Power of We Consortium AmeriCorps Position Description-Ingham County Land Bank Garden Program; Community Garden Position Title: Community Gardens Liaison Category: AmeriCorps Service Member Host Site: Ingham County Land Bank Garden Program Site Supervisor: John Krohn Stipend: $3,200 Position Type: Quarter time, 450 hours HR Contact: AmeriCorps Program Manager Dates of Service: May 4, 2015-September 8, 2015 Position Description Role and Responsibilities: The Community Gardens Liaison will support and expand the Garden Program’s community gardens in Lansing’s most at-risk neighborhoods. The member will directly serve the Lansing community by providing hands-on gardening assistance, outreach, and education while facilitating and empowering neighborhood residents in supporting and creating community-based gardening and beautification projects on the Land Bank’s vacant lots. The member should be capable of serving with very little overhead, and should be very independent.  Provide direct support to community gardens and gardeners through hands-on work in the field including watering, weeding, building compost bins and rainwater collection structures, etc.  Provide education and insight to inexperienced gardeners on agricultural best practices, health and nutrition, and ways to get more healthy produce from the garden to the table.  Create and maintain strong partnerships with volunteers, community/neighborhood associations, neighbors and gardeners  Identify community events throughout the City of Lansing and present on behalf of the ICLB Garden Program the many community and personal benefits of participation. Distribute outreach materials.  Solicit local businesses to provide resources that will help to further support projects and increase public awareness and community involvement. Minimum Qualification:     Be at least 17 years of age. Minors must have guardian permission. Applicants must have HS diploma, GED or working toward the completion of one. U.S. citizen, U.S. national or lawful permanent resident of the U.S. Pass the following checks: State of Michigan, DHS Central Registry Clearance, FBI Fingerprinting, and State & National Sex Offender Registry Valid Driver’s License Preferred Skills        Extrovert who is easily able to go into the larger community and possesses a strong desire to serve residents in lowopportunity neighborhoods Comfortable with public speaking, able to facilitate reconciliation and mutually agreeable resolution if conflicts between community gardeners should arise Goal driven with the ability to function independently Gardening knowledge including garden planning, soil preparation, vegetable planting scheduling, planting and weed maintenance as well as rain barrel and raised bed construction is strongly encouraged Able to physically withstand the challenges of laborious garden tasks, lift 40 pounds Comfortable with the safe, responsible use of tools and machinery Ability to serve some evenings and weekends Compensation: Members will receive a living allowance of $3,200 distributed bi-weekly from May 4, 2015 – September 8, 2015 and receive student loan forbearance for qualified loans. Upon successful completion of service an education award in the amount of $1,493 will be issued. Members will serve 20-30 hours/week. All interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume to Power of We Consortium AmeriCorps Program Director, Andrea Villanueva at [email protected] no later than March 26th, 2015 @ 5pm.