Rain Garden Community Coordinator

Organization: The Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) is an advisory group to the Board of County Commissioners and part of the regional Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative. The MRC comprises largely of volunteer members who work with local and regional partners to protect and restore the marine and nearshore environments of East Jefferson County. For more information about the MRC and MRC projects, visit our website (www.jeffersonmrc.org).

Position Overview: The Rain Garden Community Coordinator will help to cultivate community support for maintenance of established rain gardens. This is a part-time, paid internship with 240 billable hours. Work hours and times will vary depending on event needs, including some weekends and evenings. The Rain Garden Community Coordinator will be paired with an MRC mentor who will oversee and assist them in the completion of their tasks. Primary activities will include developing educational materials, conducting neighborhood outreach, and organizing community-engaged rain garden maintenance workdays. There will be opportunities to help with additional MRC projects and field work as available. It is our goal that by the end of their term, the Rain Garden Community Coordinator will have gained valuable job skills, problem solving abilities and diverse experiences that prepare them for the next step in their career.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Research and compile resources on rain gardens, rain garden plants, weeds, and other key information for community groups to better understand and steward their rain gardens

• Develop educational materials on existing MRC rain gardens, such as a Story Map, that can serve as a self-guided rain garden tour activity and education outreach tool

• Conduct outreach and engagement of neighborhood volunteers to gain their participation and support for maintaining established rain gardens

• Create promotional materials, such as event flyers and informational mailers

• Assist MRC members with assessing rain garden maintenance needs

• Organize and host 2-3 rain garden maintenance workdays with neighborhood volunteers

• Participate in meetings with partner organizations focused on efforts to cultivate rain garden stewardship

• Prepare a short presentation to share what you learned and accomplished during your internship to be given at the June MRC meeting

• Participate in MRC and NWSC monthly meetings, as available

• Other duties as assigned