Community Gardens Manager

Community Gardens Manager

Gather New Haven, New Haven, CT (www.gathernewhaven.org)

Position Purpose: This position is responsible for community outreach, coordination, and property management at Gather New Haven’s 45+ community gardens. Gather New Haven provides residents with land on which to grow vegetables. This position ensures that gardeners have the resources needed to grow food and ensures that properties are well maintained both through direct maintenance and through mobilizing gardeners and city partnerships. This is a great position for someone interested in urban planning and community outreach.

Position Background: The Community Gardens manager is responsible for the management of all community garden properties and operations. Each garden takes care of these responsibilities to some extent, but the Community Gardens Manager provides assistance in the form of infrastructure support (carpentry and repairs), volunteer coordination, advice, and community connections. The Manager also helps gardens get back on track who are struggling to manage their vegetation or gardener relations. The Manager works with the seven District Garden Coordinators to support their work with individual gardens. Delegation skills are required. The Manager forms relationships with all Garden Coordinators and with many people adjacent to the gardens, including Liveable City Initiative, community management teams, nonprofits and for-profits with whom we have partnerships. 

Employment Details:

Start Date: As soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

Employment Type: Full Time Exempt. Some night and weekend availability (especially Saturdays) is required. 

Salary:  $45,000-50,000 annually.

Description of Activities:

General Responsibilities: 

• Coordinate and supervise garden tasks for interns, volunteers, and high school employees.
• Coordinate purchases and donations of materials for gardens from hardware stores and online. Coordinate distribution of these materials. 
• Collect, monitor, and evaluate program data such as pounds of food grown per garden, and gardener contact information. Prepare reports. 
• Create, monitor, and maintain budgets.
• Grant management, including reimbursement paperwork, organized expense tracking, and ensuring programs operate in compliance with funding sources.
• Support organizational grant writing efforts and fundraising campaigns.
• Assist in the maintenance and storage of vehicles, power equipment, supplies, and responsible management of facilities.
• Collaborate with Farm Manager, Community Entrepreneurship Manager, Farm-Based Wellness Program Manager and other staff as appropriate, attend weekly meetings. 

Community Outreach Responsibilities: 

• Maintain frequent communication with Garden Coordinators via phone, email, and in-person. 
• Perform community outreach to find new coordinators and community members to help maintain the gardens. 
• Train new Garden Coordinators. Organize and host meetings for all coordinators. 
• Communicate updates from Gather New Haven to all gardeners via email and in-person.
• Enforce the responsibilities of gardeners regarding land use rules and property maintenance.
• Report to, and collaborate with, the Garden Committee. Coordinate and delegate tasks.
• Coordinate assistance with trash removal, snow removal, land maintenance, and land leasing from community organizations: city government, nonprofits, and other partners. 
• Coordinate events and educational workshops facilitated by a part-time staff member or volunteers.
• Mediate occasional conflict among gardens or community members.
• Maintain positive relationships with all community members.

Property Management Responsibilities. This position is prepared to do backup property maintenance that gardeners cannot do for various reasons. This aspect of the job involves:

• Routinely visit all gardens to assess maintenance and property management needs and check on them.
• Find, hire, and supervise contractors for tree work, landscaping, and small construction projects.
• Perform weed whacking and lawn mowing at select gardens, either by accomplishing this directly or supervising a landscaper. 
• Build and repair wooden garden beds across all properties, either by repairing them directly or by delegating the task to skilled gardeners and volunteers. 
• Troubleshoot issues with plumbing in the gardens, including turning water on and off seasonally, and emptying the pipes to prevent freezing.
• Remove bulk trash from sites with the help of the Department of Public Works.
• Repair fences.
• Coordinate snow removal from sidewalks in winter.

Other duties as assigned.

Required Skills and Experience

• A commitment to New Haven’s communities and neighborhoods. 
• Experience with building partnerships and fostering collaboration with community members and other organizations.
• Organic vegetable gardening knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.
• Experience with logistics, coordination, and problem solving. 
• Is persistent on getting issues fixed; willing to work at a problem until it is solved.
• Feels comfortable directly asking people to do things and following up to make sure they get accomplished.
• Proficiency in G-suite word processors, spreadsheets, slide presentations, project management software, online forms.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Small engine/power tool maintenance skills.
• Plant identification knowledge is helpful.
• Bilingual English and Spanish is strongly preferred.
• A driver’s license is strongly preferred.

Job location: 50+ sites throughout New Haven. The candidate must be willing to travel short distances frequently. 

How to Apply

Email a cover letter and resume saved as a single PDF document to: Leigh@gathernewhaven.org.

Your cover letter should include references to all relevant paid and unpaid life experience and address why you are interested in the position, what professional strengths you bring to the position, and your personal goals.

About Gather New Haven. Gather New Haven is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization located in New Haven, CT, committed to social and environmental justice. Gather New Haven promotes health, equity and justice for people and the environment by cultivating connections and access to our lands and waters and by inspiring us to care for our wellbeing, our shared community, and our environment. https://gathernewhaven.org/

Benefits. Benefits include sick days, vacation, and holidays (federally recognized holidays as well as three floating holidays for non-federally recognized days of observance). Gather New Haven helps employees pay for medical expenses or health insurance premiums up to $6,000 through a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) and workers compensation insurance is also provided. Staff are entitled to a share of farm-grown produce during the farming season.

Employment Disclosures and Legal Statements. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. This position involves remote work and socially distanced in-person work related activities under strict adherence to public health practices to minimize the likelihood of contracting the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)/COVID-19.

Gather New Haven is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recruit, hire, upgrade, train, and promote for all positions and job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital, veteran or disabled veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other status as a member of any other legally protected group or activity.

Candidate is expected to support and promote the organization’s position on racial equity, environmental justice, and food justice issues which can include messaging and actions that are in opposition to discriminatory practices that produce inequities associated with the organization’s mission.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.

Gather New Haven strictly maintains a drug free workplace, and complies with ADA regulations as applicable.