Civic Innovation Lab Apprentice - Teaching and Lab Assistant

Apply to work with BetaNYC! The Civic Innovation Lab needs a full-time assistant for the 2019-2020 academic year.

We will be scheduling interviews on a rolling basis starting August 5, so submit your application at your earliest!

Final candidates will come before the BetaNYC Leadership Committee in early September, 2019.

CIL's Teaching and Lab Assistant will assist BetaNYC in the teaching and management of the Civic Innovation Fellowship (CIF) program, along with other lab responsibilities as available.

CIF is an undergraduate fellowship program, which trains students in NYC Government, Open Data, and Civic Technology, and addresses real-world government challenges through the application and development of these skills. The teaching assistant must be knowledgeable in these subject matters and comfortable teaching them to new fellows, community board members, Manhattan Borough President staff, and the general public. In addition to helping teach and run the undergraduate program, the teaching assistant will also assist in the preparation and execution of open data trainings throughout the city.

As with our other apprentices, the teaching assistant will receive personal attention from the BetaNYC staff. While largely managerial, this position will deepen your experience in and with New York City government, municipal data, mapping, communication tools, teaching and developing open data curriculum. Additionally, the teaching assistant will enhance BetaNYC’s ability to develop and seed new curriculum, conduct trainings, publish, explore and develop new partnerships, and grow organizationally.

Responsibilities:

• Help schedule fellows’ time commitment with BetaNYC prior to their arrival (third week of September)
• Help BetaNYC staff develop a schedule for the semester, including days and times to deliver lecture, progression through boot camp materials, delineating all CUNY breaks, and final projects preparation.
• After lectures are delivered, provide guidance to students to complete their assignments.
• Be present when students are in the office to help troubleshoot technical or conceptual problems, keep track of their attendance and general productivity, and supervise.
• Weekly check in with BetaNYC senior staff to report on fellows’ status / progress.
• If a fellow appears to be experiencing any personal issue, seek BetaNYC senior staff to consult with fellow.
• Help maintain Civic Innovation Fellowship alumni engagement.
• Serve as a liaison to MBPO staff and internship coordinator.
• Field new Data Assistance Requests as needed.
• Conceive of, and when possible, develop new curriculum and new data journeys.
• Recruit, organize, and assist at public open data trainings.
• Strengthen BetaNYC through retaining talent and preserving institutional knowledge.

Skills Required:

• Enthusiasm for subject matter. A can-do solution oriented attitude. Thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. Self-starter able to see what needs to get done and motivate individuals to get it done.
• Be able to multi-task, switch gears regularly, keep yourself organized.
• Be comfortable accessing, reading, manipulating, cleaning, summarizing, and explaining NYC open data.
• Exhibit patience when teaching open data analysis to others.
• Proficiency and skill using the following software for data analysis and visualization: Socrata, Google Sheets/Excel, QGIS, ArcGIS Online for Developers, Carto, R, and creating ArcGIS Story Maps a huge plus.
• Attention to detail in your communications, scheduling, interviews, research, and documentation.
• Punctual to meetings, phone calls, and online correspondence. Respect for deadlines.
• Strong organizational skills. Ability to work in a small team, articulate personal needs, work to address collectively defined goals, and collaborate on the defined mission.
• Strong written and verbal communicator. Must be able to present needs and ideas in memos. Ability to breakdown projects into digestible concepts.
• Understanding of the following technologies: Google Docs — text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; Microsoft Office — Word, Excel, including Excel functions, PowerPoint; Slack; GitHub; office management tools like shared calendars, email applications, and web/internet conferencing technology; Basic HTML or Markdown.
• Knowledge of agile methodologies, open source technology, and civic tech movement
• Willingness to work with government stakeholders and/or experience working within government.