City Spouts Summer Fellowship
Location: Cambridge, MA
Dates : June 19 – August 18, 2017 ( Program dates may shift s lightly)
Hours : 8:00am – 4:30pm , Monday – Friday
Compensation: The CitySprouts Summer Fellowship is an unpaid position*
*Bowdoin students may be able to acquire funding through the Career Planning Office
Reporting to: Program Director
CitySprouts is a non-profit school garden program that works with public schools to build capacity to integrate the school garden into teachers’ curriculum and the school culture.
CitySprouts partners with 23 public schools in Cambridge and Boston, MA. Our Middle School Program consists of both afterschool and summer programming with a goal to make the experience of garden-based learning accessible to all young people.
CitySprouts’ Summer Program is based in Cambridge and provides 100 youth (ages 11-14) with hands-on learning through growing, harvesting, preparing and eating healthy food in an urban garden. With an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), the summer program fosters a strong connection to their natural urban environment through working and learning in the garden.
CitySprouts is seeking, energetic, diverse, and outgoing college students* to provide essential support to the Summer Program. We expect to accept 8-10 students as CitySprouts Summer Fellows for nine weeks during the summer of 2017. CitySprouts Summer Fellows can expect a significant learning opportunity as well as opportunities for career exploration. Summer Fellows work in pairs, directly with a CitySprouts Garden
Coordinator and will also:
● Receive training in:
○ Urban agriculture
○ Teaching about food and the environment
○ Managing youth groups in an outdoor setting
○ Building relationships with and teaching middle school youth
● Participate in weekly staff meetings
● Collaborate with a garden maintenance team as stewards for multiple school gardens
● Engage in daily lesson and activity planning in STEM-SL curriculum, gardening skills and
cooking
Expectations:
The CitySprouts Summer Fellowship is an opportunity for interested applicants to gain first-hand experience working in the heart of a growing nonprofit organization. Summer Fellows will be given significant responsibility toward making the summer program a successful experience for all participants, as well as in representing CitySprouts to young people, families and the larger community. All members of CitySprouts staff, including Fellows, are expected to uphold the following expectations:
● Be curious, open and willing to try new things
● Express enthusiasm for the CitySprouts program in the garden, in the neighborhood and on ield trips
● Approach the physical labor of garden maintenance with energy and a positive attitude
● Stay mindful of the impact adults have on young people and to foster a positive & respectful relationship between youth, other Fellows and CitySprouts staff
Summer Fellow Responsibilities :
● Youth Development and Education
○ Assist the Garden Coordinator in teaching a team of summer middle school interns
about growing food, garden care, healthy cooking, science of the garden, food
justice, community service, and the natural environment
○ Work with the Garden Coordinator to plan inquiry and project based activities and
lessons for interns related to the above topics
○ Mentor middle school youth and encourage their leadership skills
○ Chaperone youth on field trips to local farms, food pantries and grocery stores
● Urban Agricultural Skills
○ Work as part of an afternoon garden maintenance crew, perform routine tasks such
as watering, weeding, harvesting and planting
○ Complete special garden maintenance and construction projects with garden crew
● Cooking and Food
○ Responsible for pantry inventory at summer internship site
○ Responsible for overseeing and maintaining safety during youth meal preparation
Important Notes :
● Fellows are central to our summer staffing and the success of our summer youth program,
so we ask for a commitment to the full-nine week time period
● Summer Fellows should be willing and comfortable with various forms of commuting in an
urban environment. Throughout the day, Fellows will be expected to travel between
Cambridge school gardens, and a bicycle and or use of the T is the most efficient mode of
transportation in this city.
● The CitySprouts Summer Fellowship is an unpaid position. We ask all Fellows to either
secure funding through their school’s service learning & career center or receive Internship
credits from their college or university. We do not provide housing. If funding for the
summer is an issue please contact us about potential resources.
Application :
● Please respond to the following questions/prompts in no more than a page
○ (The cost of living for 2 months in the greater Boston area is approximately $2,500)
In this unpaid internship, my funding or Internship credits will be coming from…
○ The experience I bring to this internship will be…
○ The skills and experience I hope to gain include…
● Please include two references that can speak to your work or school experience.
* In our experience, this position has worked best for college students because they can access a funding and support system that allows them to participate in a demanding full time experience for 9-weeks without pay. However, if a qualified candidate who is not currently enrolled in college can give compelling evidence that they will be able to complete the fellowship without that support, we will gladly consider them.
Please send one page application & resume to [email protected]
by March 15, 2017
