Job Title: Planning Intern
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Organization: Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI)
Salary: $25/hour
Job Opening: Summer 2023 (dates flexible depending on school schedule)
Closing Date: When Filled
Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a collective 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.
Job DescriptionKDI is seeking a summer Planning Intern to join our Los Angeles 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 L.A. County, the Eastern Coachella Valley, or other locations across the country.
The Planning Intern will work closely with the Planning, Design, and Community Departments, local residents, government officials, and other stakeholders to support a wide range of projects and topics, including:
- Participatory design and temporary activation of public spaces, from vacant lots to large parks
- Designing and installing shade structure prototypes
- Equitable, community-based development, such as for recent projects in Juneau, AK and Wichita, KS
- Gender equity in planning and design, through our current needs assessment with the LA Department of Transportation, and our recent World Bank publication
- Projects to support unhoused residents in public space, including our currently project with unhoused and formerly unhoused youth employed at a community garden run by the nonprofit Safe Place for Youth
- 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; ability to work independently
- Experience conducting research and analyzing data
- Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite and GIS
- Bilingual in English and Spanish (verbal and written) preferred
- Driver’s license with clean driving record required
How to Apply
Send electronic copy of cover letter, resume, writing sample and three (3) references to: LAJobs@kounkuey.org
Subject heading: Planning Intern Summer 2023: Your Name
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status or 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.