Community Garden Manager

Stewardship Department

Tacoma, WA

Class II, Full-Time, Salary-exempt

Qualified candidates will have a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy/affairs or related field, plus a minimum of 2 years experience in developing and implementing community programs. Additional years of related experience may substitute for a degree.

 Benefits: 

• Employer sponsored medical, dental and vision insurance,
• Enrollment in Life, AD&D and Short & Long Term Disability Insurance;
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 120 hours of accrued paid time off (PTO) and 10 paid holidays annually;
• 401K benefits after 6 months employment.
• Subsidized public transportation passes (ORCA)

        June 10, 2010

Send cover letter and resume to:

                Cascade Land Conservancy

                615 2nd Ave., Suite 600

                Seattle, WA 98104

                Fax 206-577-9956

                ATTN:  Operations Director

                Or email:  jobs@cascadeland.org

Subject Line:  “COMMUNITY GARDEN MANAGER”

Cascade Land Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. CLC actively seeks a diverse pool of candidates from a variety of backgrounds, who are committed to the mission and vision of the organization.

Background:

Cascade Land Conservancy is Washington’s largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization, currently working in King, Kittitas, Pierce, Mason, and Snohomish counties.  It also performs estuary and near shore conservation and stewardship work in other counties on Puget Sound and the Pacific coast. The Conservancy’s mission is to conserve great landscapes and create great communities.

Community gardens are the most visible face of the growing movement to recreate vibrant local food systems in our cities and re-connect our cities to the broader local and regional foodshed. Residents of Tacoma and Pierce County have demonstrated great success in building community gardens at community centers, churches, and parks. At the recent Community Garden Summit, over 150 people came to learn more and plan new projects with their neighbors – and then were surprised by Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland’s announcement that the City is creating seven new community gardens on city land.

The Community Garden Manager is a newly created position, funded by the City of Tacoma, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, and Pierce Conservation District. The primary responsibility of this position is to coordinate, connect and support community gardening efforts around Tacoma and Pierce County. Approximately 80% of work will focus on Tacoma and 20% on the rest of Pierce County; this may change if more county-wide funding can be obtained.

• Support existing community gardens: Support existing site leaders as they manage their gardens and volunteers. Potential areas of support include helping with volunteer recruitment, finding additional resources, developing rules, by-laws and garden sustainability plans, encouraging participation from a diverse citizenry, managing relationships with agencies and landowners, and designing ways for the garden to be a resource that promotes social justice and improved health for the entire community. Also: use & maintain website like UrbanFarmHub.com to assist in garden organizing and providing information to the public about gardening in Pierce County.

• New garden development: Assist communities through the phases of community organizing, resource acquisition, garden development and long-term sustainability. Some efforts will be community-driven with minimal need for support. Other neighborhoods will require more direction and effort from staff in order to ensure an equitable city-wide array of sites. Develop and maintain resources and resource lists for community gardeners and coordinators, such as “how to start a community garden” toolkit from existing resources.

• Secure sustainable program funding: Find resources from public, private and non-profit sectors to continue program past initial two years of funding. Also, obtain donations (materials, etc) and sponsorships for sites or events.

• Establish benchmarks and evaluate program success: Survey community gardens, participants and beneficiaries to establish rough baseline of community food system. Measure progress through program – i.e. increase intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, increase volunteerism. Prepare annual report for steering committee.
• Coordinate educational opportunities with other community agencies: Coordinate community garden education activities with Master Gardeners and other community volunteers. For example: how to garden; cooking with garden-fresh produce; safe composting; rain gardens; bio-solids.
• Work with the Community Garden steering committee and other related advisory teams to implement their vision and use as technical assistance.
• Other tasks and program administration, as assigned.
  

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, natural resources, and/or environmental policy/affairs or related field and 2+ years of experience. Additional years of related experience may substitute for a degree.
• Demonstrated involvement in local food, agriculture, gardening or community gardening and volunteer recruitment, leadership development and/or community organizing;
• Ability to develop a positive working relationship with a variety of stakeholders including multiple partner agencies/organizations, elected officials, community supporters, staff, and volunteers. Successful experience working independently and in groups in both office and field settings.
• Understanding public process and policies, systems and environmental change in areas such as land use and food systems;
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and in writing; specifically website content management and social media marketing skills needed for online organizing;
• Demonstrates resourcefulness and strong problem-solving skills.
• Ability to organize and manage diverse activities and set priorities.
• Flexible and able to work well under pressure, with limited direct supervision.
• Ability to work some non-standard hours, including evenings and weekends (with comp time).
• Ability to work under physically demanding conditions, including cold and wet weather.
• Valid, insurable drivers license/record.