Organizational Overview

Position

trubel&co is eager to welcome multiple Summer Associates to our team this summer to offer their expertise and help elevate the power of geospatial analytics in the pursuit of justice. trubel&co was co-founded & currently run by Stanford University doctoral student, Nick Okafor, who studies responsibility & ethics in tech through the Department of Management Science & Engineering. For Summer 2024, trubel&co has the capacity to host up to 3 Summer Associates. Below, please find sample descriptions and titles for the available roles, however please note that ultimately all roles may be customized to best fit the current needs of trubel&co and the interests/skillsets of the selected candidates. Candidates are welcome to propose other projects in their application, however they should still designate which of the listed role(s) best align.

All of the roles will involve a mix of strategy, research, and operational tasks. The particular duties and titles align with internal workstreams with needed capacity (e.g., Programs & Curricula will focus on program needs relating to the direct offering of educational services, whereas Development & Communications will focus on operational needs of fundraising strategy and external communications). More on the sample roles below. For all roles, we are looking for creative, high energy, and organized students who have a strong interest in responsible innovation, educational equity, and early-stage ventures. You will be a strategic thinker and a real doer, someone who takes initiative to develop and implement creative ideas to conduct research that advances our mission and empowers our community of diverse trubelmakers. Please identify the roles you are most interested in; the roles may evolve based on student experience and organizational need.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Research & Curricula on Tech Ethics
  • This role will be responsible for helping advance the research and development of tech ethics curriculum at trubel&co. This role will work closely with our Instructional Designer to conduct work across multiple internal workstreams. Example responsibilities may include:
    • Conduct literature reviews and analysis to identify key themes, trends, and gaps in the intersection of computing education and ethics, civics, and responsibility
    • Compile and develop curriculum materials and resources on tech ethics, civics, and responsibility
    • Design engaging and interactive short activities (approximately 30 minutes) that facilitate exploration of ethical dilemmas within the realm of computing. These activities should be adaptable for different audience sizes and levels of expertise who engage in trubel&co workshops
• Communications & Development
  • This role will be responsible for helping advance the external communication of trubel&co that promote financial sustainability, advocacy, and partnerships. This role will work closely with our Development & Communications Lead to conduct research and support operations in fundraising, grant writing, graphic design, and community building. Example responsibilities may include:
    • Create external promotional materials for different audiences (school staff, youth, teachers, parents, potential partners, etc.) in various media formats (i.e., blog posts, newsletters, social media)
    • Drive external trubel&co communications including boosting social media presence, manage the staff podcast internally, writing blogs, interviewing staff and alumni, along with other creative mediums to spread trubel&co's story of impact
    • Identify potential donors, foundations, and sponsors in areas of trubel&co operations (both local and national) and support ongoing development & fundraising efforts
    • Catalog participant testimony, impact data, and youth outcomes for use in communications and fundraising campaigns
    • Engage directly with trubel&co alumni for research and communication purposes (i.e., interviewing Mapping Justice alumni, generating content to support iterative feedback and fundraising efforts)
    • Organize and facilitate community events based on need and alumni interest (i.e., alumni engagement on slack, alumni activation grants, alumni panels, standing up a mentor program)
• Programs & Curricula
  • This role will be responsible for helping advance the development and implementation of our programs at trubel&co. This role will work closely with our Associate Director to conduct work across multiple internal workstreams and help serve programs and operations. Example responsibilities may include:
    • Develop Race, Power, and Technology workshop curriculum
    • Collaborate with instructional staff and curriculum designer to adapt and improve existing curriculum offerings
    • Manage operations of trubel&co’s educational programs, including managing partnerships with schools, universities and other organizations for our Mapping Justice and workshop offerings
    • Distill research into key insights and deliverables for trubel&co strategy (i.e., one-pagers, fact sheets, recommendations, guides)
    • Seek out and development strategic partnerships
    • Assist AD with programs and operations management which may include:
      • Develop recruitment plan of students to educational programs in target cities; promptly identify and respond to students’ needs for information, especially in regards to student concerns
      • Manage internal and external communications, including reviewing email communications to provide timely responses to inbound inquiries on programs
      • Completing, managing, and maintaining compliance documents and reporting for all organization, local, state, and federal funding
      • Assist AD with presentations, events, and speaking engagements
• Geospatial Justice
  • This role will be responsible for helping advance geospatial research projects at trubel&co. This role will work closely with our Head of Strategic Learning & Curricula to offer their experience and help elevate the power of geospatial analytics in the pursuit of justice. The Geospatial Justice Summer Associate will be responsible for both independent and assigned research into various use cases of GIS across multiple social issues. This is primarily a research role, with the responsibility to translate findings into potential case studies, lesson plans, or social media posts. We are looking for someone who can effectively manage independent projects, can pursue research, and is deeply committed to our vision. Example responsibilities may include:
    • Pursue research on real-world applications of geospatial analytics across multiple industries, but all rooted in impact & justice
    • Contribute to geospatial curricula, supporting our work to ensure lesson plans and workshop materials reflect youth voice, current topics, pedagogical best practices, and changing sociopolitical contexts
    • Align curricular material with various elements of social justice, including but not limited to environmental justice, racial justice, educational equity, health access, LGBTQ+ rights, and economic opportunity
    • In 2024, there will be a particular focus in sourcing examples in environmental justice
    • Source, clean, and collect potential datasets, organized in an easy-to-explore fashion for new students
    • Support the creation of GIS content for trubel&co Race, Power, and Technology workshops
    • Lead students in workshop settings, instructing them on how to utilize GIS for social change
    • Support hackathon partners craft case studies on how GIS may enable new efficiencies and achieve internal goals for environmental justice organizations

All Summer Associates are also encouraged to spend up to 20% of their time on an independent research project based on their own interests. All projects must fall within (or in between) the themes of equitable data analytics, responsible AI, and inclusive design. Projects must fulfill a need or current gap in the ecosystem and must get the approval of trubel&co leadership. Projects will be shared through trubel&co platforms. All applicants are strongly encouraged to submit an independent project idea as a part of their application which they will conduct throughout the summer. For applicants interested in the Geospatial Justice Summer Associate role submitting an idea is required. Projects may look like:

• Geospatial dashboards tackling a specific issue of justice & equity
• Engagement in research on how to improve the efficacy of responsibility within tech fields
• Storymaps depicting new trends within these fields or exposing an issue
• Series of blogs compiling perspectives on these topics
• Design handbook on how to achieve liberatory innovation more effectively

Currently, these roles are unpaid, however we encourage all Stanford students to seek funding from the Haas Center for Public Service — e.g., the Cardinal Service Program would provide a base stipend of $6,500 (applications due 4/9). The role would be full-time during the summer for 10 weeks, working remotely as an independent contractor. Responsibilities may evolve over time, upon mutual terms and as opportunities open up. Candidate will report directly to a member of the trubel&co leadership team. Summer Associates must be available for work calls between 9am and 3pm PT, and can set their own work schedules outside of that.

What we’re looking for

In line with our commitment to equity, candidates do not need to have certain majors or a particular length of work experience. What’s important is that you have/are:

• Justice Advocate: An unwavering commitment to justice, especially elevating the voices and experiences of marginalized and frontline communities. You’re passionate about multiple social issues and self-driven to unearth how data, design, & tech can unlock social change.