Community Outreach Fellow

Description

Are you passionate about building inclusive communities? Join Brookside Gardens as a Community Outreach Fellow and lead projects that foster connection, accessibility, and engagement across diverse audiences!

Brookside Gardens offers a one-year Community Outreach Fellow program focused on promoting inclusion, accessibility, and community engagement through independent research and collaborative projects. The incoming fellow will select a research topic which will conclude with a capstone project, integrating the knowledge and skills the fellow has gained in the field through interactions with staff, public and community stakeholders. Topics for the project must revolve around: community engagement and encouraging positive interactions among people of different backgrounds and interests. Project topics may be generated by the Fellow or suggested by Brookside Gardens leadership. Montgomery Parks believes that diversity in all dimensions bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success. We encourage all individuals to apply.

The Horticulture, Forestry, and Environmental Education (HFEE) Division contributes to the preservation and maintenance of our parks’ natural and cultural resources. Brookside Gardens is one of Park’s public gardens, displaying horticultural exhibits that are designed, installed, and maintained using ecological landscape practices as a model and inspiration to more than a million visitors per year. Our public gardens offer a wide variety of educational programs for children and adults are planned to excite curiosity and encourage lifelong learning, with the vision of mobilizing residents of Montgomery County as dedicated stewards of the natural world, Visit our website to learn more about the work of the HFEE Division: https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/brookside-gardens/

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is a six-time National Recreational and Parks Association Gold Medal Award Winner. Behind the vast and diverse Montgomery County Department of Parks system is a career staff complement of nearly 800 employees, 415 parks and over 37,000 acres of park land that serves a diverse population of more than one million residents in the Washington, DC metro area. Visit our website to learn more: https://www.montgomeryparks.org/

For more information about the Seasonal Hiring process and application status for Montgomery County, please contact mcp-parkscareers@montgomeryparks.org.

What the job will involve:

• Assists with efforts to provide equitable access to Brookside Gardens’ program offerings and volunteer program
• Increase visibility and networking with other public gardens, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies
• Develop collaborative partnerships and projects that leverage partner expertise and resources
• Develop outreach initiatives that serve distinct social connection needs, and encourage positive interactions, among people of different backgrounds and interests
• Serves as an advocate in the community
• Assist with engaging Montgomery County residents through various means.

Minimum Qualifications

• High School diploma or GED.
• One year of customer service experience
• Applicants must be at least 18 years or older

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in community engagement and outreach.

Important Skills and Characteristics

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work with community members and co-workers.
• Comfortable engaging with the public in formal and informal settings.
• Strong planning, decision-making, and evaluation skills.
• Ability to exercise good judgement
• Ability to understand and follow detailed instructions
• Ability to utilize a computer
• Attentive to detail, responsible, and personable