Job Title: Planning Intern (Paid)
Location: Coachella, CA
Organization: Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI)
Salary: $25/hour; 20 hours/week, 8-10 weeks
Job Opening: Summer 2025 (dates flexible depending on school schedule)
Closing Date: When Filled
Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a team of diverse urbanists—architects, landscape architects, urban planners, community organizers, and engineers—united by our shared commitment to building equity, justice, and resilience in communities through design. A BIPOC and woman-led firm founded in 2006, KDI comprises nearly 50 professionals working from four offices: Los Angeles, Eastern Coachella Valley, Nairobi, and Stockholm.
KDI is seeking a Planning Intern to join our Coachella Valley team. This is a great opportunity for a creative, highly motivated student or recent graduate to work directly with people in under-resourced communities to advance equity and support community-driven development and planning on a wide range of projects in the Eastern Coachella Valley and Riverside and LA Counties.
The Planning Intern will work closely with the Planning, Design, and Community Teams, local residents, government officials, and other stakeholders to support a wide range of projects and topics, including:
- Creative and inclusive community engagement Youth environmental justice projects
- Equitable, community-based development
- Gender equity in planning and design
- Projects to support unhoused residents in public space
- Green schoolyards and climate change adaptation in low-income communities of color
Qualifications
- Undergraduate or graduate-level coursework in Urban Planning or related field
- Strong commitment to social justice
- Self-motivated and able to work independently
- Experience conducting research and analyzing data
- Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite and GIS
- Driver’s licence required; must be willing and able to travel by car to meetings, events, etc.
- Bilingual in English and Spanish (verbal and written) required
How to Apply Send electronic copy of cover letter, resume, writing sample and three (3) references to: LAJobs@kounkuey.org Subject heading: ECV Planning Intern Summer 2025: Your Name
We are a woman-led, BIPOC-led practice committed to recruiting and retaining a team that reflects the communities we partner with. We prioritize inclusion, transparency, collaboration, courage and rigor. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status or medical condition (including AIDS, and cancer-related medical condition). We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.