Melissa Elder, Pe Email & Phone Number

San Diego, California, United States

As a Community Engagement Associate at San Diego Community Power, I collaborate with community stakeholders to foster strong relationships and enhance public awareness of SDCP’s operations and programs. My role involves direct outreach with community-based organizations and the general public, ensuring strategic engagement through professional networking, workshops, presentations, and community events building and sustaining relationships with our community .

San Diego, California, United States

Co-founded Sharing Prosperity LLC as a Next Economy consulting firm dedicated to advancing equity, ecological sustainability, and a world that works for the benefit of all life. We support purpose-driven entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and employee-owned companies to operate with a growth mindset aligned around a long-term beneficial vision. Our comprehensive organizational consulting services, including strategic planning, training, coaching, operations, and shared governance systems, enhance efficiency, financial stability, and transparent governance for the benefit of organizations, employees, and communities, locally and globally

San Diego, California, United States

-Initiated creation of Native & Indigenous, women-led non-profit through organizing & facilitating team alignment and vision, application coordination, structuring organizational governance, and organizational agreements-Manage grant applications, responsible building budgets, operational planning, and reporting. Manage internal and external communications, creating a website, social media content and emails-Managing administrative tasks-Developing onboarding practices & Personal/Professional development plans-Coordinating and participating in identify professional and personal development opportunities for self and team-Creating data collection methods and analyzing for program efficiency and effectiveness

As the Promise Zone Coordinator, I build coalitions and maintain relationships with community leaders, City and County staff and community-based organizations to coordinate outreach that engages additional cross-sector stakeholders representing diverse cultures, backgrounds, and languages. I plan and facilitate community events and meetings, including presenting outreach materials to educate about the Promise Zone. I am responsible for recruiting, training, and managing AmeriCorps VISTA members to support SDPZ community members, organizations, and Working Groups while ensuring federal reporting requirements are met. I supervise a team of six, creating team cohesion and effectively managing workload and priorities, including the development, production, and distribution of external communications produced by volunteer members including meeting invitations, newsletters, grant alignment meetings, and updates to the City websiteAdditionally, I develop data collection and management methods to support SDPZ goals and ensure progress is tracked and reported to address systemic racism and inequities to improve the quality of life of Promise Zone residents.

San Diego, California, United States

C4GS is 'Reimaging Affordable Mixed-Use Development in a Carbon-Constrained Future for the California Energy Commissions EPIC Grant. - Developing policies and procedures to support efficient progress and workflow-Initiating data collection and reporting -Coordinate project teams, schedules and action items for the core team of 10-Prepare and facilitate meetings and notes for multiple weekly meetings-Create program communications and developing strong working relationships with the community, industry, and multiple stakeholders, subcontractors and partners on the project.-Provide executive consultation & program management-Consistently supporting the team and taking initiative for increased program efficiency which led to receiving a team "Leadership Award" (Sept 2022)

-Manage project tasks, deadlines and schedules to ensure program success. -Prepare and facilitate meetings, capture meeting minutes, and coordinate community members for outreach and youth programming planning in a dynamic work environment.-Responsible for data tracking and quarterly report submittals to meet grant requirements. -Leads initiatives such as seeking out and generating grant applications, implementing new data tracking databases, fiscal controls and planning, strategic planning, and implementing procedures that support systems change. -Develop advocacy strategies and coordinates the team and supporters for outreach and engagement.-Organize, attend, and participate in stakeholder meetings and assess challenges to offer solutions.-Spokesperson advocating for native youth services & conducting social justice trainings to youth and families.-Co-create and review social media posts and videos for marketing using Canva.

San Diego, California, United States

-Lead a coalition of 13 community partners for a 7-hour livestream Earth Day event “Climate Uprising 2020”. -Advocate for policies to City Council, including getting a “Climate Emergency Declaration” passed in 2019, and participated in the San Diego Green New Deal planning committee. -Demonstrate strong teamwork and collaboration skills to build trusting relationships with internal and external stakeholders-Coordinate and conduct outreach to recruit new members growing from 5 active members to 25.-Coordinate logistics and facilitate trainings, coach new leaders, and create partnerships with diverse community groups, public officials, and mutual aid networks to build strong working relationships.-Public Speaker on radio shows, at events/protests and with stakeholders, advocating for policies and issues surrounding immigrant, queer and trans communities, communities of color and working families.

Greater San Diego Area

Assistant project manager encompassing nine project teams throughout the Southern California region. -Used strong teamwork and collaboration skills to build trusting relationships in the growing team (from 6 to over 30)-Assisted in developing and implementing a programmatic approach for consistency across 30 projects including: developing process flows, user guides, tracking sheets for environmental permitting requirements and material calculations, updated standards and leading the transition to a new web based document and workflow management system (Aconex). -Coordinated, ordered and managed $100K+ material orders for projects. Worked with engineers to plan and design fiber optic installation on existing infrastructure. Compiled job packages for issuance for construction. -Conducted weekly/bi-weekly meetings with the project teams (including subcontractors and clients) to manage project scope and schedule. -Coordinated reviews, facilitated decision making and managed project priorities to meet milestones in a fast-paced environment. -Conducted operational planning, implemented fiscal controls, utilized budget management tools, and managed contracting and procurement through assessing new work, developing cost estimates for projects and overseeing sub-contractors.

San Francisco Bay Area

-Conducted soil investigation prior to excavation to delineate contamination and potential volume of impacted soil across the area. -Oversaw asbestos removal and monitoring by subcontractors prior to building demolition. -Conducted routine monitoring of excavation and soil removal activities as described in the soil & groundwater management plan.-Conducted semiannual groundwater gauging, provided project management support for well destruction including soliciting bids, procuring purchase orders, scheduling with airlines and Air Operations, and permitting. -Performed groundwater monitoring post large-scale thermal remediation event.

San Francisco Bay Area

O&M, Compliance Engineer-Coordinate weekly operations and maintenance with client’s technician. -Maintain database with weekly readings in order to better plan and schedule maintenance needs. -Conduct weekly meetings with the client and make system modification recommendations.Sustainability Reporting-Led a team of three for preparation of the quarterly GREM sustainability reporting and presentation for a compressor station remediation project. -Facilitated training and onboarding for new team members to meet strict deadlines for project completion. -Collected and compiled environmental and operations data from several different consultants and organizations working on-site in order to make sustainability recommendations for future operations. -Identified opportunities for further reductions in emissions and impact. Community Liaison-Conducted questionnaires with homeowners to gather information regarding potential receptors. -Conducted and interacted with Spanish speakers in order to provide and receive information. -Led several teams to conduct daily water sampling, shipment and ensure work was conducted and documented as the client requested.Groundwater Monitoring-Prepared quarterly and annual reports for the client and regulators summarizing past and future site activities, summarizing monitoring data and making conclusions and recommendations. -Updated historical data and prepared figures to visually display groundwater results. -Prepared work plans in preparation of field work, including monitoring events, well installation and well destruction. -Obtained necessary permits from the respective city and county agencies. -Coordinated and managed subcontractors. Executed fieldwork, such as sample collection, injections for remediation and prepared follow-up report describing the field events for the client.

Monteverde, Costa Rica

This unique Research Experience for Undergraduates program sponsored by the National Science Foundation took place in the highlands of northwestern Costa Rica. Monteverde, the program site, is part of the famous Monteverde Reserve Complex, an area of preserves protecting over 100,000 acres of endangered tropical forest. USF partners with the Monteverde Institute (MVI) to offer the Globalization and Community Health Field School. The Monteverde Institute is a non-profit educational and research association, which works in partnership with universities around the world and provided educational, cultural and social programs to the Monteverde community. The summer field school offered training in qualitative and quantitative methods used to conduct community-based health related research in areas undergoing changes associated with globalization. In addition to learning the methods, we worked in small groups conducting research on issues identified by the local community and presented our results to various stakeholders.Responsibilities included:-Studied quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting and analyzing community health data Work in teams to design and carry out community-based research on various health topics (e.g., nutrition, reproductive health, environmental health, sexually-transmitted infections, and occupational health)-Collaborated with Costa Rican physicians and nurses and conduct a health clinic in a rural community-Cultural immersion through optional Spanish language training and home-stays with Costa Rican families-Presented research findings give presentations to different audiences including community members, health researchers, and social scientists

Rolla, Mo

Groundwater: Hydrology Intern -Studied water quality change data over a 90 year span for 70+ wells-Compiled data from different sources, analyzed using SYSTAT and ArcMap-Wrote technical reports detailing conclusions and recommendations-Conducted air sampling and tested a novel method of air sampling which would be more cost effective and easier to deploy, in collaboration with Missouri University of Science and Technology.-Collected soil core samples and analyzed the lab results for levels of contamination.

Environmental Research Center

Roswell, Ga

Global Non-Wovens: Discovery-Conducted research in key innovation program for Baby Child Care and Health Care-Managed several different projects effectively to exceed internship goals-Recorded findings and made recommendations for scale-up-Presented on research and conclusions to team members and managers-Received 'great' ratings from both manager and team leader-Planned "Chipping in For Children" golfing charity event

Neenah, Wi

Sustainable PackagingPerformed experiments and produced different types of film on extrusion equipmentConducted testing by collaborating with different scientists within the corporation to analyze properties of the blends of plastics films to determine quality as packaging Provided data and recommendations for scale up, potentially saving K-C $2.8 MMRecorded findings in Technical Letters that will be used for future research

Cordova, Il

Environmental Engineering Intern Updated Chemical Contingency Plan to ensure complianceLeak Detection and RepairUpdated the master tag list and mechanical flow diagrams by auditing Utilizing a photo ionization PID, tested for fugitive emissions used for calculationsEnsured compliance by confirming the components were identifiedCoordinated with ARI Environmental contractorDetailed a scope of work for appropriate Purchase OrderAssisted in taking measurements and recording dataIdentified deficiencies in the facility’s current recycling planInterviewed prospective companies for improvement for the programCompiled cost analysis and work flow diagramDeveloped a new project plan and assisted in implementation

B.S, Environmental Engineering

Activities and Societies: Society Of Hispanic Professional Engineers, EcoMiners, Student Diversity Mentor Program, Opportunity.

Psychology

Activities and Societies: S.A.N.E- Society for Awareness of the Natural Environment Phi Theta Kappa- International Honor Society