Community Engagement & Outreach Associate (Portland)

Please include a resume and cover letter with your application.

Our EnviroIssues team is passionate about supporting communities in having a voice and opportunity to influence the issues impacting their everyday life. As a consulting firm, we work with a wide variety of clients, mainly in the public sector, on community engagement and outreach to bring people’s voices into a variety of projects – whether that’s addressing wastewater discharge into Puget Sound, large infrastructure projects in Seattle, replacing a bridge in Portland, or helping communities plan how they grow. While our largest area of work is transportation and transit, we also work in water utilities, land use, natural resources, climate, cleanup, energy, and other sectors that impact people in our communities.

We believe Black Lives Matter and are committed to a journey toward being a human-centered and antiracist workplace. We have a long way to go to address our structural and institutional racism and come together as a community for mutual support and respect.

The ideal candidate will see themselves in this antiracism journey and bring a passion to outreach, community engagement, or the types of projects we do including transit, transportation, water, environmental cleanup, natural resources, facilitation, planning, design, and construction.

The role

As a Community Engagement & Outreach Associate, you would be responsible for contributing alongside other teammates to develop and implement various communications and outreach efforts on projects. As part of teams, you will have many opportunities to be creative, try a vast variety of outreach and communications tools and play different roles based on project needs.

In this position, you will:

• Draft public materials such as flyers, web content, social media, letters and mailers, public event materials, responses to community questions via email. You may also review other team members writing and share feedback to support their development of writing skills
• Work with your team to maintain project databases tracking project contacts, communications, and activities
• Plan logistics for a wide variety of events such as public meetings, farmer’s market tables, and advisory committee meetings
• Communicate directly with community members about projects at events, over the phone, or via email
• Attend internal meetings and share ideas on outreach strategy and options with their teams
• Problem solve in real-time to support successful public engagement
• Work closely with graphic designers and website developers to develop public materials and tools that engage community
• Oversee and lead project elements or small projects, demonstrating project and contract management skills
• Work collaboratively with team members to delegate and assign work, offer mentorship, and share in collective learning
• Work closely with clients to develop outreach strategies and problem-solve
• Develop project scopes and budgets as well as engage in contract management activities such as monthly invoicing, contract amendments, and budget tracking
• Support business development efforts by maintaining an EI resume and contributing to proposal development
• Work collaboratively within their teams to continually learn and adapt innovative tools to engage community

Billability

In this role, your time will largely be spent working on projects and billing your time to clients. Most of our staff spend between 80 to 90% of their time on projects. The rest of your time would be billed to the company to complete company activities, engage in business development, attend company events, and participate in growth and development opportunities. We will work with you to determine specific billability goals given your projects and expectations and participation in various company and project opportunities. Our staff track and report their time spent on projects and company activities each week.

Desired qualifications

• At least two years of experience planning and conducting outreach or public involvement activities, or community/public relations, city or state planning, or general communications experience
• Experience, knowledge and interest in transportation, land use planning, water resources management and/or climate change
• Practiced ability to support and manage multiple projects and make decisions in autonomous environments
• The ability to anticipate and understand project, project manager and client needs
• Superior written communications skills including report writing and content development for the web, social media, fact sheets, meeting summaries, media, key messages and talking points
• Excellent attention to detail and demonstrated experience proofing and reviewing draft materials to publish-ready standards
• Refined oral communication skills and the ability to process information in a fast-paced consulting environment
• The ability to understand and explain technical and environmental information to a variety of audiences, often in high-profile situations
• Demonstrated research and data analysis skill, with the ability to synthesize, review and present quantitative and qualitative data in easy-to-understand formats
• Creative thinking and problem-solving skills
• A commitment to equity and demonstrated leadership working respectfully and professionally in diverse, multi-cultural settings
• The ability to work both independently and in a fast-paced team setting with a high level of initiative, creativity, tact and professionalism
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office 365 programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams)
• Previous consulting experience preferred but not required

Conditions of employment

• A valid driver's license or government issued ID Card is required
• Local travel to sites/events outside of regular business hours
• Occasional weekend and evening work to meet client needs

Benefits

• Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Ability to work remotely, in an EI office, or a hybrid of remote an din office depending on your preferences
• Medical, vision, and dental coverage for employees and their families (spouses, domestic partners, and children)
• Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Company provided short-term disability and life insurance
• Voluntary long-term disability and life insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• A pet-friendly environment
• A fully funded transit pass