Community Engagement Fellow

Job Description

Job Description

Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute Community Engagement Fellow

This position is part of the NOAA Coastal Resilience Fellowship Program, supporting the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC) projects. The fellow will support the project : Building a Climate Ready New Jersey.

Host Organization : Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI)

Location of Position : West Long Branch, New Jersey

Duration of Position : Two years

Annual Salary : $50,576 (June 2025-June 2027)

Benefits : Medical insurance, 11 paid federal holidays per year, 15 paid personal days per year, professional development training, travel funding, relocation allowance

Work Environment :

Office space will be provided at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, a historic college campus just one mile from the beach. The fellow’s office will be in or nearby the Urban Coastal Institute (UCI) suite, where the project mentor and other UCI colleagues sit. The fellow will have access to the library, gym, and all common campus facilities. The work will be hybrid on a schedule coordinated with the project mentor. It is anticipated that the fellow will be in the office 2–3 days per week and out in the field regularly to meet with communities and with project colleagues at the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium whose offices are located 12 miles from campus in Sandy Hook.

Fellowship Position Description :

The fellow will support Dr. Tom Herrington, associate director of the Urban Coastal Institute, in coordinating the project’s Resilience Project Design Pipeline work. The fellow will work under the supervision of the project mentor to ensure that multiple education, engagement, and training activities are planned and implemented in conjunction with the other core activities of the Climate Ready New Jersey project. The fellow’s primary responsibility will be to work closely with the project mentor and  Rachel Forbes, the UCI’s community engagement specialist, to engage in the development of resilience projects for inclusion in the design pipeline. A brief description of the major tasks, deliverables, milestones, and timelines that will be supported over the two-year fellowship are listed below.

Major Tasks :

• Translate science, guidance, decision support tools, and plans to be understandable, usable, and useful to community members in the context of their needs
• Ensure that projects are informed by the best available climate science and tools and integrate local knowledge and needs to maximize economic and societal co-benefits
• Leverage technical expertise of project partners and practitioners in the coproduction of resilience projects in various types of communities to ensure the projects include and address local historical context and culture
• Ensure meaningful community participation in the assessment of climate risk and mitigation actions through direct engagement, working with trusted community-based organization (CBO) partners and meeting the community where they are in the community resilience spectrum

Major Deliverables and Time Frames :

Anticipated Travel :

Regular local travel is anticipated to meet with local communities and attend coordination meetings with other partners on the Resilient NJ project, including the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Rutgers University EduCATE project collaborators. The fellow will work with the project mentor to identify other opportunities to travel for professional networking and development, including to New Jersey–based, regional, and national conferences and workshops. Relevant conferences could include opportunities hosted by the New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative (comanaged by the project mentor) and the New Jersey and National Association of Floodplain Management. The fellow is required to attend the peer-to-peer sharing event in 2027. NOAA will provide the fellow with professional development funds to use for activities identified by the fellow, funds to travel to the peer-to-peer sharing event in 2027, and a set amount of travel funds for the project.

Desired Qualifications :

Fellow Mentoring :

Tom Herrington, Ph.D., is associate director of the Urban Coast Institute. Dr. Herrington is a coastal engineer with more than 30 years of experience in coastal resilience, shoreline processes and resilience research, and community engagement. He also serves as the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s resilient communities and economies specialist and co-managing director of the New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative. As part of this project, Dr. Herrington will work with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as overall coordinator of the resilience project design pipeline work. The project will provide these services by coordinating the resilience project design pipeline work, directly engaging with disadvantaged and overburdened communities, and providing community coastal restoration technical assistance and training. The fellow will primarily support community engagement while coordinating with other workflows under the supervision of the project mentor. The mentor will ensure the fellow receives the resources and support needed to accomplish Climate Resilience Regional Challenge project goals as well as the fellow’s individual and professional goals. The mentor will also establish a mentoring plan and set of guidelines and expectations with the fellow upon the start of the fellowship.

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Salary : $50,576