Goats and Gardens Summer Camp Educator

Do you LOVE being outside, working with goats, and teaching children? Do you have experience or interest in animal husbandry and vegetable gardening?  Are you excited to work collaboratively to make camp memorable for children aged 5-11 years old? Do you love to laugh, play with baby goats, and run through sprinklers? We are looking for a compassionate, upbeat, organized Camp Instructor to join our team for the Goats and Gardens summer camp in 2021! 

Mission & History

Growing Gardens is a Boulder based non-profit organization established in 1998 with the mission to enrich the lives of the community through sustainable urban agriculture. Growing Gardens helps people experience a direct, deep connection with food, the land and each other through our programs for diverse populations: the Children’s Peace Garden (Ages 3-11), Community Classes, Community Gardens, Growing Gardens Food Project, Cultiva Youth Project (Ages 12-18), and Mountain Flower Goat Dairy. Our activities are centered in the heart of Boulder on 25 acres of land that has been in agricultural use for the past 100 years. We expanded our programming in 2016 to include a one acre farm in neighboring Longmont, Colorado, which provides fresh produce and agriculture-based education to the Longmont community. As of 2021, we have merged with Mountain Flower Goat Dairy and expanded our educational programs to include animal husbandry. To learn more about Growing Gardens, visit www.growinggardens.org

Summer Camp Description 

Growing Gardens works with the City of Boulder to provide a unique, hands-on summer camp experience. Children spend the morning learning about goats, and the afternoon learning to garden. We’ve found that connecting children to the land has lifelong impacts on their health and attitudes towards environmental stewardship. 

Job Title: Summer Environmental Educator
Job Status: Full Time, Seasonal Summer Employee, Average 40 hours per week
Reports To: Summer Camp Coordinator
Pay: $560 per week 

Required Training: June 1-4, 8am-4pm. Training is paid hourly at $12.32 per hour.
Summer Camp Schedule: Summer Camp is weekly June 1st - Aug 13th.
There is no Summer Camp July 5th-9th, but there will be 3 days of mid-season prep July 7th-9th.

TO APPLY:

No phone calls please. Email your cover letter, resume and two references with “Goats and Gardens Summer Camp Application” in the email subject line to: shorowitz@growinggardens.org
Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until February 15th, so we recommend getting your application in as soon as possible. Position will remain open until filled.

Job Purpose:

Goats and Gardens Summer Camp Educator  works to deliver high quality summer camp education programs. The educator will lead groups of campers each week through goat husbandry and urban farming lessons, activities, and games. The Educator is responsible for managing the back-end administration of summer camp such as coordinating with the City of Boulder instructors and completing paperwork as necessary. The Goats and Gardens Educator is essential in setting and attaining programming goals and objectives while assisting in animal care.

Major Functions and Accountabilities

• Works with fellow Summer Environmental Educators to prepare and lead week long summer camp
• Teach garden and goat-based education programming for children at the Boulder Farm
• Maintain positive relationships with students, and fellow staff
• Record keeping and administrative tasks to document programming
• Coordinating with Goat Dairy staff on program needs
• This job is outside in all weather conditions and involves many contact hours with program participants

Required Qualifications

• The candidate must have at least 460 hours of satisfactory and verifiable experience working with school-age children.
  Please note: In your cover letter, indicate how you’ve met the 460 hours - hours must be with children aged 4-18 in groups of four or more. Babysitting hours cannot be counted. 
• Experience teaching in an outdoor or environmental education setting
• Willingness to participate in daily goat dairy chores with participants and other staff
• Knowledge of or willingness to learn about and work with goats 
• Exceptional relationship building skills
• Strong conflict resolution skills
• Ability to juggle many different tasks including administrative, teaching, and caring for animals
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with the Education Team and Goat Dairy Staff
• Adaptability to changing situations, needs of program participants and changing weather conditions
• Consistent positive attitude and ability to enthusiastically work all day outdoors with children

Desired Qualifications

• Familiarity with goat husbandry highly desired
• Experience with organic gardening/farming highly desired

A note about working with us in the time of Covid-19:

Like everyone around the globe our operations have been challenged by this pandemic. We are asking for a few commitments and understandings from our interns and staff during this time that are not typically a part of this experience. They are:

• We ask that interns maintain what we are calling a “Covid-Safe” lifestyle while they work on our team. During the growing season we have to operate in relatively close-quarters and our work is farm-based (not a lot of working remotely). We consider this a blessing generally, but it means we must be exemplars of the standards set by The Boulder CountyPublic Health Department. These change frequently, however at the time of this posting Boulder County Public Health guidelines include:  Wearing a face mask at all times, limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people from no more than 2 households, limiting travel to only “essential” travel, and following all County guidelines regarding testing in the event of illness or contact with anyone experiencing Covid-19 symptoms.
• We understand that our interns often live in shared living spaces with other young professionals, extended family, and all sorts of other situations. We only ask that you behave as cautiously as possible and ask the same of those you live with. 
• We will have daily screenings upon arriving at work including a questionnaire and a temperature check. 
• Our work has had to shift at a moments’ notice based on Public Health guidelines and changing priorities for the organization. We ask that interns are understanding of changing schedules and planned work as is necessary. 
• We have worked very hard to ensure that this is still a fantastic place to be, work, and learn. We are asking that you work hard at keeping our community safe. 

Inclusion Statement

Growing Gardens is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all participants. Growing Gardens stands in solidarity with communities and individuals around the world who have experienced the devastation of racism, inequality, and violence. We are an organization that strives to be inclusive and to bring all members of the community together to create positive change. We acknowledge that we have room to grow to continue to diversify and serve our community better. As we work diligently to develop a plan for the future, we are taking action now to further educate our team of staff, have difficult conversations within our leadership team, and create an action plan to identify and fill our shortcomings. We will continue to stand and advocate for those who have faced inequality and will strive to continue to create a safe and inclusive community for all.

Anti-Discrimination Statement

Growing Gardens prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment and will take affirmative measures to ensure against them, especially if they are carried out on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, status as a veteran or disabled veteran, neurodiversity, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, matriculation or political affiliation. This policy applies to all employees or potential employees, volunteers, participants, members of the Growing Gardens Board of Directors, people who serve on Growing Gardens’ committees, and anyone attending Growing Gardens’ events.  This policy extends to all aspects of employment at Growing Gardens, including hiring, transfer, promotion, training, working conditions, policies, compensation, evaluation, discipline and termination.