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Job Title: Community Outreach Specialist

Job Timeline (Approximately):

* June-July ‘24 – applications accepted

* Aug-Sept ‘24 – select candidate screener(s) & final interview(s)

* Sept-Oct ‘24 – job offer & start date

Job Details:

* This is an embedded contractor position at the Trans-Pacific Engineering Corporation (TPEC) to the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD)

* This is a full-time position (40 hours/week) and includes all associated TPEC benefits

* The ideal candidate is local to Philadelphia and can reliably travel to community-based meetings/events

* Currently this job is a hybrid mixture of work-from-home (WFH) time, in-office (1101 Market Street) time, and in-the-field (in the community) time, including evenings & weekends

* All applicants must be Covid-19 vaccinated, must be a US citizen or permanent resident, must have a valid driver’s license, must be comfortable driving in the City of Philadelphia

Philadelphia Water Department (PWD):

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is a public utility committed to providing clean and safe drinking water, treating wastewater, and managing stormwater for residents, customers, and businesses in the greater region. The Department’s core values are to consistently deliver professional quality products and services, responsive customer assistance, and continuous reliability to 1.5+ million customers.

The Public Engagement (PE) Team:

The Public Engagement (PE) Team (within Public Affairs) is a customer‐focused team committed to enhancing the quality of life of PWD customers through communications, outreach, education, and engagement. The PE Team is one of the most public-facing teams at PWD and is tasked with building public trust and support for the PWD’s integrated services and infrastructure investments. The PE Team regularly collaborates within the Public Affairs Unit, across other PWD units, externally with residents and stakeholders, with other city agencies (e.g. Parks & Rec, Office of Sustainability), as well as non-profits, private, and academic institutions, and more.

Overview of Community Outreach Specialist (COS) Role:

The primary responsibilities of this Community Outreach (COS) Specialist position are to guide strategic public engagement efforts that identify and build relationships with residents and stakeholders to create and maintain support and trust for PWD projects, services, and/or investments coming to their communities. This will be done through effective communication, presence in neighborhoods, and a strong desire to cultivate ratepayer & partnership development; will present accurate and timely project information through many forums (electronically, in-person, at meetings, while tabling, etc); will collect and facilitate feedback around PWD projects; will organize data and use it as a driver for improved processes/products; will collaborate internally and externally around engaging residents; and will celebrate project milestones with PWD and the public.

The COS will be able to consider and plan around potential barriers impacting the diverse community we serve, including a wide range of socioeconomic, racial, and/or ethnic challenges in historically under-resourced communities. The COS must be a self-starter in addition to a team player and will be expected to successfully, and immediately, navigate multiple projects and deliverables simultaneously with a great attention to detail(s). The COS will be expected to meet deadlines assigned by the PE Team Manager and/or by PWD.

Community Outreach Specialist (COS) Tasks:

The most important tasks associated with this position can be seen below.

1. Primary Tasks – Leading Public Project Notification, Outreach & Engagement in South Philadelphia & The Riverwards

* Primarily; pertaining to notification, holistic notification, outreach & engagement around public green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects built through PWD’s 25-year stormwater management plan Green City, Clean Waters (GCCW) in PWD GSI District 2 (South Philadelphia & The Riverwards)

* Secondarily; helping the PE Team & PWD develop/pilot an ‘integrated outreach approach’ around projects that contain GSI, water, and/or sewer work likely assisting in adapting our current GSI outreach workflow en route to developing processes/procedures for integrated outreach; other duties related to this task as assigned

* Possible Task-Specific Deliverables: scheduling & promoting GSI meetings, project outreach/notification via email or by letter, tracking all metrics associated with this work, holistic promotion at and/or hosting of community meetings around projects in PWD GSI District 2; piloting integrated notification methods en route to education, outreach & engagement; other duties related to this task as assigned

2. Secondary Tasks – Assistance to PWD & PE Team – Private GSI, Water Bar, Events, Other Duties

* Assistance to PWD with Private GSI Notification, Outreach, Engagement, and/or Promotion

* Possible Task-Specific Deliverables: assisting PWD Developer Services Unit (DSU) in the development of private/commercial outreach strategies; assisting with outreach & engagement to private property owners around PWD’s stormwater billing, grants, incentives, and/or retrofits programs; assistance with and/or coordinating the annual Stormwater Pioneers Awards Ceremony; other duties related to this task as assigned

* Assistance to the PE Team’s Water Bar (WB)

* Possible Task-Specific Deliverables: assisting with and/or vetting Philly Water Bar requests, coordinating event logistics with external partners (scheduling, promo, etc), scheduling and working the Water Bar; other duties related to this task as assigned

* Assistance to the PE Team Around Large Events

* Possible Task-Specific Deliverables: full-scale assistance, and possibly leading, coordination of larger events (examples are the Water Revitalization Plan Family Discovery Day, PWD Open Houses, etc); reviewing everything necessary to host a smooth and successful event, including scheduling, confirming attendees, food ordering, site visits, run-of-show, assistance with talking points, calendar invites, etc; other duties related to this task as assigned

* Assistance to PWD & PE Team Using VAN

* Possible Task-Specific Deliverables: becoming PWD’s VAN liaison; training the PE Team and possibly other units at PWD on VAN use; data analysis using VAN; exploring VAN’s texting capabilities as it pertains to outreach; other duties related to this task as assigned

3. Other Duties as Assigned by the PE Team Manager and/or PWD

Candidate Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will possess both minimum requirements and the general skills, background, and work ethic as outlined below.

* Minimum requirements:

* Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in a relevant field

* Relevant fields include: community planning/engagement, public participation, public affairs, public administration, stormwater management, science education, sustainability, environmental science/studies, communications, city/urban planning, public policy, public administration, and the like

* Relevant degree with 2+ years of relevant professional experience

* Team player with strong organizational skills, excellent speaker and writer, able to perform well in a fast-paced environment, able to successfully juggle multiple projects/deadlines simultaneously all while having an eye for detail and top-quality customer service, proven ability to get major deliverables done well and on-time, possessing and utilize creative thinking and problem-solving, ability to forecast an increasing tasklist

* Proficient computer skills and working knowledge of Windows, Microsoft Office, Zoom, Google Suite, GIS (and/or willingness to learn), Creative Cloud (and/or willingness to learn), VAN (Voter Access Network; and/or willingness to learn), and/or possibly Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, and/or digital marketing or communications software, etc

General skills that will favorably benefit this position are:

* Be familiar with Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, have reliable transportation, be a city driver

* Be a caring people-person who is passionate about urban resilience

* Be comfortable presenting information to diverse audiences in a public setting

* Be comfortable working with both technical and non-technical staff, as well with every level of resident and stakeholder representing Philadelphia communities

* Be a “generalist”, an eager learner, and a creative thinker

* Be an activated resident aware of the complex social, economic, and environmental challenges that many Philadelphians face (and want to help)

* Examples of preferred secondary skills: bi-lingual capacity (Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin preferred; please see here or here), advanced proficiency with Creative Cloud and/or GIS, adept at science communication & science visualization, proven ability to break complex topics down for understanding

Trans-Pacific Engineering Corporation (TPEC):

TPEC is an equal opportunity employer and civil/environmental engineering consulting firm currently headquartered in Lower Gwynedd, PA with a wide client base throughout the region. Full-time TPEC employees enjoy a friendly, flexible work environment, and competitive salary with benefits package including paid holidays/flexible time off, health insurance, life and disability insurance, tuition assistance, and retirement savings plan with company match. TPEC reserves the right to background check and drug screen job candidates prior to hiring.

To apply for this TPEC Community Outreach Specialist position please submit both a cover letter and resume to Philip Chiang (pchiang@tpeceng.com) by 5pm on Friday, July 26th. Thank you and best of luck.