Congratulations to the 2023 Graduates!
Pietro Porco
Avalon Borough
Blighted Property and Code Enforcement Initiative Internship
This Intern Project is structured to support efforts at combating blight through proactive measures including property inventory and code enforcement. The Intern will work with the Borough Administrative Office and the Code Enforcement Officer (“CEO”) to develop a rating rubric to assess the level of blight and property maintenance concerns among all existing properties in the municipality. In addition, the Intern can then help the borough to develop strategies to promote remediation or advocate for redevelopment.
Jonathan Brodak
Chartiers Township
Road Condition Inventory and MS4 GIS Internship
This project provides an opportunity for a motivated intern to work on a Road Condition Inventory Database and related GIS Map, in order to assist in a more fact-based Road Improvement Program selection. By creating a database and map of Chartiers Township’s roads, their conditions and improvement history, we can more objectively evaluate our annual Road Paving and Maintenance Program. It will provide the municipality with a framework to build on in the future of our infrastructure improvement plans as well as our Capital Improvement Plan and Budget.
Vaun Moser
City of Clairton
Community Center Development Internship
The City of Clairton purchased the former PNC Bank building right at the intersection of the two main streets of our business district for development as a community center open to all groups and to provide an array of programs and services to our residents. In this project, an intern will experience and contribute to the full process of community asset and building development, seeing our community center project through its early stages and into construction.
Shubham Goel
Crafton Borough
Asset Management of Municipal Infrastructure in GIS Internship
Over the past two years, Crafton Borough has made significant efforts to further integrate the ArcGIS system into our processes and procedures, including integrating sewer inspection and maintenance data, street opening permits, and work order management. To ensure our GIS system keeps evolving, we are seeking the help of an intern to utilize these latest technologies to continue to build out our GIS database to include new and historical data, associated with storm sewer lines, regulatory signage, shade tree inventory, public refuse cans and dumpster sites, pet waste stations, lights, and other pertinent asset inventories.
Claire Dunning
Borough of Dormont
Accessible Property Maintenance Internship
The Borough of Dormont is seeking to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of our property maintenance and enforcement practices. The goal of this internship is to review current property maintenance codes enforced by the borough, highlight exclusionary practices to review and revise or eliminate, and produce a document to communicate property maintenance that is accessible to all.
Alexander Clifford
Borough of Edgeworth
Sidewalk Repair Project Manager
To ensure pedestrian safety and code compliance, the municipality completes a sidewalk inventory and repair program every two years. In previous repair cycles, over 50% of properties with a sidewalk required repair or replacement. Managing the sidewalk inventory and repair program is an extensive, hands-on project that requires problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication, diligent record keeping and database management, and experience with GIS mapping systems.
Conor Kelley
Borough of Leetsdale
Capital Improvement Plan/Economic Forecasting
The Borough of Leetsdale is seeking an Intern to perform vital work in advancing our Leetsdale Revitalization Initiative. In their work, the intern will be responsible for constructing a blight database and mapping resource with property condition assessments and a shade tree inventory and arboretum-style tree tagging system. In addition, the intern will have the opportunity to interview aging residents and collect historical photos and booklets to construct a website focused on municipal history.
Stephanie Edwards
Local Government Academy
Intern Coordinator
This Intern Project provides an opportunity for a self-starter to coordinate and participate in projects across
a range of municipalities, interacting with municipal managers and staff from throughout the region as well
as serving as a mentor to interns as they explore employment opportunities within the Municipal Intern
Program.
Greta Leinhart
City of Meadville
Neighborhood Housing Redevelopment Internship
While our downtown is coming back to life with new businesses, vendors’ markets, and monthly and seasonal events, our neighborhoods are experiencing the effects of an aging housing stock with little private investment. The intern will work closely with the City’s Community Development department, the Planning Commission, and the Redevelopment Authority to aid in drafting a housing redevelopment plan. With opportunities to present to City Council and appointed bodies, the intern will receive a holistic hands-on experience of local government and community planning.
Virgil Stubenbort
Municipality of Penn Hills
Multi-Use Trail Development Internship
We now have an opportunity to move forward with a significant recreational project with the common goal to provide a Verona Oakmont Penn Hills Plum (VOPP) multi-use trail spanning 13.41 miles through multiple recreational and business areas, creating new economic opportunities. The intern selected for this project
will be intimately involved researching property ownership, working alongside survey and Right-of-way investigations, engaging with residents, assisting with public meetings, conducting environmental research, and other important tasks associated with the design and engineering of a project of this scale.
Saul Bezner
Borough of Sharpsburg
Capital Improvement Plan and Financial Health Assessment Implementation
As such, the Borough's first priority for an intern is to create a five-year capital improvement plan (CIP) that will guide the municipality in effectively allocating scarce resources. A form has been created and will be circulated to department heads before the internship begins so that there is a starting point for the intern. The intern would work with the administrative, police, and public works departments to identify priorities. The final product would be a five-year plan outlining how to most efficiently and effectively meet the most pressing capital needs.
Rachel Pecharka
Steel Rivers COG and Tri-COG Land Bank
Addressing Blight in the Mon Valley
The Steel Rivers COG (SRCOG) and its partner organization Tri-COG Land Bank collectively work in 37 municipalities in 8 school districts in the Mon Valley, Allegheny Valley, and Eastern Suburbs. We have demonstrated these communities are struggling with an overabundance of vacant, blighted and abandoned properties. However, they also have come together to develop programs to address these challenging issues.
Paul Bieniek
Turtle Creek Valley COG
Community Development and CodeNforce Specialist
The Community Development Specialist Intern will evaluate best practices in property maintenance, code enforcement, and community outreach with the opportunity to work with the executive director, administrative manager, code officer and code manager to assemble policies, practical guidance as well as templates, organizational tools, and written communications.
Veronica Kovach
City of Washington Citywide Development Corp
Blight Inventory and Strategy Development Internship
This Intern Project is designed to address the serious and pervasive problem of blighted and abandoned properties that overwhelm municipal resources and reduce the quality of life for residents in the City of Washington. This position will support an ongoing City of Washington Blight Inventory program that will then be used to direct municipal decision-making to remove and remediate blighted areas within the community.
Aaron Ebner
West Mifflin Sanitary Sewer Municipal Authority
WMSSMA Stormwater Initiative Internship
This Intern project is designed to provide the intern with direct experience in field work, database management, and mapping systems through our stormwater management initiatives. West Mifflin’s boundaries cover more than twelve miles along the river and measures around 14.35 square miles. The Sanitary Sewer Municipal Authority has just taken over Stormwater Management from the municipality and will utilize the intern with the task of updating the Authority’s existing stormwater outfall database and mapping system.
Sofia Schwartz
Municipal Authority of Buffalo Township
Drinking Water Compliance Coordinator
The SRCOG and its partner organization Tri-COG Land Bank collectively work in 37 municipalities in 8 school districts in the Mon Valley, Allegheny Valley, and Eastern Suburbs. The work of both organizations should be shaped and informed by data analysis, and the Intern will be a part of a team who will collect, analyze, and map demographic and geographic information.
Sabrina Lew
PA COG
Boosting Intergovernmental Cooperation
The Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Governments is in search of an intern to support its engagement of existing members, the cultivation of new members, and the cultivation of more robust funding opportunities. In pursuit of this, the intern will be responsible for researching the PACOG EIN, IRS 501c3 and PA BCO-10 requirements, PACOG history and membership, and other topics relevant to ensuring the long-term health of PACOG. In addition, the intern will conduct and inventory of PACOG files. work with the PACOG board to build educational programming, and reach out to regional leaders to plan regional meetings.