MATCHMAKER

WHAT IS THE INTERNSHIP MATCHMAKER AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM?

Our Matchmaker and Management Program ‘matches’ early career professionals with local organizations to advance sustainability efforts.

We connect funding to ensure equitable opportunities in the workforce and provide project management training and oversight to ensure satisfying outcomes for everyone.

Many important projects within municipalities and environmental non-profits that could be completed through internships fall to the wayside because of a lack of internal resources. CEEP fills this gap by matching qualified early career professionals to these projects and ensures quality through training, oversight and funding support. To learn more, please see our Program Overview.

“The team at CEEP has created a program that is a gift for any resource limited organization. They match talented early career professionals for our projects and connect the funding to pay them, all while providing training and project oversight to ensure the project’s success.”

- Commissioner Alan J. Sorensen, Orange County Department of Planning.

WHO ARE THE PROJECT-HOSTS?

Our program is designed to benefit municipalities and non-profit organizations that want to complete sustainability projects, but are unable to do so due to funding and staffing limitation. Rather than having to carry these burdens, these organizations effectively pass to CEEP the work of sourcing qualified early career professionals and managing their progress.

Interested in being matched with one of our Program Fellows? Assemble a description of your project and Apply to be a Project Host.

WHO ARE THE EARLY CAREER FELLOWS WE ARE SEEKING?

Our program is designed for a spectrum of early-career professionals seeking sustainability project experience, including:

  • Students who are still in school and seeking college/course credit

  • Recent graduates looking for work experience

  • Experienced professionals with interest in expanding their skills

    We strongly encourage veterans and BIPOC candidates to apply.

Our program ensures your success through project management training and hands-on mentorship. Spend 12 weeks working with hands-on support from project management professionals to deliver on a local agency's sustainability goals. Program Fellows gain experience and enter a growing network of sustainability professionals in New York State.

If you are interested, please apply using our Matchmaker Fellows Application.

"Our fellowship partnership with CEEP gives our students the hands-on experience and tools they need to become sustainability leaders. Plus, they're making a difference right here in the Hudson Valley."

- Caroline Ramaley, Associate Director, Bard College Center for Environmental Policy

MATCHMAKER OVERVIEW PRESENTATION

MUNICIPAL SUSTAINABILITY SUPPORT PROJECTS

We are seeking candidates to support sustainability activities in municipalities located in New York’s Hudson Valley. Over the course of these 3-4 month projects, the Fellow will provide support to CEEPartnership staff and municipal partners on specific sustainability-related projects. Examples of potential projects include: (1) assisting with GHG inventory efforts, (2) helping achieve New York State program certifications, (3) providing support for Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs, and (4) fostering collaboration between municipalities and local school districts. More details and a shareable opportunity description is available here. If interested, please click here to apply: Apply here!

NEXT GENERATION OF CODE OFFICIALS PROGRAM

Municipal code officials are essential in supporting a community’s compliance efforts and economic development. They can also have a significant role to play in achieving the deep retrofit and new building strategies which will be required to address the significant climate impact of buildings. This program is being developed to create the next generation of code officials with cutting-edge knowledge of strategies needed to achieve local, state, and global goals, and to address the looming shortage of code officials and associated technical knowledge limitations with respect to innovative building strategies prevalent in the existing code official population. Through this program, Matchmaker Fellows will alongside qualified municipal code officials on municipal building code compliance projects while also being trained on certification process to become a building code official. Please contact us and/or apply to the Matchmaker Program if you are interested in this important project!

CEEP + MATCHMAKER ALUMNI

  • Krishna Zamora, Outreach Specialist

    Krishna led outreach efforts to the Spanish-speaking community and provided management support within our participating Hudson Valley CCA communities.

  • Jacob Hunter, Program Manager

    Jacob is a graduate of Vassar College where he majored in both Environmental Studies and Political Science. At CEEP he worked on the CCA program and expanding CEEP’s outreach and connection with other local organizations

  • Samirah Aziz, Community Specialist

    Samirah Aziz is a proud lifelong resident of Newburgh and recent graduate from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and a correlate in Arabic Language and Culture.

  • Toluwalase (Ennie) Akinwunmi, Summer Intern, 2019

    Ennie focused on getting our website in shape and supporting the Hudson Valley Community Power program launch. Ennie graduated at the top of her class at Beacon High School and is currently studying at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Hannah Karp, Program Manager

    Hannah served as a CCA Communities Program Manager for the Hudson Valley Community Power Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program from May 2019 - December 2019. She is a native of Poughkeepsie and has a wealth of experience fostering the growth of renewable energy in the Hudson Valley.

WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

In order to ensure that our early career professionals are paid sufficiently for their work and that resource-limited project hosts can participate in our program, we are committed to paying each project fellow’s stipend, as well as the training and program administration costs of each project.

Specifically, it will fund a paid 12-week part-time internship for early career professionals who are matched with a local project host. Importantly, this workforce development training is designed to create skills for young leaders to drive sustainability initiatives for years to come. The per-project costs are as follows:

$3,600 for the Fellow for a 12-week, 20-hrs per week Internship

$1,400 per project for Program Administration and Training

Total per Project: $5,000

Please consider supporting our Internship Matchmaker and Management Program!