JOB TITLE:
Growing Up Organic: Program Manager
Start date: February 21st 2022.
This is a one year contract position based in Ottawa: it averages 25 hours/week and is remunerated at $30/h. It offers benefits after a 3 month probationary period.
*MUST BE FRENCH-ENGLISH BILINGUAL TO APPLY
Please submit your cover letter and resume to Chloé Laberge at guo-ottawa@cog.ca by February 13th 2022.
Working Conditions
Work involves exposure to both public and private communities (mostly school settings). Work is subject to deadlines and interruptions. Ability to work effectively and efficiently in a flexible home environment. This position requires work from home as well as on-site and requires access to a personal vehicle to travel from site to site (schools). The employee will be compensated for mileage.
Equal opportunity
COG provides equal employment opportunities to employees regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or marital status. As such, we encourage groups who have been historically disadvantaged with respect to employment to apply for positions at COG. We offer a family-friendly environment that allows for flexible work arrangements to support staff diversity and ensure a healthy work-life balance.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Canadian Organic Grower’s (COG) mission is to provide education, advocacy, and leadership to help build an agricultural system that empowers farmers and consumers, enhances human health, builds community, and mitigates climate change while increasing Canadian food sovereignty (www.cog.ca).
Growing Up Organic (GUO), a program of COG, partners with schools to establish edible garden programs as experiential education tools for all grade levels. We provide educators with the core support and resources to start garden initiatives with confidence, and a model for integrating hands-on food literacy into their pedagogy. Our garden-based workshops are delivered on-site at school gardens, and focus on the environmental impacts of our food choices. Through our strategic focus on education, we hope to foster a generation of children and youth with greater food literacy, healthy eating habits, increased food skills and an understanding of environmental health issues (growinguporganic.org). GUO is currently being delivered in the Ottawa region.
SUMMARY
The Program Manager (PM) oversees the implementation of GUO programming. The PM reaches out to schools and school boards, maintains relationships with community partners, manages workshop schedules as well as the program budgets, secures funding, collects data for program evaluation, coordinates a team of workshop facilitators, and provides core support to teachers and students to establish edible gardens as teaching tools.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Oversees the program’s deliverables and meets the program’s strategic plan and the annual work plan objectives.
- Evaluates, reviews and implements outreach strategies, to gain wider program participation, specifically in French school boards.
- Secures financial and in-kind support for GUO via donations, sponsorships, grants and partnerships.
- Responsible for the GUO budget: yearly projections, payables/receivables, maintaining an organized/detailed record of all transactions.
- Responsible for hiring new employees.
- Responsible, along with Education Lead, to onboard/train new employees in respective roles, and conducting staff evaluations/appraisals.
- Manage workshop schedules and coordinate a team of workshop facilitators.
- Oversee and manage education workshops and resource content (ensures educational programs meet with provincial curriculum standards and quality of performance).
- Collect, analyze, and report data for program evaluation; liaise with and report to the COG OSO Steering Committee;
- Oversee GUO communications and proposals: project proposals / reports, annual reports, etc.
- Provide core support and technical assistance to schools to establish edible gardens, including program consultations, supporting schools in their fundraising efforts, etc.
- Maintain and enhance the program’s brand and awareness level by representing GUO through social media and newsletters
- Attend community events/webinars and represent COG and GUO at public events regarding food literacy and environmental education.
- Pursue collaborative partnerships with organizations.
- Support the Executive Director and other COG departments: weekly monthly meetings.
- Report to the lead volunteer liaison for COG-OSO
- Report to and manage GUO’s advisory board.
Core Competencies
- Ability to manage multiple projects/activities/deadlines in a fast-paced and dynamic environment
- Experience in knowledge transfer/translation is a key competency
- Very organized and pays attention to detail
- Empathy, courtesy, and the ability to connect with the broadest range of persons from farmers to educators to all and every student both in person and virtually.
- Experienced managing budgets and comfortable using Excel
- Comfortable supporting and supervising staff/volunteers
- Knowledge of: experiential learning, organic gardening, organic farming, interdisciplinary education, the Ontario curriculum, food literacy, climate change, equity and inclusion; reconciliation, etc.
- Creative problem-solving, planning and design of events, workshops, etc.
- Highly motivated to transform the education system in Canada to include food literacy, the environment, and experiential education,
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively to support COG’s and GUO’s goals.
Employment Requirements
The preferred candidate will be/have:
- Fully bilingual in both oral and written French and English.
- Post-Secondary Degree or Diploma (specify when applying).
- 2 – 3 years proven work experience in a similar position.
- Demonstrated experience working with small organizations, and community initiatives such as not for profits / charities.
- Strong knowledge of organic gardening principles, food security issues, and sustainable agriculture issues.
- Strong presentation, facilitation and public speaking skills.
- Superior communications skills, both written and oral, are required along with a strong customer service orientation.
- Computer literacy in a G suite environment including database management, website navigation, and social media platforms.
- Personal creativity, strategic judgment and vision.
- Strong ability to identify challenges and opportunities, create effective plans, and deliver results.
- Self-directed, exceptional time management skills, and the ability to work autonomously.
- Very strong grant writing and fundraising skills.
- Passionate about climate change, organic agriculture, and environmental education.
- Excellent Interpersonal skills and ability to work with members, co-workers, and volunteers in an open, receptive and professional manner.
- Ability to work under pressure, manage multiple deadlines and change priorities with ease.
- Police record check for working with vulnerable populations
- Proof of double vaccination for COVID-19 (for in person school work purposes)
Assets include:
- Knowledgeable in G Suite, Google Meet, Canva, Asana, Salesforce, Zoom software, Mailchimp, WordPress, Hootsuite, etc.
- Experience working with children and youth, preferably in environmental education.
- Knowledge of the Ontario school curriculum is a strong asset, along with experiential education, environmental education and garden education in Ontario.
- Knowledge of social media platforms is an asset
Please submit your cover letter and resume to Chloé Laberge at guo-ottawa@cog.ca, by February 13th 2022.
