Coachella staff seek direction to host two Civic Spark fellows to boost energy and planning work

City staff asked the Economic Development Planning Subcommittee on April 2 for direction to apply to host two Civic Spark fellows—AmeriCorps-supported placements—intended to support energy, sustainability and planning projects across city departments.

Rebecca Sheppard, management analyst for the Economic Development Department, said the inland Regional Energy Network (IREN) and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) partner with Civic Spark and would cover the fellowship funding. “This fellowship would be an 11 month full time placement,” Sheppard said, describing an expected start in 2026 and an end in August 2027. She added there is no cost to the city for the stipend component: “IREN and CVAG are covering it,” staff said, noting the $37,500-per-person value for budgeting purposes is provided by the fellowship sponsors.

Sheppard said the fellows are typically college graduates and early-career professionals with skills in research, technology and analysis and that the city would commit operational supports such as workspace, a computer and software, supervision, and onboarding. The proposal called for one fellow to support economic development community-resilience projects and one to support development services planning.

Committee members voiced support, asked how fellows are recruited (Sheppard said Civic Spark handles recruitment and application screening across multiple states) and suggested the fellows attend regional committees and meetings as part of professional development. Several members indicated the committee had given staff the direction needed to submit an application for two fellows.

Next steps: staff will proceed with submitting the application to Civic Spark pending the committee’s direction and will report back on selection and placement details if the city is awarded fellows.