Working Women Community Centre is a community settlement agency providing community development, counseling, support groups, employment services, language, skills and employment training programs to immigrant women and their families. All staff of the agency are responsible for demonstrating support and commitment to the mandate and objectives of the Centre. Staff are expected to work in a spirit of cooperation and to actively promote harmonious relations.
Advent Lutheran Church is a multi-cultural Christian community providing English classes for newcomers to Canada, settling refugees, building community in the neighbourhood through music and the arts and encouraging the ecological well-being of the planet through organic urban agriculture and the development of the Oriole Community Garden.
Job Title: Garden/Arts Youth Leader
Note: This is an HRSDC supported position and is contingent on funding. Applicants must be 30 years of age or under, currently attending school full-time and returning to school full-time in the fall, and be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
Reports to: Community Garden Coordinator, Community Arts in the Garden Coordinator
About our garden: Our organic community garden is operated in partnership between Working Women Community Centre and the Advent Lutheran Church. 100 families tend their own garden plots, growing many cultural herbs, vegetables, flowers, and herbal healing plants. The families here come from all over the world; our languages include Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, Romanian, Mandarin, and Cantonese. We also have a children’s garden, a communal garden plot for people on our waiting list, and flower gardens. This year we will be establishing a Garden/Art Youth Apprenticeship Program.
The Youth Leader will coordinate the Garden/Art Youth Apprenticeship Program, which is in its first year. The successful candidate will help to shape and create this program.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Recruit 6 high school community garden apprentices
• Work with community gardeners to organize learning workshops for youth apprentices
• Coordinate the youth garden
• Train youth to lead gardening and art workshops for neighbourhood children
• Work with youth apprentices to maintain the garden blog
• Train and oversee youth in maintaining the greenhouse
• Help organize monthly garden potlucks
• Help coordinate a youth-led Good Food Market
• Create a positive, safe, fun environment for neighbourhood youth to engage in organic gardening, arts, and community leadership
QUALIFICATIONS
• Experience with community gardening/organic farming, and/or community arts
• Experience working with youth
• Passion for inspiring and empowering youth within a community garden/community development framework
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Creative communicator and teacher.
• Able to work independently and/or as a team member, and to take initiative
• Excellent organizational skills with an ability to be flexible.
• Understanding of the issues and assets of newcomers and immigrants.
• Demonstrated ability to work with and show sensitivity to those who experience poverty/discrimination
• Demonstrated ability to work within a diverse community (people of different ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds)
• Fluency in Farsi or Mandarin or another language related to the community is an asset.
Deadline for Applications:
To apply: Please submit a resume and cover letter by Monday May 16 to Sarah Resnick, Garden Coordinator by email: sresnick@workingwomencc.org
No applications will be accepted by fax or mail.