Community Resilience Associate

Cascadia Consulting Group is a women-owned, private environmental consulting firm with 31 years of experience developing and implementing innovative solutions to today’s environmental challenges. Cascadia works with public and private-sector clients to advance sustainability through recycling and materials management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, transportation demand management, and water and natural resources management. The Cascadia team brings both established expertise and creative thinking to research and analysis, strategic planning, program design and implementation, outreach, social marketing and behavior change, and evaluation roles. From our offices in Oakland (CA), Seattle (WA), and some remote employees, we serve clients across the country and abroad.  

At Cascadia, we strive to create an equitable and inclusive environment at all levels of the organization. Having staff and partnerships that reflect the diverse communities we serve empowers us to shape innovative and effective solutions together with those most impacted by social, human, and environmental health challenges.  

Position Overview: 

Cascadia is currently seeking a Community Resilience Associate to support and/or lead climate risk and vulnerability assessments, inclusive community engagement, climate resilience and adaptation planning, and implementation of climate resilience strategies. This work will require applying climate justice and equity principles across multiple topic areas, such as integrating social determinants of health into climate risk assessments or integrating local perspectives into climate resilience planning. Specifically, the Community Resilience Associate will: 

• Understand and commit to implementing Cascadia’s mission to “inspire and empower communities everywhere to protect and restore our world” in an equitable and inclusive way.  
• Support and/or lead climate risk and vulnerability assessments that center equity and justice, ensuring that these assessments evaluate the distribution of climate risks across a community and reflect lived experiences of local frontline communities. 
• Support and/or lead inclusive and equitable community and stakeholder engagement, including preparation and facilitation of in-person and virtual events (e.g., interviews, focus groups, briefings, surveys, open houses, drop-in sessions, and workshops). 
• Support and/or lead the design of climate resilience plans and policies that promote environmentally just outcomes.  
• Effectively write and verbally communicate using a diversity of styles, including synthesizing and translating complex information into clear, informative, and compelling materials (e.g., summaries, fact sheets, presentations, promotional materials, online dashboards, and websites). 
• Help maintain strong partnerships and build networks to further racial equity and social justice work in the climate and sustainability sector. 
• Support and/or lead project and team management tasks for projects, such as project planning and client communication. 
• Support business development opportunities, such as writing proposals, interviewing, and presenting at conferences. 
• Stay up to date on research, policies, trends, and best practices related to sustainable programs, climate change, and environmental impacts on frontline communities. 
• Ability to occasionally travel locally or overnight, when permissible, for public engagement, meetings, conferences, or other activities outside standard work hours. 

This position description is designed to outline primary duties, qualifications, and job scope, but not limit the incumbent nor the organization to just the work identified or assigned.  

Qualifications: 

• Completion of an advanced degree – such as an Associate or Bachelor’s degree – at an accredited college or university in a relevant field such as environmental sciences, planning, public policy/ public administration, or related equivalent work experience. 
• Experience – whether professional or lived – in working to address environmental injustices and racism. 
• Familiarity with climate change and experience in using data (e.g., demographic/census data, climate data) and tools (e.g., Excel, GIS) to assess and visualize climate risks, distributional burden of climate impacts, and other types of social and physical assets that may enable adaptive capacity.  
• Adept writer and editor, ideally with experience drafting plans and technical reports. 
• Experience in creating and facilitating public, community, and stakeholder engagement processes in inclusive and accessible ways.  
• Demonstrated initiative and problem-solving skills and critical thinking capabilities to navigate complex tasks. 
• Experience working on collaborative teams and strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to handle challenging situations with tact and   sensitivity. 

We encourage you to apply if you think you'll be successful in this job. This position is an Associate with our firm (distinguished from a Project Coordinator or Sr Associate). The experience and education typical to demonstrate this level of ability is a four-year degree in a related field (e.g., environmental studies) and at least 4 to 5+ years of direct relevant experience of progressive responsibility. Ultimate placement and compensation offer is dependent on experience and demonstrated skills and abilities through the selection process.