Summer Garden Program Director (WCCUSD Summer)

At Growing Together, our mission is to improve the health of our communities by creating & maintaining school gardens as hubs for fresh food access, youth education, and mutual aid.

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Our work and therefore our team are both intersectional, including educators, landscapers, naturalists, farmers, business operators, & school parents. As a team we have an abundance of specialized expertise in hands-on outdoor education, garden & orchard stewardship, as well as large scale, community-centered mutual aid.

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Leading school based garden programs is one of the specialized services we offer to schools and districts; currently, Growing Together is a network of ten program directors, each based at 1-2 campuses in Oakland (OUSD), Richmond/San Pablo (WCCUSD), or San Lorenzo (SLZUSD).

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How you’ll contribute: 

 

As a Summer Garden Program Director, you’ll be responsible for preparing and leading hands-on outdoor activities  (typically, gardening and basic cooking) in a school garden setting for groups of up to fifteen K-6 grade students.  The scope of your work will also include maintaining a mid-sized school garden. Specific responsibilities include:   

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• Planning and leading 3-4 hours of hands-on, garden based lessons for 4 or 5 days each week (depending on school site). Lesson time is split into 3 separate class sessions, with 10-15 minute breaks between groups. 

• Maintaining your mid-sized garden/outdoor classroom space. 

• Communicating and coordinating effectively with a school’s array of stakeholders - teachers, admin, custodians

• Note: There may be possibilities for continued work, as garden/nutrition education program directors, starting in the upcoming school year

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What you’ll need to succeed: 
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• 1 year experience preparing and leading outdoor, hands-on garden activities 

• Experience working with students in a school setting, using a subject-aligned curriculum

• 1 year experience with responsibility for maintaining a school or community garden

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The nitty gritty:
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• These positions are 75-100% FTE roles, depending on program, starting June 13th through July 21st 

• Compensation for this role is $40 per hour

• School sites are all K-6 public schools within West Contra Costa School District, spread throughout Richmond, San Pablo, and El Sobrante/Hercules in the East Bay, CA.

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Life at Growing Together:
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• We’re a team of do-ers. Almost every member of our team  is a program director responsible for the planning, management, and execution of their own program. This means that our team is very flat, and that every person is accountable for delivering a piece of our organization’s work. 

• We don’t believe that one size fits all. We place a lot of agency and trust in each person to steward our programs in ways that are relevant to & informed by the different schools, communities, and needs of their context. 

• Our work is integrated within school communities. Most of our time and attention is spent working with people outside of our organization. Whether that be students, teachers,  school administrators, parents, or farmers, a majority of our day to day time is spent building relationships with the communities that we are cultivating & participating in.

• We’re a network of community members, connected by values & mission. Given the varying schedules of our programs, our team relies on monthly in-person team meetings, as well as informal weekly check-ins with other team members to stay in sync and collaborate on cross team projects.

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If you think you'd be a good fit for our team and this role, please send us an email at hello@growingtogetherprojects.org with your contact info, your CV/resume, and the role that you would like to interview for.