Planning for Recovery: Kenyah Kerilus’ Summer with ICF Disaster Management
This summer, Masters in Urban and Regional Planning student Kenyah Kerilus applied her skills in disaster management as a housing and urban development intern with ICF, helping wildfire-impacted communities in Oregon rebuild and recover.
Where are you working this summer and what are your primary responsibilities or focus areas day-to-day?I am working at ICF consulting firm as a housing and urban development intern assisting with a disaster management relief project, ReOregon. This project addresses the series of Oregon wildfires that occurred in 2020. There are 8 counties that were the most distressed/impacted and the goal is to aid those residents to reestablish their housing whether its through reimbursement, reconstruction, or relocation. I specifically worked with the construction team where we streamline the process of an applicant going through any of those paths. My main responsibilities were to determine what inspections each home/case needed and assigning them out, keeping applicant documents/records updated as they move through the process, and analyzing the cost differences between our pricing and the applicants’ contractors. The construction team itself does a lot and works with many different people (the applicant, construction advisors, outside contractors, etc.) and my main focus was to help move things along efficiently while working under the construction manager.
Describe a specific project, interaction, or milestone this summer that made you think, “Yes, this is why I chose this field.” What did you take away from that moment?An interaction that made me think “yes, this is why I chose this field,” occurred during my halfway checkpoint. My manager thanked me for my contributions and explained how the work I had done actually made a difference within the team, bringing us closer to achieving our deadline goals. As an intern, I think it’s easy to feel like the tasks you are doing are just busy work and don’t mean much, especially with this internship being fully remote. Hearing exactly how I had made a difference—and knowing that people who had been waiting far too long were closer to receiving the housing or reimbursement they deserved—made me genuinely happy.
How has this experience shaped your career goals or next steps at Luskin? Any advice for peers seeking similar internships or research opportunities?This experience has taught me to be more open-minded to new experiences and reaffirmed for me that I would like to work in the disaster management field. I think that I was very stuck in how a job title sounded or what I thought I liked/didn’t like, that it stopped me from trying new things to actually find out. I would not have expected to enjoy working at a consulting firm had I not decided to take the chance to intern at ICF. My advice to peers would be to not limit yourself in what you think you like and to look deeper into roles because the day-to-day may be completely different than what you imagined. Take those chances now, while we are still in school!
How has this experience informed or shifted your vision for the kind of urban planning work you hope to pursue after graduation?This experience reaffirmed my desire to work in disaster management, but it also showed me that there isn’t just one way to contribute in this field. I had a very specific idea of what disaster management would involve, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about policy, federal funding, and state programs through the guidance of my wonderful coworkers, managers, and mentors. While I’m not yet certain which area of urban planning I will pursue after graduation, whether in government, non-profit, or consulting, I’m excited to know that the skills I’m developing now can be applied across a variety of contexts.
What planning tools, mapping skills, or community engagement strategies have you found most valuable in your day-to-day work so far?Knowing how to analyze data has been a skill I use almost everyday and helps when I create my reports! Also, a lot of the information I learned in the ‘Law & Quality of Urban Life’ course was very helpful. Having that background knowledge in zoning and land use regulations helped me catch on quickly working with the construction team.
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