Department Of City Planning Internship

At the City of Atlanta, we are passionate about building and improving our community. Our police officers, firefighters and building inspectors keep our citizens safe. Our Public Works staff keeps our City clean and helps maintain, build and improve our City’s infrastructure. Our City planners help envision and shape future City growth. Our Parks & Recreation professionals enhance our quality of life.

Our engineers help keep our drinking water clean, the largest airport in the world (by passenger volume) operating and our buildings maintained. Along with the host of Finance, Procurement, and Human Resources professionals whose support is vital, we are the City of Atlanta! If you are seeking a meaningful role where you can make a real difference improving and growing our City, we welcome you to explore the job opportunities we have to offer.

Posting: Open Until Filled

Salary: Commensurate with experience

THIS IS A SEASONAL POSITION

General Description and Classification Standards

The City's Department of City Planning is recruiting for summer interns. Interns perform various and diverse administrative and/or project duties depending on specific department and job assignment. This title is typically assigned to someone attending college who is interning to gain more experience and knowledge of a specific function in municipal government. Opportunities are available in a variety of areas, as described below; the following areas: Office of the Commissioner, Office of Buildings, Office of Design, Office of Housing and Community Development, and Office of Zoning and Development.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities These are typical responsibilities for this position and should not be construed as exclusive or all inclusive. May perform other duties as assigned.

Performs various and diverse administrative and/or project duties depending on specific department and job assignment. This title is typically assigned to someone attending college who is interning to gain more experience and knowledge of a specific function in municipal government.

Office of the Commissioner:
GIS:

• Assist higher level staff in the implementation of the geographic information system (GIS) by performing research, data entry and site inspections.

• Assists in the collection of construction activity data on laptop computer, handheld devices such as PDA’s or GPS related equipment in the field for creating permanent records.

• Assists in the evaluation of hardware and software for GIS Systems.

• Generate content for GIS web application.

• Assist Business Operations team with financial metrics and data, procurement procedures, legislation, safety services and customer experience.

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.
• Assist Business Operations team with financial metrics and data, procurement procedures, legislation, safety services and customer experience.

Neighborhood Planning Units (NPU):

• Assist in the planning and execution of NPU programs to enhance community outreach and engagement and increase awareness about the NPU system.

• Assist with preparation of NPU meeting packets , weekly.

• Assist in closing out the NPU Grant Program

• Assist in reviewing Bylaws for 25 NPUS’s .

• Assist in implementation of NPU University – a series of Community Education & Leadership Training Courses

• Attending NPU, City Council or committee meetings as needed

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

Marketing and Communications:

• Assisting with the creation of content and coordinating social media posts via Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• Assisting with the development of the monthly e-newsletter content

• Tracking of Media Hits & Paid Ads

• Distributing Media Releases

• Attending NPU, City Council or committee meetings as needed

• Create graphic concepts for communication projects

• Execute creative vision across various touchpoints

• Assist with in-house production and admins tasks as needed

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

Office of Design:

• Assist in plan-making as a design process aimed at intentionally guiding the physical form of our city using Atlanta City Design as the concept for that design

• Assist a team of planners, designers, and other professionals to design the city’s plans, both in-house and with consultant teams

• Assist in developing new processes and methodologies by which the City develops its plans and, translates these into policy, and rapidly implements recommendations

• Assist in engaging communities and neighborhoods in the design process in a meaningful way that productively informs design decisions including presentations, workshops, design charrettes, etc,

• Assist in the collection of relevant data, research case studies, and survey best practices and organize this information in a clear, concise format

• All OOD interns would need to be current or recent graduate students with the focus of their studies/experience relevant to the general work described.
• Assist with GIS mapping and data analysis related to the City’s Historic/Landmark designated properties and districts. This work would involve the creation of customized shapefiles and datasets that would allow for the future digitization and consolidation of various inventories, reports, documentation, and other miscellaneous files into a public facing webmap.

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

Office of Housing and Community Development:

• Assist in researching housing policy solutions to increase and diversify the city’s housing stock with a focus on land-use and zoning, building code innovation, and introducing new housing types to the Atlanta market.

• Assist in research of the following: new housing programs - surplus property programs (i.e. homesteading, ground leasing), Inclusionary Zoning expansion, initiatives to increase implementation of new housing types (i.e. Accessory Dwelling Units).

• Gather research on policy solutions that could increase the city’s diversity of housing stock in an equitable manner.

Office of Zoning and Development and Office of Buildings:

• Learn the City’s development application review process; learn to review applications for completeness; gain familiarity with site, topographic, landscape, and architectural plans; learn to read and interpret zoning codes; learn to read and explain City ordinances.

• Provide technical support to planning staff by conducting research and preparing maps and graphics.

• Assist planners as needed.

• Prepare agendas and reports for review boards and meetings; provide required information for specific meetings; assist in the preparation and review of meeting minutes.

• Answer questions and provide information to the public; research information and assist higher level planning staff with inquiries pertaining to current or comprehensive planning.

• Research, collect, compile, record and summarize technical data; assist higher level planning staff assemble documentation for projects and presentations.

• Assist in the enhancement of the department’s record keeping system by organizing and computerizing files.

• Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

Decision Making

Follows standardized procedures and written instructions to accomplish assigned tasks.

Leadership Provided

None

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities This is a partial listing of necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the job successfully. It is not an exhaustive list.

Some knowledge of specific professional function in which assigned, e.g. IT, Human Resources, Accounting etc.

Good Microsoft Office skills.

Good planning, organizational and presentation skills.

Good verbal and written skills.

Ability to quickly assimilate new information into a work process to achieve the desired objective outcome.

Ability to independently collect information needed and transpose into finished product.

Minimum Qualifications – Education and Experience

Pursuing an Associate's or Bachelor’s degree in an appropriate discipline for the department in which person is an intern (Equivalent professional experience may be considered for substitution for the required degree on an exception basis).

Preferred Education & Experience

Pursuing an Associate’s, Bachelor’s or Graduate’s degree in one of the Majors listed below:

Preferred Majors: Architecture, Architectural or Mechanical Engineering, Building Construction, Business Administration, Communications, Community Development, Community Services, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Management, Geography, Graphic Design, Information Systems, Environmental Science, Forestry, Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, Planning, Public Administration, Real Estate, Urban Design, Urban Planning and Urban Studies.

Licensures and Certifications

None

Additional Information

• City of Atlanta required training May 28th – May 29th, 2023

• Interns will be required to work an 8-hour shift Monday – Friday from May 28th – August, 2023.