Environmental & Street Services Intern

City of Durham; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 29,000 - 32,000; Part time

Job summary

City of Durham is seeking a Social Media Intern to help manage two Departmental channels (Instagram and Facebook) and craft engaging communications for residents. The role focuses on evergreen and timely content, creating visuals with Canva, and monitoring engagement with the public.

You will work 10–15 hours per week, mostly onsite with flexible scheduling, and gain hands-on experience in municipal government communications and digital storytelling.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate student in a relevant program.
• Experience writing for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Access to reliable transportation to ESS-North and City Hall and to meetings/events.

Responsibilities

• Create content for two Departmental social channels (Instagram and Facebook).
• Manage content calendar and coordinate with department activities.
• Increase follower engagement and respond to questions and comments.
• Conduct research on social media best practices for government and benchmark other cities.
• Capture photos/videos and organize digital assets for the department.

Skills

Writing ability

Content creation

Social media strategy

Public engagement

Organizational skills

Independence

Collaboration

Education

Undergraduate or Graduate student

Communications/Journalism/English

Public policy/environmental studies

Tools

Canva

Job description

Work, Serve, Thrive. With the City of Durham

Advance in your career while making a real difference in the community you serve.

Hiring Range: Freshman: $21.00 | Sophomore: $21.63 | Junior: $22.28 | Senior/Graduate Student: $22.95

Hours/Schedule: Varies

***Interns are expected to work 10–15 hours per week. Work hours are generally scheduled Monday – Friday between 8:00am and 5:00pm, with flexibility to accommodate class schedules.

Flexible work environment, top-notch management, highly qualified, competent staff and opportunities for career advancement and professional success make the City of Durham's Environmental & Street Services Department a great place to work. We create the foundation on which Durham is built, using innovative methods that support the City's growth and enhance our quality of life. If growing professionally while serving your community is for you, bring your skills to Durham!

The Environmental and Street Services Department provides a variety of services to Durham residents, including trash, recycling, yard waste, and maintenance of the City's streets, sidewalks, bridges, and stormwater systems. To learn more, visit the Department's website: www.durhamnc.gov/ess.

***Please attach a one to two (1-2) writing sample, in the format of your choice, that best represents your writing abilities.

• Will primarily focus on creating content for and helping manage two Departmental social media channels, with the opportunity to assist with other communication projects.
• Apply creativity and entrepreneurial skills to help innovate how we manage these channels.
• Assist with building audiences, improving engagement, and determining what information our audiences might be most interested in.
• Highlight the important services of the Department by providing information to residents, explain the nature of our services, and improve communications between residents and the department.
• Conduct research and benchmarking about social media best practices and peer organization innovations.
• Create content for both channels – can overlap at times; should be a mix of evergreen and timely.
• Manage the content calendar for Instagram and Facebook accounts, coordinating with City and Department activities and priorities.
• Pitch ideas for written, visual, and multimedia content.
• Take photos and make short videos of Department’s quotidian work, public events and special services.
• Organize and maintain digital assets (photos, videos, etc.) for Departmental digital library.
• Make slideshows, reels, and visual and written posts for Instagram and Facebook, using Canva.
• Increase follower engagement.
• Engage with audiences proactively and respond to questions and comments.
• Note and elevate audience management issues that arise.
• Identify social media content that could feed into the Department website or that might help us prioritize new web content to create.
• Help monitor and report social media metrics.
• Conduct research into current best practices for managing social media for government, research how channel algorithms currently function, etc.
• Conduct research on benchmark other cities’ social media to create best practices and generate new ideas.
• Conduct research on Reddit, Nextdoor, and neighborhood listservs to get an idea of the kinds of questions and issues people tend to ask about that we could potentially address on social media.
• Participate in tabling at in-person outreach events as needed.
• Opportunities to participate in ride-alongs with our crews, visit project sites, observe water quality testing, and attend regional environmental policy meetings.

• Must be a currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited university or college pursuing a degree in communications, journalism, English, or similar subject. Will also consider students pursuing a degree in environmental/sustainability studies, public policy, public administration, or related fields.
• Experience writing for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Have access to reliable transportation to work onsite at ESS-North (1833 Camden Avenue) and City Hall (101 City Hall Plaza) and to occasionally attend meetings/events.

• Able to work 10-15 hours per week.
• Strong writing, editing, and storytelling abilities.
• Interest in social media strategy, public engagement, and multimedia storytelling.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating across a large, dynamic department.
• Strong interest in building connections and community.
• Willingness to solicit and use constructive feedback to enhance social media goals.
• Be curious, collaborative, and willing to learn.
• Ability to utilize a creative, entrepreneurial approach to work.
• Interest in the work of municipal government, including process improvement, applied research and experiments, and storytelling.
• One or more years of experience working with social media in a personal, professional, or volunteer context.
• One or more years of experience working with Canva or other graphics software.
• Ability to translate technical information into plain language.
• Experience conducting exploratory research.
• Experience with data analysis or visualization.