Organizational Applications Now Open: Host a PHI CivicSpark Fellow for a 6 Month Placement

PHI’s CivicSpark is accepting applications for organizational partners interested in hosting CivicSpark fellows for a 6 month term beginning in March 2025.

CivicSpark places highly motivated emerging leaders with local organizations to support research, planning, and implementation projects for community resilience. CivicSpark staff work with project partners to coordinate a positive fellowship experience. Site Supervisors provide direct project supervision of Fellows, with support from CivicSpark Regional Coordinators and other program staff.

The application deadline for partners is January 17, 2025.

CivicSpark was recently awarded AmeriCorps National Direct grant to support the program’s expansion, with plans to place 100 additional government agencies and nonprofit organizations to host CivicSpark Fellows and serve additional communities in our existing states and new areas across the country beginning in January through September 2025.

The program’s initial plans for expansion include bringing CivicSpark to regions disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change and natural disasters to serve communities in at least 12 additional states across the West, Pacific Northwest, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, with additional geographic expansion likely in years to come. For the first time in 2025, CivicSpark is leveraging their recently awarded AmeriCorps funding for partner organizations in an expanded list of states including Arizona, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, to our existing states of California, Colorado and Washington in hosting a CivicSpark Fellow for a six-month term from March to September, 2025.

Beyond the program’s basic requirements, PHI’s CivicSpark is looking for project partners with a commitment to Fellows’ growth and development through direct project oversight, a dedicated Fellow supervisor, and a supportive professional environment.

Projects must support local community resilience needs such as climate change adaptation or mitigation, affordable housing, energy efficiency, water management or policy, sustainable mobility, or other related issues. Beyond the basic criteria, our program is looking for tangible and impactful resilience projects with a:

• Clear, suitable scope of work
• Commitment to implementation
• Strong connection to public agencies’ needs

Partner eligibility includes:

• Public agencies (local, county or regional governments), state agencies, Tribes, and non-profit organizations can contract directly to host CivicSpark Fellows
• Fellows cannot be placed at for-profit organizations
• Fellows must implement projects or initiatives with a clear scope of work designed to build organizational capacity on a community resilience issue
• Partners must agree to follow all AmeriCorps requirements

Learn more:

Watch CivicSpark’s “WA/CO/New States Three Quarter Timeline Info Session” to learn more about the application process and timeline, partner fees, costs and fellow stipends, and more.

In addition to our new six-month Fellowship, CivicSpark is looking forward to serving new communities across the country along with our long-time partners in California, Colorado and Washington later in 2025. Partner applications for our annual eleven-month Fellowship beginning in September 2025 will open in the early spring. If your organization could benefit from increased capacity to address a community resilience challenge at this critical time, please reach out to us to learn more. In addition, if your state isn’t listed above, please reach out to discuss bringing CivicSpark to your community in the near future. Email us at info@civicsparkfellowship.org with questions or to get started.