Jobs and Internships
Summer Community Health Internship
Function: Clean Air Council seeks a graduate (or highly qualified undergrad) intern to handle discrete Environmental Justice research project within its Community Health Program. This position is a work-study or volunteer summer internship position.
Community Health Program Description
Clean Air Council’s Community Health Program is working to address environmental pollution inequalities in Philadelphia through research, education, and advocacy. Research and education are currently focused on the effect heavy-duty truck traffic has on levels of particulate matter pollution. Community Health Program has partnered with area academics to develop a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project to assess the neighborhood level air quality in Philadelphia’s port neighborhoods.
CBPR is a research method committed to involving neighborhood residents at every step of the research process. CBPR requires community input in research design, fieldwork, and publication, keeping research and advocacy accountable to the people it serves. Creating environmental research responsive to the environmental needs of Philadelphia’s most over-burdened residents is central to Clean Air Council’s mission to protect everyone’s right to clean air.
Air quality is only measured in a handful of locations throughout Philadelphia, giving an incomplete picture of the small-scale uneven distribution of particulate matter pollution. Through collaboratively producing new, fine-grain knowledge with neighborhood residents, Clean Air Council hopes to advocate for new place-specific solutions to environmental inequalities.
Responsibilities
Clean Air Council is working to expand its participatory air quality research strategy in Philadelphia’s northern port neighborhoods. Research intern will be asked to assist in air monitoring and documentation projects. Intern will have two related sets of responsibilities:
· Organize a PhotoVoice project in Philadelphia port neighborhoods. Part of the Council’s participatory research practice involves using photography to document residents’ perception of their neighborhood. The Council is looking for an intern to expand the photography component of the project.
· Assist in general research tasks during the early summer air monitoring deployment. Intern will assist council staff in coordinating air monitoring fieldwork.
Requirements
· Ability to work independently and complete established project goals in given timeframe
· Experience and/or knowledge of the theory and practice of participatory methodology(CBPR)
· Experience with PhotoVoice methodology preferred, but not required
· A commitment to environmental justice
· Familiarity with Philadelphia’s built environment
· Interest in and experience with digital photography
· Creative and critical thinker
· Strong organizational skills
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to John Lee (jlee@cleanair.org).
5K Run for Clean Air
Over the past three decades, The 5K Run for Clean Air has grown into Philadelphia’s largest Earth Day Celebration, a certified green run, and much more. Located on the beautiful banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, the 5K Run for Clean Air is a community effort to decrease the air pollution that triggers asthma and other respiratory problems in our families, as well as support programs that reduce waste in favor of increased recycling and composting and slow down global warming.
The 5K Run for Clean Air is Philadelphia’s premier green run, an environmentally responsible event certified by Athlete’s For a Fit Planet. Last year the Council implemented a series of sustainable practices so that participants could enjoy a sense of accomplishment, not only from finishing, but from being environmentally conscious– something no other run in the area offers. Paperless registration eliminated the printing and mailing of over 25,000 Run brochures. Runners were urged to take public transportation, walk, or bike (bicycle valet provided!). All of the Run’s trash was either composted or recycled!
