Garden Assistant - East York, Canada - Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee

Description

Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee
Canada Summer Job Posting 2023


Job Title:
General Farm Worker/Garden Assistant


Reports to:
Program Manager


About Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee:

The Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee is a grassroots organization dedicated since 2008 to creating healthy and vibrant communities by implementing public space enhancement projects and empowering women by providing opportunities of engagement and integration through capacity-building, education, entrepreneurship and civic participation in Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood.

Projects have included the rejuvenation of the local RV Burgess Park, North America's first ever outdoor Tandoor Oven, running the Friday Night Community Market, Youth Ravine Stewardship Program, the Community Gardens, and most recently, pivoting during the pandemic to create the Neighbours in Need program delivering hot culturally appropriate meals made at the Park Cafe.

Term of Contract: 9 weeks, 30 hours per week, start date flexible but ideally in July ($15.50 per hour)


To be eligible, participants must:

• Be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of employment.
• Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the _Immigration and Refugee Protection Act_ for the duration of the employment; and,
• Have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work in

Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations


Primary Function:

The General Farm Worker/Garden Assistant will be responsible in supporting the activities of Thorncliffe Family Garden and Thorncliffe Container Garden and play an important role in RV Burgess Park maintenance, COVID safe on site and on-line community engagement in the park through out this summer.

Responsibilities:

The General Farm Worker/Garden Assistant is responsible for the following:

• Manage and assist the Thorncliffe Park Family Garden and the Thorncliffe Container Garden
• Plant, cultivate and harvest crops, and maintain and repair the equipment.
• Assist with onsite gardening support for community gardeners with gardening tasks such as planting, watering, weeding, composting, harvesting, mulching, turning over the soil etc.
• Planting and maintenance of the general garden areas and park cafe gardens.
• Collaborate with garden leaders and organizers to create and build a network of community members to volunteer and sustain community gardens.
• Facilitate and liaise with the schools and teachers for the garden visits.
• Plan and develop our weekly dropin children programs (Tuesdays)
• Assist the coordinator in creating curriculum and goals for teaching gardening and composting.
• Establish and maintain participant tracking and other data collection systems.
• Encourage participants to participate in the clean up of the garden & the park.
• Make sure that the gardeners adhere to their responsibilities
• Assist Program Manager in fostering partnerships and training garden leaders through best practices workshops and connecting them with available resources
• Develop logistics and planning of volunteer work days, harvest parties, garden opening events,
• Encourage gardeners to collect, weigh and track garden food production
• Provide organizational and leadership development support to gardens by developing garden committee and membership and other strategies to maintain ongoing community participation
• Create and implement a plan to track garden activities and outcomes.
• Create and oversee the garden budget, reporting all billing and expenses to the Program Manager
• Contributing to the long range planning for the garden and food production following all plans for safety and risk management.
• Assist in outlining the necessary tasks for garden maintenance of common areas including compost area, paths, borders, common gardens.
• Maintain supplies, equipment and general tidiness of the garden area and storage shed
• Assist in creating an outreach plan to increase participation
• Attend regular meetings with the TPWC's Program Manager and provide regular feed back including immediate reporting of arising issues or problems
• Fulfill related administrative duties as needed including data entry, social media, community outreach, reporting on activities
• Create a garden newsletter, maintain, and keep record of current inventory of tools & equipment
• Maintain accurate time sheets
• Responsible for RV Burgess Park maintenance, community engagement in the park
• Adapt to a flexible working schedule that includes some late evenings and weekends
• Support other TPWC initiatives and programs as needed, including the Community Market, Park Café, Meal program ,Events and Festivals.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Basic knowledge of agriculture and gardening is highly desirable(advanced knowledge a plus)
• Must have interest and experience in gardening, commu