Watch Command College Aide

Background on NYCEM

New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) coordinates the City’s emergency planning, preparedness, response, and recovery operations. The agency includes planners, responders, logisticians, and support staff working to enhance the City’s ability to manage all hazards.

The Response division is NYCEM’s 24/7 operations arm and is responsible for monitoring and responding to incidents across the five boroughs. Response Bureau personnel are the agency’s frontline staff for alerting the public and City agencies, initiating on-scene NYCEM response, and providing ongoing coordination during emergencies. Response also supports interagency coordination and planning for special/planned events throughout the city.

The Watch Command unit operates 24/7, monitoring citywide radio frequencies; local, national, and international media; and weather forecasts. They function as the central notification point for NYC, transmitting notifications to agencies and Notify NYC messages. Watch Command serves as a dispatch and operations center for the agency, dispatching Citywide Interagency Coordinators, providing requested logistical and coordination support, and providing situational awareness updates to City agencies on ongoing incidents.

Within Watch Command, the Public Warning Unit issues Notify NYC messages and Wireless Emergency Alerts to alert the public about emergencies, inclement weather, major disruptions, and other impactful information.

Watch Command is seeking an intern to support the unit’s operational readiness, situational awareness, administrative coordination, and internal project management functions. The intern will assist Watch Command leadership and staff with a range of tasks that support daily operations, incident monitoring, information management, and coordination with internal and external partners. The intern may support work related to active incidents, weather events, planned operations, public warning coordination, special events, and other ongoing Response division priorities.

• Supporting Watch Command leadership with administrative coordination, scheduling, meeting tracking, and follow‑up items.
• Assisting with the organization and maintenance of unit files, shared resources, and operational documents.
• Conducting research and assisting with the development of written reports, briefings, summaries, and other operational materials.
• Supporting project management for unit priorities, including tracking timelines, task lists, deliverables, and outstanding action items.
• Assisting with the review, revision, formatting, and organization of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), guidance documents, and other internal materials.
• Supporting situational awareness and information management efforts, including tracking relevant updates, organizing incident‑related materials, and helping prepare internal summaries as needed.
• Coordinating with Watch Command personnel and other NYCEM units to support daily operations and ongoing projects.
• Providing administrative and operational support during planned operations, special events, activations, or other response‑related activities as needed.
• Supporting other tasks as assigned.

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with staff across units and disciplines.
• Ability to support multiple projects and tasks in a fast‑moving, dynamic environment.
• Administrative, research, or project coordination experience.
• Experience using Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Interest in emergency management, emergency services, public safety, public administration, or related fields.
• Comfort working in an operational environment where priorities may shift quickly.
• Professionalism and discretion when handling sensitive, operational, or interagency information.

The selected candidate will be required to provide a letter confirming matriculation with an accredited college/university. Further letters will be required for each semester (spring, summer, fall) while working at NYCEM.