AASPIRE Intern

Common Council Office
Community Engagement and Policy Intern:
The Office of the Common Council is seeking a passionate and creative Community Engagement Intern. This person will work collaboratively with the Community Engagement Strategist and the Legislative Analyst on projects to generate awareness of the Common Council, assist in research that impacts local decision-making, and assist in the planning and implementation of alder engagement events.

• Support and collaborate in the development of frameworks for community engagement, by identifying engagement needs and develop innovative strategies to increase public engagement, generate awareness of City services and resident needs, and promote citywide accomplishments.
• Plan and develop marketing initiatives and complete projects related to branding, content creation, and social media marketing. Update website and develop website content. Manage editorial and event calendars.
• Incorporate print, audio/visual, social media, and other methods of communication most effective at serving our diverse communities. 
• Collaborate with staff on new ideas, directions, and tools for marketing and communications.
• Assist with research requests and the preparation of policy reports.

Community Development Division
Crisis Intervention and Prevention Program:
The AASPIRE Intern will play a key role in supporting the Crisis, Intervention, and Prevention Request for Proposals (RFP) process within the Community Resources Unit. This will involve:

• Alignment Efforts: Assisting in aligning the RFP with the Madison Dane County Public Health Violence Roadmap.
• Research and Technical Assistance: Conducting research on best practices to support collaboration among organizations focused on crisis intervention and prevention work.
• Proposal Organization: Assisting in organizing and managing proposal reviewers.
• Administrative and Program Development: Supporting administrative oversight tasks, developing program standards and goals, and gathering Community Voices survey data to inform the RFP and ensure effective outcomes. Other duties as assigned regarding project.

Department of Civil Rights (DCR)
Marketing and Social Media:

• Craft core messaging and content pillars.
• Create marketing campaigns and a media calendar, with a six-month specific timeline. 
• Goal: increase access of the DCR’s services and increase public engagement.
• Post content to social media using Agorapulse, Facebook, X, and potentially Instagram regularly and track impacts.
• Create email campaigns with Outlook.

Department of Civil Rights and Office of Business Resources
ACRE Madison Program Manager:
The Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) Program is an industry-supported initiative that recruits and retains people of color for careers in commercial real estate. The goal of the ACRE program is to expand diversity and inclusion in the commercial real estate industry, including the fields of development, property management, and construction. The program offers students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the industry while creating a valuable network of fellow students, ACRE graduates and industry professionals. The program includes working with experienced professionals to provide a better understanding of the real estate industry, as well as a hands-on approach to develop experience. This position will assist with the partnership between Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and City of Madison to provide ACRE Madison graduates and students with information, resources and opportunities to further expand their skills in commercial real estate.

• Identify Commercial Real Estate Opportunities for ACRE Graduates and Students

• Research Available City-Owned Sites

• Develop a guide to the City’s Development Process

• Property Management Project

Information Technology (IT) Department (2 Openings)
Digital Accessibility:
The Digital Accessibility intern will gain experience in supporting audits/tests of digital content accessibility. They will also work closely with the Digital Inclusion Coordinator to support the implementation of the Digital Accessibility Project, which involves updating all City of Madison digital content to meet accessibility best practices.

• Assess assigned digital content for compliance with Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards. 
• Assess assigned digital usability for users of assistive technologies.
• Provide detailed reports on test results. 
• Support additional tasks related to the Digital Accessibility Project as assigned.

• Take photos of City staff and City services.
• Take photos of diverse images of City life, such as Ride the Drive, Farmers’ Markets, Concerts on the Square, Street Vending, Art and Crafts vending, diversity, art murals, etc. 
• Work with City employees (under the direction of a supervisor) to collect photo requests and understand customer needs. 
• Edit photos.
• Present photos to IT Web Team and department customers.
• Organize and upload photos to the City-wide photo library. 

Madison Public Library (2 openings)
Information Technology:
This internship will allow you to gain practical information technology experience in a public library while helping to boost the profile of a well-respected public library system. Opportunities exist to do general IT support work, create technology documentation, and/or research IT projects.  
Projects may include:

• Create common IT reference/help desk job aids for all locations: Using the list of systems and hardware that library Tech Liaisons identified as priorities, work with Library IT staff and librarians to create comprehensive and detailed tech guides for librarians to reference.  
• IT Closet Identification and Documentation: Map out system networks at each library and follow up with the corresponding vendors to identify any questionable hardware.
• Wi-Fi Connectivity Heat Mapping: Using Heat Mapping application to identify weak connectivity areas in libraries.
• Risk Assessment: Using provided guidelines and checklist, support Library IT in performing assessment.
• KPI dashboard in Tableau: Help build a dashboard to visualize progress made towards Library IT Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

About 60% of the work will take place at Library Service Center (1301 W. Badger Rd.) and the other 40% will take place at neighborhood libraries across the City.  

Marketing and Community Engagement:
This internship will allow you to gain practical marketing and communications experience in a public library while helping to boost the profile of a well-respected public library system. Opportunities exist to work with general communications and marketing in a variety of interest areas as well as do outreach work in libraries and at community events throughout the summer that include:

• Writing press releases and media alerts 
• Crafting event announcements and submitting announcements to local media
• Crafting website, email, and social media content and campaigns
• Assisting with or hosting promotional events during Parks Alive events, at Dream Bus visits, and in neighborhood libraries
• Taking and organizing photos of events or library activities
• Other marketing- and communications-related tasks as needed

About 60% of the work will take place at Central Library (201 W. Mifflin St.) and the other 40% will take place outside the library at a variety of community events across the city or at neighborhood libraries.  
Bilingual in Spanish is preferred.

Madison Senior Center (MSC)
Senior Center Engagement and Operations Intern

• Community Engagement and Outreach
  • Participate in and represent the Madison Senior Center at various community events for older adults and their families.
  • Table at Parks Alive or different summer festival events.
  • Collaborate with Program & Outreach Coordinators on summer events like Juneteenth Celebration and the Zoo to You – Ice Cream Social.
  • Engage the newly-formed Advisory Committee to gather and implement ideas for improving operations.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
  • Research culturally relevant holidays, foods, celebrations, and social customs for the Hmong, Chinese, African, and Latin American populations in Madison.
  • Assist in making the Health and Resource Fair more multicultural by creating materials in different languages, recruiting multilingual health screeners, and diversifying vendor participation.
  • Review Madison Senior Center policies using the City's Racial Equity and Social Justice toolkit.
• Research and Resource Development
  • Create a summary document of agencies in Madison that serve older adults, including services provided, target populations, and key contacts.
  • Research best practices for advertising on social media in an effective and inclusive way.
  • Explore ways to expand onsite services such as massages, haircuts, and tax assistance.
• Marketing and Social Media
  • Create and schedule content for the Senior Center’s Facebook account to expand social media reach.

Bilingual in Spanish, Chinese and/or Hmong is preferred.
*Driver's License required.

Mayor's Office
Sustainable Purchasing Policy:
This internship will be within the Sustainability & Resilience Program of the Mayor’s Office. In 2024, the Common Council passed an update to our sustainability plan, which includes a goal to “leverage City purchasing power to support products and services that reduce the City’s impact on the environment and support a circular economy.” The primary role of this internship will be to conduct a policy review of the City’s purchasing policies and identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact from the products bought by the City. The internship will begin with research into existing City policies, followed by an analysis of peer cities to gain insights and share best practices with our staff. It will involve scheduling meetings and collaborating with departments across the City to review and enhance their purchasing policies. By the end of the internship, we aim to have finalized recommendations that will move through the regular City process to be approved by the Common Council. This position will also include broader exposure to the ongoing work staff are undertaking in the Sustainability & Resilience Program. Position responsibilities include:

• Bring a passion to help make Madison a more sustainable and equitable community.
• Conduct effective research and make sustainability recommendations based off those findings.
• Participate in meetings with departments across the City of Madison to understand their purchasing policies and priorities, with the goal of eventually leading these discussions.
• Craft and present recommended updates to Administrative Procedure Memoranda (APM) related to sustainable purchasing policies, which the Mayor’s Office will introduce and promote for eventual adoption by the Common Council.

Parks Division (4 openings)
Ecology:
The AASPIRE Parks Ecology Intern will assist with identifying, monitoring and controlling invasive plant species in conservation parks and other park natural areas. The Intern will be trained and assist with vegetation surveys in prairies and woodlands to track habitat quality. They will monitor and report on biocontrol efforts, and will assist with evaluation and scoring of intensively managed pollinator habitat plantings (managed meadows). Finally, the Intern will be trained to identify the Red-headed Woodpecker and will survey parks to document its presence and breeding status, then produce a brief report on the findings.

• Identify, monitor, inventory and keep accurate record of plant and animal species.
• Survey parks for invasive species, safety hazards, aesthetics, and plant health. 
• Remove invasive plants by manual, mechanical or chemical means including digging, hand pulling, mowing, foliar spraying, cut-stump treatments and others.
• Plant and maintain desirable plants in landscape beds and pollinator habitat plantings, including planting, weeding, watering, mulching, and pruning.
• Prune trees and shrubs using various hand tools and collect native seeds for use in park natural areas under the guidance of Parks staff. 
• Support and provide guidance to volunteers in the field. 
• Respond or refer direct inquiries about restoration work from residents in the field.
• Operate automotive and maintenance equipment such as pickup trucks, riding mowers, and Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs).
• Remove trash from trailheads, parking lots and interior of parks, and assist with maintenance of grounds and trails.

Parks will provide funding and support to extend the internship after the end of the core program (August 1) until August 29, if the incumbent wishes to remain in the position a few weeks longer. As part of this optional extended term, the Intern will have the opportunity to survey and map invasive species such as purple loosestrife and species of interest such as native pollinators in park natural areas.
*Driver's License required

Golf - Ecology and Landscape:

• Ecological Restoration Planning and Establishment – Work with Golf Course Superintendents and Golf Director to strategically plan for and identify areas at Monona Golf Course to establish new native plantings with goals of increasing the overall foot print of native species on current lands. 
• Generate management plans for native areas related to conversion, species selection, and overall long term management plan, in accordance with Parks Division’s Land Management Plan.  
• Lead volunteer work days restoring and maintaining native areas on all courses. 
• Create landscape beautification plans for areas on and around the Golf Course and clubhouse areas. 
• Plan, plant, and maintain assigned landscape areas around the Golf Courses.  The work will be done to intentionally provide increase of appearance of entry ways and surrounds to enhance customer enjoyment and experience. (Install perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs and mulches per landscape plans)
• Coordinate with Golf Director and Golf Course Superintendents timelines of procurement of materials and worksite preparation. 

*Driver's License required.

Parks Alive!:
This position supports the City’s community engagement and violence prevention strategy by assisting with coordinating and facilitating a collaborative effort to plan and implement special events in low-income neighborhoods that prioritize promoting racial equity and social justice. The position’s primary responsibility will be to support the Parks Alive Program within the City of Madison’s Neighborhood Resource Team (NRT) Neighborhoods by providing general assistance with staff, vendor, and equipment coordination and leadership during special events. The work involves administrative work in developing, promoting, coordinating, implementing, managing, and evaluating the Parks Alive program. Under the general supervision of the Parks Alive Coordinator, this work involves a wide range of communication and collaboration with residents and representatives from non-profits, Neighborhood Resource Teams, Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), various vendors, and multiple City agencies.

• Assist with facility and staff scheduling for multiple sites, including coordinating equipment, supplies, and community resources and obtaining the necessary event permits.
• Serve as an onsite point of contact for all events and assist with event setup and teardown.  
• Prepare, sort and pack program materials in storage room and transport materials from storage to vehicle the office and onsite at various parks.
• Conduct program evaluations to ensure that high levels of program quality are always maintained.
• Participate in meetings, prepare event reports, and make presentations to community stakeholders as needed. 
• Assist with recruiting assigned city staff, community partners, residents, volunteers, and vendors.  
• Serve as the onsite support for all events and oversee event setup and teardown.   
• Enforce rules, regulations, and safety precautions, evaluate safety concerns, and make recommendations for process improvements.
• Safely operate program vehicles and equipment.

*Driver's License required

Parks Planning and Development:

• Prepare a Park Development Plan for the rehabilitation of Kenneth Newville Park, a 0.32 acre park on Madison’s south side.
• Assist Parks Civil Engineer with the inspection and preparation of inspection reports for ~20 bioretention basins in parks.
• Assist with observing and documenting construction activities of Parks public works projects.
  • Anticipated summer of 2025 projects include:
  • Rennebohm Park Tennis Courts
  • North Star, Kestrel, and Sycamore Park Sun Shelters
  • Sport Court resurfacings
  • Playground Replacements – Kennedy, Ontario, Sandburg, and Skyview Parks
  • Country Grove Park Singletrack
  • Fencing Repairs
  • Rennebohm Park Sprayground

*Driver's License required.

Planning Division (2 openings)
Geographic Information System (GIS):

• Assist in building ArcGIS Online Web Story Maps and other applications.
• Assist in updating roadway, bicycle, and pedestrian facility GIS data.  Data collected includes off-street and on-street bicycle facilities, intersection control, lane configurations, functional class, traffic volumes, sidewalk configurations, crosswalks, and curb cuts.
• Assist in updating Multi-modal Transportation and Bike Level Traffic of Stress networks to support accessibility analyses. Includes reviewing and editing network connectivity in GIS files.
• Download, format, and update various GIS data sets such as school locations, roadway pavement ratings, employers, bus routes and stops, crashes, census datasets, and metadata.
• Create maps and perform spatial analysis with GIS datasets for other projects as needed.

Neighborhood, Planning, Preservation and Design:
This position will be within the Neighborhood, Planning, Preservation and Design Section of the Planning Division. It will focus on providing education and exposure to how city government works and how Planning fits within that framework. It will also provide opportunities for the intern to assist Planning staff in a variety of planning and support activities related to built-up neighborhoods and grassroots organizations working on neighborhood activities and projects. Position responsibilities include:

• Become familiar with Area planning and Community Action Planning and assist in the development of these plans for Madison including but not limited to data collection, interviews and surveys, land use analysis and urban design, and public participation that engages residents, the business community, and stakeholders (nonprofits, neighborhood groups, schools, etc.) including diverse communities not typically represented in our planning processes.
• Become familiar with arts and cultural resources planning, and/or neighborhood grant projects, and assist with related tasks.
• Assist with writing, developing conceptual designs, and editing planning publications.

 
Traffic Engineering Department
Vision Zero:
The Vision Zero Intern will assist the City of Madison in advancing the 2025 Vision Zero work plan, which is based on recommendations within the Vision Zero Action Plan. Specific tasks may include:

• Utilizing GIS and other tools to analyze data and evaluate opportunities to address gaps in existing infrastructure to improve safety on the City’s High Injury Network 
• Assisting in various aspects of the planning and/or project development process projects within the work plan, which may include Safe Routes to School planning, an updated Pedestrian Plan and an Asphalt Art project, among others.
• Supporting public education efforts by preparing social media posts, outreach materials, and assisting at public events, which may include engaging families at the City’s Parks Alive program, outreach with youth and seniors, and assisting in developing a quiz to support driver’s training programs to learn about Vision Zero treatments and goals.
• Assisting in drafting reports and presentations to communicate progress on Vision Zero goals.
• Collaborating with various departments to integrate equitable engagement best practices into Vision Zero engagement efforts.

This internship offers exposure to a mix of policy, planning, and technical tasks aimed at fostering safer streets for all users. The specific tasks and a more individualized work plan will be further defined based on the skills, interests, and experience level of the selected intern.

About Vision Zero
Vision Zero is a data-driven initiative adopted by the City of Madison with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and severe injuries on city streets by 2035. Launched in 2020, the program emphasizes smarter street designs that account for human error, education, data-driven enforcement, and community engagement to enhance safety for all roadway users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.

• Currently enrolled in an Associate's, Bachelors, Masters, or Doctoral degree program.

• Those who have graduated from such programs since May of 2023 will also be considered.

• Participation in an employment program pre-approved by the City of Madison listed below since May of 2023. 
  • Centro Hispano
  • Forward Service Corporation
  • Latino Academy
  • Madison Black Chamber of Commerce
  • Operation Fresh Start
  • Urban League 
  • WRTP-Big Step
  • YWCA Madison

• Some positions will require possession of a valid driver's license.

Salary : $20