Description
Organization Information
GrowNYC is a 54-year-old environmental nonprofit organization helping more than 3 million New Yorkers by providing essential services and taking action to make NYC a livable city, one where every person can enjoy a healthier, more sustainable life. GrowNYC Programs include:
- Our network of Greenmarkets, Farmstands, and the work of GrowNYC Wholesale ensure that all New Yorkers have access to the freshest, healthiest local food.
- We blanket the five boroughs with resources like food scrap and clothing collections to make waste reduction, recycling, and composting easy for all.
- We build and support community and school gardens through volunteer days, technical assistance, training, grants and more.
- We provide 70,000 children each year with programs that provide meaningful interactions with the natural environment.
Food Education Specialist: Full Time
Position Summary
Our Food Education Specialist oversees three educational programs, Seed to Plate, Ample Table for Everyone (Root Camp), and our Farmstand Business Curriculum: Seed to Plate, our nutrition education program for 5th and 6th graders, tells the story of local food and why it’s important for our bodies, the environment, and our community, inspiring healthy food choices and environmental leaders. Root Camp is a ten-lesson nutrition education curriculum for middle schoolers that highlights the connections between nutrition and well- being. It incorporates food justice and local and seasonal eating, and each lesson culminates in a hands-on cooking activity in the classroom. Farmstand Business is GrowNYC’s first semester-length curriculum for high school students that inspires schools to start food access initiatives using their school gardens.
Requirements
Food Education Specialist Responsibilities (Including but are not limited to):
Seed to Plate
- Schedule and coordinate the ten-lesson curriculum at each location (8 schools in the fall and 8 in the spring) for each participating classroom.
- Support teachers, schedule and manage educators, and teach select lessons to individual classrooms for each school.
- Coordinate field trips and program materials for selected schools, including trips to GrowNYC greenmarkets, farmer visits, and agricultural field trips.
- Obtain and prepare food for individual lesson tastings and cooking demos from GrowNYC offices or at Greenmarket locations.
- Create teaching materials to prepare selected teachers to utilize the Seed to Plate program in their schools.
- Deliver teacher training workshops at each of the schools in the early fall and spring.
- Support teachers as needed.
- Create and send follow up evaluation materials to participating teachers to fulfill grant requirements.
Supervisory Responsibilities
- Oversee the Seed to Plate Helper, should one be hired, in their role and scheduling. If hired, the Seed to Plate Helper will work 10-15 hours per week from September through June to facilitate the program at 8 schools.
- Manage distribution of tasks and projects with the Seed to Plate Helper.
Ample Table for Everyone - Root Camp (with secured funding)
- Create and deliver teacher training workshops virtually for participating schools.
- Promote Root Camp through Education events, newsletters, to partner organizations, etc.
- Coordinate materials and supplies for participating schools.
- Maintain detailed records of expenditures per school and manage the budget accordingly.
- Support teachers as needed as they implement the program and monitor evaluations/feedback for the funder.
Farmstand Business Curriculum (with secured funding)
- Create teaching and training materials to prepare selected teachers to utilize the Farmstand Business curriculum in their schools.
- Assist with selecting the schools from prospective applicants and develop a criteria for selection.
- Deliver teacher training and informational workshops for prospective and accepted schools throughout the school year.
- Coordinate field trips and program materials for selected schools, including trips to GrowNYC greenmarkets, farmer visits, and agricultural field trips.
- Support teachers as needed.
- Create and send follow up evaluation materials to participating teachers to fulfill grant requirements.
All Programs
- Envision and enact new ways of reaching program goals, and improve efficacy of existing program model
- Collect programming data for reporting purposes
- Prepare end of programming impact reports for funding partners.
- Partner with governmental and non-governmental organizations to create and distribute resources and generate citywide support for food education.
Qualifications
- 1-3 Years of experience teaching and/or delivering education to elementary school students in an urban setting is a must.
- Experience working in the New York City public school system.
- Culinary background or home cooking skills
- Appreciation of fresh, local and seasonal ingredients
- Ability to safely operate a motor vehicle
- Fluency in Spanish is ideal but not required
- Passionate about farming and local agriculture
- Comfortable with public speaking, both virtually and in-person
Physical Requirements
Programming takes place at schools in Brooklyn and Queens, often requiring travel to and from program sites, long-hours on your feet, and the ability to lift and carry materials necessary for programming. The ability to lift and carry supplies up to 50lbs.
Schedule
This position is full-time (35-40 hours per week), Monday-Friday, field-based position working in NYC K12 schools throughout the five boroughs. Majority of time will be spent engaging school partner schools with some work from home and in-office time as needed. Occasional evening/weekend hours may be required with advance notice. This is a temporary position funded through 12/2024. Upon completion and secured funding, candidate may be considered for an expanded role through June 2025.
Compensation
This position is full time and non-exempt. The salary is $55,000-$60,000 per year and includes full benefits (medical, dental, vision, life insurance, long-term disability, incentive savings plan, paid time off, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness is available to employees. A metrocard will be provided.
Location
Primary location is GrowNYC’s main office following a hybrid schedule of 3 days in person work with a mandatory presence on Wednesdays as well as GrowNYC programming sites citywide, and at our partner schools in Brooklyn and Queens
Applications
Qualified candidates for the Food Education Specialist position should submit a cover letter, resume, and a GrowNYC reference. Interviews will take place on a rolling basis. Due to the volume of employment applications received, GrowNYC is unable to respond to each application individually. Applicants will be contacted directly if selected as a candidate. No phone calls or recruiters, please.
Application deadline is August 16, 2024.
Contact
GrowNYC
P.O. Box 2327
New York, NY 10272
212-788-7900
For additional information, please see our website: grownyc.org
