Educational Programs Associate

Urban Adamah is an educational farm and community center in Berkeley, California that integrates the practices of Jewish tradition, mindfulness, sustainable agriculture, and social justice to build loving, just, and sustainable communities. We provide training programs, educational workshops, and community celebrations for more than 10,000 visitors annually.

About The Role

The Educational Programs Associate is responsible for supporting the education and public engagement of Urban Adamah’s youth and families in a variety of ways. This includes managing administration and leadership of All Year (our Sunday School), managing and serving as an educator/facilitator for school field trip programs, designing and implementing youth and family holiday programs, and in collaboration with the Camp & Educational Programs Manager, assisting with administration of youth retreats. The Youth Programs Associate also supports the work of the Educational Programs Director and the department as a whole.

The ideal candidate for this role will be passionate about working with youth aged 5-13 and their families, enjoys group facilitation and relationship building, wants to grow their supervision skills with part-time educators, and is excited to think about how to connect youth and families to the farm, to earth-based Jewish tradition and to each other.

RESPONSIBILITIES

All Year (Sunday Youth Education) Program

• With guidance from the Educational Programs Director, coordinate and assist with the hiring, training, and support of part-time All Year program educators
• Implement the program, attending and being the point-person for all program sessions (twice a month on Sundays during the school year)
• Support marketing and recruitment efforts
• Execute program administration, including tracking and purchasing materials, and space-use needs
• Work with the Educational Programs Director to refine and further develop All Year curricular content, and to further design and facilitate parent engagement programming

School Field Trips

• With guidance from the Educational Programs Director, coordinate the hiring, training, and support of part-time field trip educators
• Track interest forms, meet with groups, administer calendar
• Work with the Educational Programs Director to refine and further develop field trip content
• Execute program administration, including tracking and purchasing materials, and space-use needs
• Be on site for all field trips Tuesday and Thursday mornings during the school year and serve as a field trip facilitator and program point-person

Retreats

• Assist the Camp & Educational Programs Manager with the development of content and programming for on-site, multi-day, youth retreats
• Assist with and support all retreat logistics and administrative work including marketing and promotion, staff hiring, materials purchasing, set up, etc.
• Help the Camp & Educational Programs Manager steward relationships with partnering Jewish day schools and synagogue religious school programs
• Assist with the recruitment, hiring, and training of retreat staff as needed
• Serve as a retreat staff member/facilitator

Holiday Programming

• With guidance and support from the Educational Programs Director and Manager, design and implement inspiring and creative outdoor Jewish holiday programming geared toward youth and families for all major Jewish holidays
• Execute program administration, including tracking and purchasing materials, and space-use needs
• Support marketing and recruitment efforts
• Serve as a holiday programming staff member/facilitator on Jewish and national holidays

About You

You are passionate about Urban Adamah’s mission and have the background and experience to support the education and public engagement of youth and their families. You are detail-oriented, and are thorough and diligent in your administrative work. You are excited about youth engagement and empowerment, and bring a high level of creativity, responsibility, and a collaborative spirit to program implementation.

We are open to applicants with varying levels and types of experience, provided that the applicant displays the skills required to successfully execute the job described above. You might be a good fit if you possess/demonstrate the following.

COMPETENCIES AND STRENGTHS

Communication, Collaboration & Customer Service:

• Possess strong interpersonal skills: You communicate and collaborate well with a range of colleagues and other stakeholders
• Collaborative: You enjoy learning from and with talented colleagues, and are excited to be part of the success of the whole organization
• Customer service oriented: You appreciate the powerful impact of providing prompt responses to participant inquiries, meeting people’s needs proactively, and treating staff and other community members with respect and care

Administrative & Organizational Excellence

• Self-starter: You thrive in environments where you get to hold the operationalization of your assigned workload
• Excellence in organization: You are highly organized, able to track and execute on multiple projects and tasks simultaneously, and are detail oriented
• Prioritizing: You are comfortable maintaining multiple channels of communication (text, email, phone, Slack) and independently managing your workflow to keep projects on track
• Tech-savvy: you are very comfortable with Google Suite, Microsoft Office Suite, Slack, and database systems like Salesforce (additional tech savvy is a bonus)

Strategy & Problem Solving:

• Problem solver: You enjoy problem solving, seeing it as an opportunity to connect with and support others and the organization

Self-Awareness & Partnership:

• Ownership: You take broad responsibility for your work and approach tasks and priorities with a critical mindset
• Opensess: You regularly seek, incorporate, and share new information and feedback
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion: you value the diversity of insight, perspective, and experience brought by people from diverse backgrounds

EXPERIENCES THAT COULD LEAD TO YOUR SUCCESS

• Relevant experience working with youth and their families, especially youth ages 5-13
• Knowledge and experience in experiential, play-based education
• Experience and interest in outdoor/farm education and Jewish education
• Training in how to manage part-time educators

DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

• Relevant experience working with youth ages 3-5
• Musical abilities
• Interest and experience in arts facilitation

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands listed below are representative of those that must be met by an employee in this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable people with disabilities:

• Typing, writing, reading, hearing, and speaking
• Standing and walking for several hours, as well as sitting, squatting, crawling, climbing, and lifting up to 40 lbs.