County of Santa Clara
County of Santa Clara
Government Fellowship Program

Summer Placements

Placements for the Summer 2024 cohort are listed below, along with a list of potential projects and tasks. Please note that these projects are meant to provide an overview of possible projects within the department, and may be subject to change. 

Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA) - Vector Control District
County of Santa Clara Office of the Sheriff - Custody Bureau
Custody Health Services - Juvenile Justice Involved Youth (JJIY) 
Division of Equity and Social Justice (DESJ) - Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention (OGBVP)
Division of Equity and Social Justice (DESJ) - Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Office of the County Executive - Office of Budget and Analysis
Office of the County Executive - Privacy Office
Procurement Department
Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH) - Finance Administration
Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH) - Office for Health Equity and Improvement
Social Services Agency - Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) in the Program Support, Research, and Evaluation (PSRE) Division
Technology Services and Solutions - Architecture Innovation and Mode 2 (AIM2) Division
Technology Services and Solutions - Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Technology Services and Solutions - Shared Technology Services (DocuSign and SolarWinds)
Technology Services and Solutions - Shared Technical Services on the Project Management Team

Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA) - Vector Control District

  • Perform a mosquito-borne disease risk assessment to identify trends in hotspot formation within the County by reviewing past West Nile Virus hotspots and the relative risk to those communities
  • Utilize existing data to assess the public’s likelihood of encountering an infected tick, and identify trends in risk in accordance with abundance, location, or season
  • Community outreach planning to provide services to underserved communities
  • Utilize RStudio to identify new ways to improve district operations for higher efficiency in mapping for trap placement, enhancing surveillance strategies, and generating useful reports 

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County of Santa Clara Office of the Sheriff - Custody Bureau

  • Review daily staffing processes to determine if the current staffing levels are sufficient and if not, brainstorm proposed solutions for additional staffing of the unit
  • Process grievances and evaluate the complaint submission process to optimize efficiency and reduce redundancy in the business workflow
  • Explore solutions to analyze, summarize, and report data for grievances using data graphs, tables, BI solutions, etc.
  • Create a report on how the Office of the Sheriff can best manage inmate grievance data by analyzing current system processes 
  • Create a presentation, video, written material, or in-class instruction for business units explaining changes in processes, detailed instructions/training, or other ad-hoc projects as needed

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Custody Health Services - Juvenile Justice Involved Youth (JJIY)

  • Assist Juvenile Custody Health Services (JCHS) leadership in addressing an educational gap for undeserved and marginalized justice involved youth who are also teen parents through:
    • Researching literature, journals, and other academic/medical information and data on teen parenting and justice-involved teen parents
    • Conducting a needs assessment through focus groups and interviews with youth, staff, family, guardians, etc.
    • Researching a novel and understandable education and resource intervention for justice involved youth who are teen parents, fundamentally advancing parenting competency and bonding with their child
    • Creating a final report and presentation to JCHS, Custody Health leadership, and juvenile justice involved youth (JJIY) stakeholders
  • Garner greater understanding of services JCHS provides to juvenile justice involved youth (JJIY) through onsite work, visits to Juvenile Hall and James Ranch Juvenile Detention Facilities, and meetings/interviews with Medical Director, Nurse Manager, and other JCHS staff

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Division of Equity and Social Justice (DESJ) - Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention (OGBVP)

  • Support current OGBVP initiatives including, but not limited to, addressing policy issues and systems’ changes to better meet the needs of survivors of violence, and overseeing contracts for direct services that provide housing, advocacy, and economic empowerment for survivors of gender-based violence
  • Research, prepare, outreach, and support for various awareness campaigns including Domestic Violence Awareness, Human Trafficking Awareness, Teen Dating Violence Awareness, Sexual Assault Awareness, and Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women’s Awareness
  • Support the Annual Domestic Violence Conference Planning Team through attending planning meetings, outreach, workshop proposal evaluations, researching and securing keynotes, and other tasks as required
  • Research, collect data, and present on project topics including, but not limited to, specific populations impacted by the OGBVP, best practices for survivor-advisory boards, harassment in the workplace, and federal and state funding for gender-based violence with related timelines and requirements 

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Division of Equity and Social Justice (DESJ) - Office of LGBTQ Affairs

  • Prepare a report and presentation, inclusive of literature review, analysis, community surveys, and community interviews, on topics including (but not limited to):
    • Current needs of Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) networks in the South Bay, providing connection to LGBTQ+ student resources, and building upon resources GSA’s currently provide
    • Current needs of monolingual LGBTQ+ families and/or LGBTQ+ youth living in monolingual households in the South Bay, providing connection to current multilingual LGBTQ+ family resources, and building upon multilingual LGBTQ+ resources available
    • Current needs of South County LGBTQ+ youth to understand the LGBTQ+ youth population in the area, providing connection to LGBTQ+ resources, and expanding LGBTQ+ youth services
  • Participation, planning, community outreach, marketing, and communications for Summer Pride-Related Events

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Office of the County Executive - Office of Budget and Analysis

  • Conduct analysis of the County's Budget Equity Tool by obtaining feedback from key stakeholders and providing recommendations on areas of improvement for the next fiscal year’s budget process
  • Create content for and assist in the publication of the County’s Children budget, which includes County services offered to support children and youth
  • Other topics that support the mission of the Office of Budget and Analysis and the County

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Office of the County Executive - Privacy Office

  • Identify best practices to assess and catalog technology uses that fall within the County’s Surveillance Technology and Community Safety Ordinance, and recommend need-based prioritization
  • Explore benchmarking to identify best-in-class models for generative artificial intelligence in the County, and recommend generative AI framework to assist in the Office’s evaluation of potential risks 
  • Research academia, advocacy groups, government, and current operational models within the public and/or private sector to recommend best practices in establishing a “Privacy Center of Excellence” for improved operational efficiency

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Procurement Department

  • Review and develop plan for continuity of Departmental Policies
  • Review and refresh Procurement Card (P-Card) Program policy, procedure, guidelines, and FAQ’s, and develop templates for Human Resources, P-Card, California Privacy Rights Act, etc.
  • Develop stronger research skills and learn about County Government and public service through studying Board policies, Department policies and procedures, guidelines, Merit System Rules, County Governances, ad-hoc assignments, meetings and interviews with stakeholders, etc.
  • Research and review policies, procedures, and practices of other government agencies (San Francisco City and County, Alameda County, City of San Jose, etc.)

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Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH) - Finance Administration  

  • Analyze financial data, prepare financial reports, and support financial and operational initiatives in line with SCVH’s business plan and strategic imperatives
  • Identify means of reducing outside healthcare costs, keeping patients within SCVH, and increasing repatriation from outside Emergency Departments through:
    • Conducting a needs/feasibility analysis on areas to expand service lines
    • Reviewing current referral patterns to outside specialists and evaluating next steps and/or areas to reduce referrals
    • Determining claims that are avoidable to reduce unnecessary referrals
  • Complete and present a capstone project to various SCVH leaders through a 30-minute presentation regarding application of educational knowledge to “real world” application in the fellowship, including lessons learned during the integration process regarding:
    • Insights from the issue identified for the capstone project
    • Improvement suggestions and/or next step recommendations across Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital, and St. Louise Regional Hospital
  • Explore the ways in which departments and operations of a County hospital interact with each other through attending SCVH Leaders and Health and Hospital Committee Meetings

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Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH) - Office for Health Equity and Improvement

  • Literature review and research on “Interrupting Criminalization in Healthcare,” an initiative that aims to interrupt and end the growing criminalization and incarceration of women, girls, trans, and gender-nonconforming people of color for criminalized acts, including healthcare institutions facilitating, participating in, and supporting criminalization
  • Explore best practices for developing programs, partnerships, and initiatives to support patients’ social needs that impact health and health outcomes (i.e., food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation insecurity)
  • Support research into community organizations and advocacy groups with experience in advancing upstream determinants of health
  • Support the development and rollout of a searchable resource library of projects, research, and initiatives from within our system with a focus on advancing health equity

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Social Services Agency - Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) in the Program Support, Research, and Evaluation (PSRE) Division

  • Create studies through interview protocols, focus group discussion guides, and survey instruments, and summarize data collected in the studies in a written narrative and/or presentation on topics including (but not limited to):
    • Barriers in receiving services related to the Families First Prevention Act, which requires the County of Santa Clara to coordinate safety net programs and services and take more holistic approaches to meet family needs
    • Low rates of participation in CalFresh, which provides financial assistance for purchasing food to low-income California residents
  • Collect and analyze Census data on measures of employer demand and its distribution across Santa Clara County, then summarize and present key findings of the analysis through a PowerPoint presentation and a written narrative

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Technology Services and Solutions - Architecture Innovation and Mode 2 (AIM2) Division

  • Create a presentation on the County of Santa Clara’s mission, business objectives, and organizational structure

  • Research public services provided by the County, ensure completeness of the public portal service directory, and create a survey to measure the quality of services provided

  • Learn how to use whiteboarding tools to create a workflow diagram capturing business processes, and evaluate business processes to identify and record gaps in the processes using the diagram

  • Research and present on design thinking and user experience, and apply methodology to redesign a simple business process

  • Validate documented workflows through interviewing business stakeholders

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Technology Services and Solutions - Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)

  • Enterprise Resource Program (ERP) Support – ERP modernizes business systems used in the County to increase productivity and customer service in our operations. ERP is comprised of Budget and Publishing Software Implementation, High-Cost Inventory Management System Implementation, and SAP Upgrade (which is the organization’s core financial system). The fellow will support the ERP through:
    • Researching reporting needs and working with the Power BI developer to develop relevant reports
    • Managing and maintaining updated project-related data in Microsoft Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
    • Coordinating, facilitating, and documenting meetings
    • Providing weekly project updates to supervisor
    • Performing data analysis and creating reports as needed by leadership
    • Documenting business processes
    • Creating presentations
  • Create and present a final report on assigned projects for the Office of the CIO’s senior leadership team

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Technology Services and Solutions - Shared Technology Services (DocuSign and SolarWinds)

  • Oversee and maintain server performance within the County’s SolarWinds system, which monitors network devices and servers in the County
  • Assist with SolarWinds service desk tickets and data migration project
  • Perform DocuSign implementation tasks including, but not limited to, configuration, integration, testing, requirements gathering, and solution design to automate common post-signature tasks 
  • Perform day-to-day administration of the DocuSign system, update DocuSign reports, and track monthly DocuSign envelope usage through organizational usage reports

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Technology Services and Solutions - Shared Technical Services on the Project Management Team

  • Collaborate in project management through coordination and building configuration to support employees moving out of leased spaces into County-owned spaces, and plan development for building technology infrastructure in newly-occupied buildings (i.e., computers, printers, medical devices)
  • Assist in the facilitation of project status meetings to review project schedules, resources, deliverables, portfolio data, and reports
  • Gather information and report on project management key performance indicators (KPI's) to support informed decision making

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