern ( 2 positions)

Two interns will work on creating a Social Media campaign. The work will include:

  • Interview GreenTown leads in each of our 5 objectives for 2020/21 to identify key messages and events to emphasize during the course of the fiscal year.
  • Research effective social media strategies, objectives and metrics for measuring success. Identify and present several "successful" campaigns and what has made them successful.
  • Characterize different social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., and identify how each will perform in increasing GreenTown's brand awareness, turning viewers into advocates, and turning viewers into prospective volunteers.
  • Build a 6-12 month social media communications strategy and campaign for GreenTown featuring each of the 5 objectives and specific targets within each objective. (Estimated frequency of 3 posts per week). As an example, GreenTown has as one of its objectives to reduce transportation-related fossil fuels. One aspect of this is education to increase the number of EVs registered in Los Altos. Another is to increase the number of students who ride bikes, walk or carpool to school, still another is engaging the community to walk or bike for errands, and a final is to engage viewers to advocate for safer routes to school. Each of these objectives should get air time on social media.
  • If time permits, and as research is pursued in each of our objective areas, interns can present research in a 200-400 word article for review for posting on our blog and submitted to the Los Altos Town Crier. One article for a compelling topic in each of our 5 objective areas would be a great goal!



Zero Waste (1 position)

One intern will work on the Zero Waste campaign. There are several areas in which the intern could contribute to our efforts, and the goals and outputs of the internship can be partly determined by the interests and skill set of the intern. This intern could work one or more of the following projects:

  • Campaign to increase local plastic film recycling
    • Research into recycling locations
    • Research on what specifically happens to collected plastic film
    • Outreach to selected stores collecting plastic film to propose improved signage and designing such signage
    • Outreach to our community to educate citizens about this opportunity to divert plastic from landfills and to encourage residents to do their part (could involve writing for local news media)
  • Initiative to help local restaurants transition to reusable and compostable food ware
    • Research current food ware choices and analyze costs to switch to reusable and compostable. Educate business and public about what is truly compostable
    • Ordering samples of appropriate food ware to share with restaurant owners/managers
    • Organizing outreach efforts to meet with restaurant owners/managers
    • Writing about success stories to promote businesses using only reusable or compostable foodware
  • Researching model waste goals and objectives for inclusion in our the Los Altos Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, helping to write waste reduction goals for the CAAP, possibly attending meetings (City Council, CAAP, or Environmental Commission) to follow CAAP progress and possibly provide input from GTLA Zero Waste Team
  • Tracking progress of the many important federal and state waste/recycling legislative bills currently under discussion in Congress and in Sacramento; sharing this information with our community in the form of blog posts, videos, newspaper articles, etc.



Summer 2021 Internship Details

Application for the 2021 Summer Internships is now closed. Additional Details:

  • The ideal candidate will be a high school student, likely a rising senior, interested in environmental issues.
  • The skills required are effective communication, good time management and familiarity with the preparation of documents, spreadsheets and slides.
  • Interns must be willing to work as a team.
  • Interns must be able to work with minimal supervision.
  • The work will generally be from home.
  • The application is due May 3.
  • Interviews will be scheduled May 6-11.
  • Candidate selection will be announced May 14.
  • The internships start June 15 and end July 24.
  • There will be weekly zoom meetings with a GreenTown mentor. The 500 Trees mentor is Gary Hedden, the Social Media mentors are Connie Miller and Suresh Venkatraman, the Zero Waste Mentors are Donna Staton and Margie Suozzo, and the Green Business Certification mentor is Gary Hedden.
  • The internship will end with a slide show presentation on the summer accomplishments to the GreenTown Board by zoom conference call.