Farm&City is hiring two Fall 2026 interns

Fall Intern, Crash Data and Mapping
Fall Intern, Policy Research and Communications

Reporting to: Jay Blazek Crossley, Executive Director
Term: Starts immediately, ends December 15, 2026
Hours: 165 hours total, ~15 a week.
Pay: $16 per hour
Location: Austin area strongly preferred, work is primarily remote.

We are hiring now and will move quickly on a strong candidate. Apply today if this is you.

The work

Ten people die in crashes on Texas streets and roads on an average day. In 2019 the Texas Transportation Commission set a goal to cut roadway deaths in half by 2035 and reach zero by 2050. Texas is behind the pace that goal requires, by roughly two deaths a day.

Farm&City has led Vision Zero Texas since 2017. This fall, with support from a General Motors Community Impact Grant, we are building an understanding of where and how Texans are dying on our roads and possible solutions. We’ll put that picture in front of the people who decide: transportation professionals, agency staff, local officials, researchers, advocates, and legislative offices, ahead of the 2027 legislative session and next Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

The team is three people. You would be one of them. Everything this project publishes, you will have helped build, and your name goes on it.

How we work

We hold virtual office hours, three or four hour blocks each week when all three of us are working at the same time and available to each other. We set those blocks around everyone’s classes and other commitments. Some weeks we may spend a block together in person at a coffee shop or a shared space. The rest of your hours are yours to schedule. Expect heavier weeks in October and early November and lighter ones in December. We can shift hours around exams and other obligations. We need the total hours delivered and the work finished on time.

Terms

This is a temporary part-time position at approximately 165 total hours that ends December 15, 2026. Farm&City provides no employee benefits beyond payroll taxes. By accepting the position you agree that it ends on that date. This work is nonpartisan research and education about the problem of traffic crashes and does not include lobbying or advocacy for any specific bill.

How to apply

Email Jay Blazek Crossley at jay@farmandcity.org with “Crash Data and Mapping Intern” in the subject line. Send a resume and a few sentences about why this work interests you. If applying for the Crash Data and Mapping position, please send a map that you are proud of working on. If the map was a group project, say which parts were yours. If applying for the Policy Research and Communications position, please send one thing you wrote that you are proud of, which does not have to be about transportation, but should be about a public policy issue.

Additional Details for Fall Intern, Crash Data and Mapping

What you will build

The 100 most dangerous roads in Texas. Texas publishes a ranked list of its 100 most congested road segments every year. Nobody publishes the equivalent for danger. You will build it from TxDOT crash and roadway data, and we will publish it.

Maps that answer a question. Statewide and metro-level maps of fatal and serious injury crashes, cut by the four problems this project examines: speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving, and crashes that kill people walking and biking. A good map here is one a legislative aide understands in ten seconds and remembers a week later.

Something Farm&City can run again. Documented data pulls, a clean file structure, and notes a stranger could follow. The goal is an annual Texas product, not a one-time artifact.

Who we are looking for

Required:

Comfort with a large, messy public dataset. You can clean it, join it, aggregate it, and explain what you did.
Working GIS skill in ArcGIS Pro. Show us something you made.
Care about getting the number right, including when it contradicts what we expected.
Based in the Austin area for the full project period, and available in person for events.
Current student or recent graduate preferred. Substantial experience also counts.

Helpful, not required:

Python, R, or SQL
Datawrapper or similar web-mapping and charting tools
Prior work with CRIS, FARS, HPMS, or the Texas Roadway Inventory
A sense of cartographic design
Your own ArcGIS student license

Additional Details for Fall Intern, Policy Research and Communications

What you will build

Four short briefs on the four ways Texans die in crashes. Speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving, and crashes that kill people walking and biking. What the Texas data show, which countermeasures have real evidence behind them, and what it would take to use them here. Two pages each, written so legislators and students both get something out of it.

Texas case studies. Places in this state that changed a street, a policy, or a practice and can show what happened next. Honest before-and-after evidence is most important.

Presentations and handouts. Slides, one-pagers, and digital resources to present the work the team creates to the general public and decision makers.

The record of who we reached. You will own the reporting requirements and data collection to show how successfully we spread this work across the state.

Who we are looking for

Required:

You write clearly about technical things for smart readers who are not specialists.
You know the Vision Zero and Safe System conversation well enough to have opinions about it, including opinions about where it falls short.
Comfort in a spreadsheet, a survey tool, and an email platform.
Enough patience to read a research paper and pull out the one finding that matters.
Based in the Austin area for the full project period, and available in person for our November events.
Current student or recent graduate preferred. Substantial relevant experience also counts.

Helpful, not required:

InDesign, Canva, or Datawrapper
Prior exposure to the Texas Legislature, a city council, an MPO, or a state agency
Experience with survey design or program evaluation
Social media and press work