Help us Empower a Stronger Gainesville
The City of Gainesville and Santa Fe College Student Life are pleased to announce that applications for the 2022-2023 City of Gainesville Local Government Fellowship program are open now. Building upon a pilot Fellowship program launched in the summer 2021, this full academic-calendar Fellowship Program offers students an opportunities to apply for positions across several different City departments including the Department of Strategy, Planning, and Innovation, the Office of the City Clerk, and Gainesville Fire and Rescue Department. Under the direction of City staff within these departments, student fellows will work part time (about 15-20 hours per week) during the fall and spring semesters of an academic year.
The fellowship provides students with opportunities to perform project-based work striving to improve real-world, operational city issues and meet strategic goals. We seek to recruit fellows who will mutually support each other throughout the entirety of an academic year. This team will work closely with city departments and organizational leadership.
The focus areas for the 2022-2023 fellowships are: Visual Graphic Design, UX (User Experience) Service Design, Data Visualization, Community-Based Research, Community Development, Policy Research, Business Process, and Marketing and Media. More complete descriptions of these positions are below.
Application
- Applications for fellowship positions open Tuesday, March 1st, 2022 and close on Friday March 25th, 2022 at 11:59pm.
- Fellowship program participants are decided by City of Gainesville staff after an initial review by Santa Fe College Student Life. Interviews with City staff will begin in late April with final offers made to students in early May.
- In order to support the students’ success, each fellow will be assigned a mentor from within city government. The student will meet with their mentors consistently throughout the fellowship year to assess progress and address any concerns.
- Students interested in learning more about the program may also contact Brandy Stone at stonebl@cityofgainesville.org or Sarah Blanc at sarah.blanc@sfcollege.edu, for additional information.
- You must be a currently enrolled SF student to apply, and remain enrolled for the duration of the Fellowship.
- Application link: https://sfcollege.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eKgI02Oc6XbcBJY
What positions are available?
Visual Graphic Design, User Experience (UX) Service Design, Data Visualization, Community-Based Research; Community Development; and Policy Research, Business Process Specialist, and Marketing and Media Specialist are available. More complete descriptions are below.
What majors should apply to the City of Gainesville Local Government Fellowship?
Students from all majors are encouraged to apply.
Do I apply as a member of a team?
No, group or team applications will not be considered. All applications need to be completed individually.
Will the Fellowship be paid?
The fellows will be paid the city’s hourly living wage, $15.00 per hour.
Detailed Position Descriptions
We seek to recruit several fellows who will work on a variety of project-based objectives throughout the entirety of an academic year. The team will work closely with city departments and organizational leaders. The focus areas for the fellowships are: Visual Graphic Design, User Experience (UX) Service Design; Data Visualization; Community-Based Research; Community Development; Policy Research, and Business Process, and Marketing and Media.
Visual Design (up to 1 position available)
Do you love graphic design, branding, and telling a story visually? The Visual Design Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to expand your visual design portfolio by working with the City.
You will be asked to create marketing campaigns (logos, social media, infographics, posters, stickers, videos, data visualizations). You may be a good fit if you are someone who is innovative and artistic, enjoys translating complex narratives into easily understood visualizations, and is able to produce designs that are culturally sensitive and relevant to diverse audiences.
We are looking for someone who:
- Has experience using Adobe suite
- Is able to design across multiple mediums including mobile, web, print, logos, social media, and digital visualizations
- Is comfortable creating marketing campaigns and collateral
UX Service Design (up to 1 position available)
Are you interested in designing civic experiences using human-centered design? The UX Service Design Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to expand your design portfolio by working with the City.
You will be asked to conduct UX research (interviews, usability testing, surveys), create UX design deliverables (personas, journey maps) and participate in co-design activities (brainstorming, facilitating community events). You may be a good fit if you are someone who is interested in transforming city government services and collaborating with Gainesville residents to improve their experiences.
We are looking for someone who:
- Has strong communication skills and be able to facilitate conversations with residents, test designs, and gather feedback
- Can synthesize insights and create analysis deliverables like affinity diagrams, journey maps and research findings
- Design solutions and services that meet the needs of our neighbors, test and iterate on concepts
Data Visualization (up to 1 position available)
Would you like to help the City create, design and refine data visualization that clearly communicates trends and can be easily understood?
The Data Visualization Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to showcase and grow your data skills as you work with our Strategic Initiatives Department on projects like data automation, creation of real-time interactive dashboards, assessment of data quality, and more.
We are looking for someone who:
- Has experience using a variety of data analysis / visualization software such as HTML, CSS or Bootstrap, JavaScript, Tableau, GIS applications, and others
- Is able to learn new software and apply graphic design skills to create and update data visualizations and interactive dashboards to appeal to different audiences, including City staff, to encourage use of the City’s open data resources
- Is willing to use SQL database exports, manipulation, and automated procedures used to create and update data on the open data portal.
- Reviews open datasets for accuracy and data quality.
- Works with subject matter experts to properly document and contextualize open data.
- Assists with data analysis projects and other internal-facing data endeavors.
Community Development (up to 1 position available)
Would you like to help the City address some of the complex issues facing our community by asking critical questions, researching best practices, and working collaboratively with others to gain understanding of needs, barriers, and possible solutions?
The Community Development Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to explore topics like food systems, workforce development, community health and wellbeing, resource accessibility, and many others that impact our community. You may be encouraged to collaborate across multiple departments at the City of Gainesville, as well as with partner institutions like local nonprofits, the University of Florida, Santa Fe College, and others. By learning from past local initiatives, existing data sets, and examples of solutions implemented in other cities addressing these challenges, you will have the opportunity to identify strategies and tools that can benefit our local community.
You may be a good fit if you are an intrinsically motivated person who seeks to learn more about the issues facing our community, is comfortable utilizing multiple sources of information to answer complex questions, and values a diversity in perspectives and knowledge.
We are looking for someone who:
- Has experience using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
- Has experience participating in community-based efforts to address local issues
- Is interested in learning how to collect feedback from diverse stakeholder groups (i.e. conducting surveys, interviews, focus groups)
- Is comfortable communicating with diverse stakeholders to foster trust, respect, and an open space for idea sharing and collaboration.
- Has experience managing projects that require engagement and collaboration across different stakeholder groups with different backgrounds and different organizational affiliations.
Policy Research (up to 7 positions available)
Are you interested in how ideas solidify into public policy?
The Policy Research Fellowship may be an opportunity to be part of that process by working with our Policy Oversight Administrator in the City Clerk’s Office to research, develop, and present policy proposals on behalf of the City Commissioners and/or the City Commission. You may be a good fit if you are passionate about improving our community, willing to think broadly and creatively when seeking solutions, have strong research and writing skills and are comfortable presenting your research in public.
We are looking for someone who can:
- Comfortably research and analyze both broad and narrow topics to then craft a highly-readable report
- Communicate effectively with a variety of audiences, including the Mayor, City Commissioners, and members of the public
- Balance multiple projects at once while working both independently and as part of a larger team
Business Process Specialist (up to 1 position available)
Would you like to assist the Gainesville Department of Fire & Rescue improve our business processes? It is our goal find opportunities to analyze, measure, improve and optimize our business processes by using our human, technological, and informational resources more efficiently.
The BPS Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to gain additional experience while building relationships within municipal government. You may be a good fit if you are innovative and driven to solve challenges through efficient processes.
We are seeking someone who:
- Has experience using Excel
- Can assist with pre-audits of records by comparing regulatory and record keeping requirements with current practices by the department
- Creates reports, memos, forms, etc. as needed
Marketing and Media Specialist (up to 1 position available)
Would you like to assist the Gainesville Department of Fire & Rescue improve both our inward and outward facing branding efforts?
The BPS Fellowship may be an opportunity for you to gain additional experience while building relationships within municipal government. You may be a good fit if you are someone who is innovative and comfortable creating content across multiple platforms.
- Assists in the development of communications and marketing plans to support short and long range organizational objectives.
- Develops communication and marketing materials across multiple platforms to include, but not limited to interactive, mass, target, and broadcast media, special events, and trade shows.
- Produces/updates newsletters, websites, print materials, video, and social media sites
- Maintains accurate customer marketing database
Santa Fe College Equal Access/Equal Opportunity
Santa Fe College, an equal access institution, prohibits discrimination and harassment in its employment, programs and activities based on race, ethnicity, national origin, color, religion, age, disability, sex, pregnancy status, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, political opinions or affiliations, and veteran status. Questions pertaining to educational equity, equal access or equal opportunity should be addressed to the College’s Title IX Coordinator/Equity Officer.
The College’s Equity Officer/ Title IX Coordinator is:
Lara Zwilling
3000 NW 83rd Street
R-Annex, Room 113
Gainesville, FL 32606
(352) 395-5950 lara.zwilling@sfcollege.edu
Santa Fe College online reporting form
Inquiries/complaints can be filed with the Title IX Coordinator/Equity Officer online, in person, via mail, via email, or with the US Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights.
Office for Civil Rights, Atlanta Office
U.S. Department of Education
61 Forsyth St. SW, Suite 19T70
Atlanta, GA 30303-8927
ainesville