Program Manager: Native Plant Stewardship and Youth Ecology through Restoration Programs

SUMMARY:

The Native Plant Stewardship Program develops and supports community volunteers to become respected restoration and Native Plant Stewards recognized as leaders in their local community. The program provides instruction on the region’s native plants and plant communities, and how to use this knowledge to protect and restore Washington’s natural ecosystems. The core curricula include basic botany and native plant identification, the roles of native plants in local plant communities and ecosystems, the use of native plants in habitat restoration, gardens, and landscapes, and methods and techniques of ecological restoration. Each training is customized for the region, and the specific program partner goals. The program incorporates classroom and field learning experiences, provided by a team of field experts. Volunteer Native Plant Stewards make a commitment to volunteer service equal to the hours of training, over a period of 18-24 months.

The Youth Ecology Education through Restoration Program, YEER, is a middle school science curriculum with a field component in restoration. Students take on the role of field scientists to create solutions and rebuild biodiversity by restoring native plant habitats. WNPS Native Plant Stewards can provide support to the 6-8 week school curriculum, and year round support to restoration projects as school based volunteers. The restoration projects become ongoing learning habitats in the school yard or local park to enhance the learning experience overtime, while also making a difference in the community.

Program management includes oversight of the Stewardship curriculum development and YEER Program implementation as well as tracking volunteer activity and project success overtime. The qualified candidate will work with WNPS partners and collaborate with local cities and schools as well as WNPS chapters to support successful programs throughout the year, across the State of Washington. 

POSITION DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• General Administration:
  • Manage planning for land use agreements and school agreements.
  • Finalize curriculum plans for programs and manage Program coordinators across the state.
  • Ensure that restoration plans and stewardship applications are complete.
  • Develop the annual budgets for the programs as part of the WNPS budgeting process.
  • Work with YEER and Stewardship committee chair to approve and submit Invoices, quarterly reports deliverables, and purchase requests

• Program Development and Implementation:
  • WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program
  • Develop relationships with regional partners and program clients.
  • Work with the Stewardship Advisory committee to develop and review curriculum for current best practices.
  • Develop scopes of work for contracts with vendors and coordinators to establish new program outlines with new and existing clients.
  • Manage the core curriculum models for the 30-hour Native Plant Stewardship Program and the 100-hour Master Native Plant Stewardship Program.
  • Support development of continuing education programs designed to increase the 30-hour basic Native Plant Steward development of skills and experience to advance to the 100-hour Master Native Plant Steward level.
  • Foster and support chapter stewardship advisory chairs and or committees to support local programs, coordinators, and Native Plant Stewards
  • Organize up to one 100-hour program and three 30-hour programs per year in partnership with Chapters, the WNPS Stewardship Committee, and local partners, statewide.
  • Attend the Stewardship Advisory Committee meetings monthly.
  • Attend meetings of WNPS Board of Directors and other WNPS committees. meetings as requested
  • YEER Program
  • Build workable relationships between program coordinators and all the team players. Communicate with school districts, land managers, program coordinators, stewards, partners, advisory committee, and WNPS Board Leaders and Committee Chairs
  • Oversee implementation of the YEER program for up to approximately 10 school districts (current level is 7 school districts) per year.
  • Visit each school as needed for site assessment and restoration planning purposes, especially when a new site is selected for restoration at a school.
  • Develop and implement the school selection process for expanding the number of schools served by the YEER Program
  • Consult with the YEER Curriculum Specialist on all curriculum adjustments.
  • Work with Fundraising committee to prepare scopes for grant applications and support development and implementation of the program business plan.

• Program & Coordinator Supervision:
  • The position will supervise up to four Native Plant Stewardship Coordinators and four YEER program coordinators.
  • Prepare recruitment plan for coordinators including developing the scope of work and RFP.
  • Receive and screen applications and establish an interview team, including WNPS and as needed the client for final selection of the candidate. – Review Program Coordinators agreements, develop the position scope of work. – Develop and implement coordinators onboard training. – Supervise monthly meetings with program coordinators and program chairs.

• Volunteer Engagement: 
  • WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program
  • Manage engagement of the trained new Native Plant Stewards, up to 110 stewards per year, across the State of Washington, in partnership with chapter advisory teams.
  • Create reengagement plans with chapters for trained Native Plant Stewards
  • Develop and implement a recruitment process for retiring stewards to maintain project work overtime.
  • Establish an engagement plan that chapters use to increase contact with stewards throughout their stewardship service.
  • YEER Program
  • Support the recruitment of stewards for YEER restoration projects, include chapters and organizations of the represented area.
  • Provide training to stewards regarding activities at each site, volunteering with students and reporting hours.
  • Provide forms for stewardship applications and agreements, review those applications, ensure agreements are in place, and confirm background checks are in place at schools.
  • Develop and implement training programs for volunteers who have not completed the WNPS Native Plant Stewardship program.
  • Work with agency staff to be mentoring stewards for the YEER Program.
• Marketing, Recruitment, and Communications:
  • WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program
  • Provide content to Office Coordinator to include in monthly Steward News
  • Provide content to Communications Coordinator for marketing and public relations including press releases of significant activity, grants, and accomplishments of the programs.
  • Support content development and updates for the Native Plant Stewardship pages on the WNPS website.
  • YEER Program 
  • Prepare content and messaging regarding the YEER program for the WNPS website.
  • Work with the Communication coordinator for media publicity and community outreach.
  • Prepare content for school recruitment.
  • Provide regular stories to the communication coordinator to share the success of the program with WNPS members, funders and YEER communities.

• Evaluation and Reporting
  • WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program
  • Provide an annual executive summary of the annual trainings.
  • Evaluate post training accomplishments of the native plant stewards.
  • Collaborate with the Office Coordinator to provide regular steward-hour reports to the funders.
  • Establish reports for the WNPS Annual Report – including project report results and volunteer hours.
  • Attend the Stewardship Advisory Committee Meetings prepared with updates and report presentations.
  • YEER Program
  • Supervise and implement a yearly survey of teachers, school administrators, and stewards.
  • Look into program evaluation criteria for future years to help determine the success of the program for our fundraising opportunities.
  • Attend and make presentations to YEER Advisory Committee quarterly.
  • Finalize the YEER Annual report.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Ability to understand and carry out oral and written directions.
• Ability to prioritize tasks during high volume periods.
• Able to work in collaboration with individuals from diverse backgrounds.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Ecological restoration experience and knowledge to review and complete site assessments and restoration plans for project work implementation.
• Experience supervising contractors, consultants or staff.
• Experience collaborating with outside governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, school administrators and teachers.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A Bachelor’s degree in conservation ecology, volunteer management, communications, education or a related field or program
• AND three years of professional experience working with volunteer and/or student programs, developing volunteer training programs or similar work.
• Or an equivalent of education and/or Experience
• Demonstrated knowledge of the full MS Office 365 suite and database usage.
• Able to work and collaborate with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Able to manage multiple projects and work groups.