Submit a letter of interest via email with a resume and three professional references to info@rewildportland.com. Applications close November 17th. Selected candidates will be asked to schedule a personal, in-person interview at a mutually agreeable time during the week of November 20th.
Summary
Rewild Portland is seeking a high-energy, enthusiastic educator for our Outdoor Skills Youth Program Leader position. This role serves as a primary, part-time to full-time, year-round field instructor for Rewild Portland, as well as a member of the administrative team managing programs. This position will oversee our Youth and Teen Homeschool Programs as well as our winter, spring, and summer break Kids Camps, our Coming-of-Age Programs, and the kids program at Echoes in Time. This leadership position involves working in a team of outdoor educators to manage and co-lead these field programs throughout the year. We will provide training in our philosophy, curriculum, and pedagogies so that this person can embody and expand our work in designing and implementing rewilding-based programs. Our programs emphasize autonomy and self-direction, while providing knowledge and skills in a safe container for students held by our staff. Through the learning environments we create, participants develop social-emotional learning and life skills such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making while engaged with the natural world. Administrative duties include coordinating, scheduling and leading staff meetings and debriefs, planning with the staff and admin team, developing and tracking curriculum goals, Google Drive spreadsheet management, communicating with parents through phone calls and in person, maintaining and organizing gear and supplies, managing program logistics, researching, learning, and teaching ancestral skills to children and teens, in addition to other tasks as assigned.
Must have experience working with youth and teens ages 5–18. Must have knowledge of bushcraft, ancestral skills, plant identification, etc., and experience with program management, customer service, working in a team, curriculum development and implementation, and experience with Google suite, including Google spreadsheets. Must be comfortable making phone calls.
Must have a personal transportation vehicle, personal laptop, and cell phone.
About Rewild Portland
Rewild Portland is a nonprofit organization serving Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding wild and rural communities. Our mission is to foster resilience through place-based arts, traditions, and technologies. This mission comes to life in the form of community-building, ecological restoration, and education. You can read more about our organizational objectives, philosophy, and core values here: https://www.rewildportland.com/about/
Compensation and benefits
$20/hour starting
Work is generally Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, from September through June. When our summer camps run, from mid-June through August, the work is Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Much of August is curriculum planning, and hours are more flexible.
Staff development: Educational training, materials, and expenses, subject to approval
Work with highly creative people to cultivate a powerful learning culture for youth
Strong community support and opportunities to build meaningful relationships with local leaders, parents, elders, and children
Employment period and hours
Position begins immediately
Year-round, part to full-time position with potential for developmental growth
The average hours per week over the whole year will be around 32, with some weeks more and some less. The actual field work week will fluctuate depending on the season and the frequency of scheduled program days
Job qualifications, required
Strong group management, mentoring, and leadership skills for children and youth, including prior youth mentoring or education experience, which may constitute any of the following:
Field experience, such as outdoor education, wilderness therapy, summer camps, after-school classes, or teaching in a classroom
College-level coursework in relevant topics such as education, child development, outdoor recreation, or teaching certification
Other experience leading children and youth
Strong ability to work on your own with some guidance but minimal supervision. A self-starter with a mature approach to communications, timeliness, and follow-through, solution-based thinking, and a flexible, community-oriented mindset
Ease in making phone calls and communicating with parents
Ability to work within a consensus decision-making model with an emphasis on personal responsibility, interdependence, and caretaking
Personal transportation (with the ability to transport gear and supplies to and from our office to program locations)
Personal laptop
Ability to regularly commute to a variety of locations, including transporting program gear and supplies
Ability to play actively with children, lift and carry up to 50 lbs for short periods of time, walk for extended periods over uneven, unpaved outdoor terrain while carrying a day pack, hear verbal communication and speak clear instructions, see well enough to keep track of children in varied natural environments
Familiarity with the Google suite of apps including Docs, Sheets, Meet, and Forms
Strong communication skills in both verbal and written media
Current certification in pediatric first aid and CPR (online certification OK)
Job qualifications, preferred
Familiarity with and ability to demonstrate at least one of the following outdoor education areas:
Naturalist skills such as nature interpretation, botanizing, birding, animal tracking, foraging and/or sharing Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Wilderness survival skills, bushcraft, or ancestral skills such as making and tending fire with few resources, orienteering with map and compass, or making survival shelters
Minimum Adult + Pediatric CPR/First Aid/AED, preferred Wilderness First Aid/Responder or Wilderness EMT certification
Experience in administration or small business management such as:
Working with spreadsheets
Talking to parents/clients and general customer service
Handling registrations
Working budgets
Responsibilities
Lead activities that connect youth with nature using universal nature-connection skills, crafts, or cultural elements, such as nature-based games, fire by friction, ancestral arts and crafts, tracking, wildcrafting, stories, or songs
Mentor youth and provide social-emotional and other learning supports, including inspiring youth to find their unique gifts and guide self-development through their connection with nature
Plan, prepare supplies, and maintain tools and equipment as needed to be prepared for program activities
Administrative and fundraising support, such as communicating with parents, maintaining gear and supplies, managing program logistics, data entry, and other duties as assigned
Work as a team with the other nature connection lead staff to meet the above objectives, including meeting during scheduled hours for planning and debriefing
Before applying, please make sure to familiarize yourself with our organization and programs by reading the following pages on our website:
Submit a letter of interest via email with a resume and three professional references to info@rewildportland.com. Applications close November 17th. Selected candidates will be asked to schedule a personal, in-person interview at a mutually agreeable time during the week of November 20th.
Hiring An Outdoor Skills Youth Program Leader
Submit a letter of interest via email with a resume and three professional references to info@rewildportland.com. Applications close November 17th. Selected candidates will be asked to schedule a personal, in-person interview at a mutually agreeable time during the week of November 20th.
Summary
Rewild Portland is seeking a high-energy, enthusiastic educator for our Outdoor Skills Youth Program Leader position. This role serves as a primary, part-time to full-time, year-round field instructor for Rewild Portland, as well as a member of the administrative team managing programs. This position will oversee our Youth and Teen Homeschool Programs as well as our winter, spring, and summer break Kids Camps, our Coming-of-Age Programs, and the kids program at Echoes in Time. This leadership position involves working in a team of outdoor educators to manage and co-lead these field programs throughout the year. We will provide training in our philosophy, curriculum, and pedagogies so that this person can embody and expand our work in designing and implementing rewilding-based programs. Our programs emphasize autonomy and self-direction, while providing knowledge and skills in a safe container for students held by our staff. Through the learning environments we create, participants develop social-emotional learning and life skills such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making while engaged with the natural world. Administrative duties include coordinating, scheduling and leading staff meetings and debriefs, planning with the staff and admin team, developing and tracking curriculum goals, Google Drive spreadsheet management, communicating with parents through phone calls and in person, maintaining and organizing gear and supplies, managing program logistics, researching, learning, and teaching ancestral skills to children and teens, in addition to other tasks as assigned.
Must have experience working with youth and teens ages 5–18. Must have knowledge of bushcraft, ancestral skills, plant identification, etc., and experience with program management, customer service, working in a team, curriculum development and implementation, and experience with Google suite, including Google spreadsheets. Must be comfortable making phone calls.
Must have a personal transportation vehicle, personal laptop, and cell phone.
About Rewild Portland
Rewild Portland is a nonprofit organization serving Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding wild and rural communities. Our mission is to foster resilience through place-based arts, traditions, and technologies. This mission comes to life in the form of community-building, ecological restoration, and education. You can read more about our organizational objectives, philosophy, and core values here: https://www.rewildportland.com/about/
Compensation and benefits
Employment period and hours
Job qualifications, required
Job qualifications, preferred
Responsibilities
Before applying, please make sure to familiarize yourself with our organization and programs by reading the following pages on our website:
Learn about Rewild Portland’s guiding principles:
Learn about our Youth Homeschool Program:
Learn about our Teen Homeschool Program:
Learn about our Kids Camps:
To apply
Submit a letter of interest via email with a resume and three professional references to info@rewildportland.com. Applications close November 17th. Selected candidates will be asked to schedule a personal, in-person interview at a mutually agreeable time during the week of November 20th.