Send us a message.

Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally is seeking to contract with a marketing and communications professional to assist our organization market the public launch of an online course on local civic engagement for people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This contract will start as soon as possible preceding the public launch on April 2, 2026.

About Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL)

Our mission is to increase local civic engagement by people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To help achieve this mission, ESAL strives to provide people with STEM backgrounds the tools and resources they need to be successful civic participants in their local communities. People with STEM backgrounds often have an interest in leveraging their specialized skills and approach to problem-solving to serve their communities, but they often don’t know how they can make a difference. This is where ESAL comes in. We provide education, inspiration, and connections to civic-minded scientists and engineers. We tell the stories of people in STEM who are involved in their communities. We offer live workshops on civic engagement and provide playbooks for taking action. We foster connections using our online community-building platform. Now, we are introducing a comprehensive, virtual course on local civic engagement tailored to people with STEM backgrounds.

Description of course: Local Civic Engagement Toolkit for People in STEM

This course is designed to provide guidance and real world examples of how to get civically engaged in your local community. Learners will hear from engineers and scientists that are involved locally in different ways. From school board members, to scientists engaged in collaborative research projects with their local communities, to folks who lead efforts to engage with state legislators, those featured will demonstrate examples of some of the many paths one can take to get engaged. Combined with instructive narration from ESAL’s Workshops Director, Christopher Jackson, and action-focused assignments, learners will have tools to jump start their engagement journeys. The course will be hosted on ESAL’s online community building platform, ESAL Community. All those participating in the course will have access to ESAL Community.

Deliverables

• Marketing strategy for virtual course that includes:
  • Visual identity and branding for course (complimentary to ESAL’s brand kit)
  • Promotional toolkit, including email and social media copy and graphics for public launch of course
  • Promotional toolkit and strategy for synchronous offerings of course (cohorts)
  • Partner toolkit & direct outreach strategy
• Advisory support for lead generation events, course pricing, and paid advertising

Additional expectations

• Toolkits should contain at least 5 emails, 5 social media posts, and 5 graphics
• Contractor will be available for a kickoff meeting within several days of being hired.
• Contractor will be available for check-in calls, minimum of once per week but adjusted as needed to meet project needs.

Important Dates

• Public announcement of course: Feb 19
• Video promo released: March 19
• Course launch on ESAL Community: Thursday April 2, 2026

Evaluation Criteria

• Relevant experience: work with nonprofit organizations, especially on marketing course materials
• Portfolio quality: work that demonstrates expertise and is a good fit for promoting ESAL’s work
• Professional qualifications: Cover letter highlighting relevant experiences
• References
• Cost and feasibility: Proposed pricing and timeline alignment

Applicants are required to submit the following materials:

• Cover letter which includes description of comparable experience
• Example work products (social posts, emails, toolkits, etc)
• Budget for services, broken down by line item. ESAL’s maximum budget for this contract is $5000.
• Timeline for project deliverables which aligns with marketing timeline provided

Please submit all materials by PDF to ESAL Program Manager Al Licata at info@esal.us. Submitting all materials in a single file is preferred.

More information about the course

Course Content

• Course contains 11 videos: Introduction, nine modules, and Outro
• Each module is 10-15 minutes long and is packaged together with action oriented supplementary materials and additional readings
• The modules are broken into 4 series with the following themes:

1. 1. Importance of values in civic engagement
   2. Engaging with local government
   3. Engaging with civic groups
   4. Connecting science and communities

• The course is hosted on our online community building platform, ESAL Community. Those who sign-up for the course receive access to the community with the purchase. Current members must sign-up for paid access to the course. (It is free to join ESAL Community, although paid options are available.) Discounts will be available for current paid members of the community.
• The course will be available in full for asynchronous viewing. We will provide options to take the course as part of a cohort one month after launching.

Target audience

• Engineers and scientists of all ages, career stages, US locations, and STEM backgrounds who are interested in local civic engagement and:
  • Are looking for support getting started
  • Want to increase their knowledge, expand the types of activities they engage in, and/or prioritize local actions to take
  • Are engaged on the federal level but looking for resources to better understand local engagement

Cohorts

ESAL will be hosting synchronous runs of the course to create an enhanced learning experience that gives learners the opportunity to learn from each other. Each cohort will run over the course of four weeks. One series will be released per week. The cohort will conclude with a live event featuring a speaker presenting on a civic engagement topic and time for meeting other members of the cohort to work together on civic engagement action items. The first run of the course using the cohort model will begin in May 2026.

Marketing Plan Details

Current timeline

• Week of 2/15: Course announcement
• 2/22 to 3/7 : Share more info on course on social media
• Week of 3/9: Tease course trailer
• Week of 3/15: Trailer release, promote lead generation event
• Week of 3/22: Promotion, lead generation event
• Week 3/29: Last push for sign-ups, course launch on 4/2
• Week of 4/5: Ongoing promotion with update on number of sign-ups
• Week of 4/12: Cohort sign-up announcement with calendar
• 4/19 - 5/2 : Cohort 1 promo
• Week of 5/4: Lead generation event
• Week of 5/10: Cohort 1 starts

Lead Generation

To build interest in the course, ESAL will host 2 lead generation events, one prior to the launch of the course and one prior to the start of the first cohort run. These events will feature a speaker (ideally one of the people featured in the course) interviewed about civic engagement and taking questions from the audience. The attendees will then be directed to where they can sign-up for the course.