Education & Outreach Coordinator

Education & Outreach Coordinator

Cacapon Institute seeks a full-time, Education & Outreach Coordinator.  The successful applicant will focus on delivering Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences and coordinating the Institute’s social media. In addition, the employee will participate in the full range of CI’s non-profit activities including watershed research, forestry, green infrastructure, grant writing, and fundraising.  CI staff will work closely with the Education & Outreach Coordinator to develop the requisite skills, and comfort level, necessary for success.

Applications will be considered immediately

Deadline to apply:  May 31, 2024

Responsibilities

1.  Coordinate outreach for Cacapon Institute’s (CI’s) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences.  MWEE’s are K-12 Project Based Learning activities supported by NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office and WV Chesapeake Bay Program.   When hired, the successful applicant will:

            a.  promote the WV Outdoor Learning Network Initiative, a federal, state, and local partnership of agencies, school systems, and non-profits establishing systemic MWEE in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties,

c. travel throughout WV’s Potomac Basin promoting hands-on experiential learning to connect classroom lessons with real-world watershed conservation,

            d.  periodically travel to regional and national conferences to represent the Institute,

            e.  support CI’s goal to reduce non-point source water pollution from schoolyards by assisting with the design and installation of Chesapeake Bay Program best management practices

            f.  organize and lead Stream Scholars Summer Camp

2.  Coordinate CI’s outreach and social media including timely website updates, volunteer engagement, and Facebook.  When hired, the successful applicant will:

            a.  maintain CI’s website by adding timely photographs and posts form local newspaper, volunteer events, and other news sources

            b.  travel across Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan, and Pendleton counties to promote BMP projects to protect and restore the Potomac watershed,

            c.  author periodic information sharing reports and white papers to document successful BMP projects, partners, and activities and disseminate advice and recommendations.

3.  In addition, the successful candidate must be willing to learn a wide range of skills in support of CI’s goal to integrate watershed science and education including, but not limited to: field and laboratory data collection, public outreach and education, newsletter publishing, website design, and media and fundraising campaigning.

REQUIREMENTS

• A desire to engage and educate audiences of youth and adults on the importance of reducing non-point source stormwater runoff pollution
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in education, environmental science or forestry
• Exceptional coordination and outreach skills including managing succinct written and verbal correspondence
• An aptitude for planning and problem solving and an instinct for taking the initiative
• Be personable and a desire to travel and meet new people
• Ability to work irregular hours including weekends and evenings
• Demonstrate working knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.); and, have the ability to learn project specific software (e.g. ArcGIS, Field Maps, Adobe Photoshop, Wordpress)
• Have a clean driving record, reliable transportation, and insurance
• Be capable of passing a background check (required by some school systems)
• Enjoy strenuous outdoor activities, occasionally in inclement weather, and have the ability to lift 50 lbs and carry it 50 paces.  (A waiver is possible for applicants with special needs.)

Cacapon Institute

Since 1985, Cacapon Institute has promoted positive change in environmental behavior and increased effectiveness of environmental actions.  Our science programs address the need for a continuing record of water quality to assess trends, identify problems, and formulate solutions.  We have a history of innovation beginning with the 1988 “Portrait of A River: The Ecological Baseline of the Cacapon River” that is widely recognized as a national model. We remain on the forefront of Chesapeake Bay science and restoration.  Our education programs fill the need for school-based watershed education that, when connected to surrounding community, foster the generational shift in attitude that will achieve the change in behavior that is required to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. We have a tradition of fostering and working within partnerships to achieve our goals; we are a member of the West Virginia Tributary Team, Chesapeake Bay Program’s Education & Forestry workgroups, WV Rivers, Choose Clean Water Network, River Network, and other state, regional, and national organizations.

To apply, email ci@cacaponinstitute.org with the subject “Coordinator” and attach (PDF preferred): 

• letter of interest in Cacapon Institute’s Education & Outreach Coordinator position (generic letters of interest will not be acknowledged), 
• resume or CV including school and/or work history for no less than the past three years, and, 
• names and contact information for three supervisor-references from work or school.