Director of Programs
- Date Posted August 29, 2023
- Location Muir Beach, CA
- Category Education / Nonprofit
- Job type Full-Time
Company description
Slide Ranch is a non-profit farm-based environmental education organization located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, on coastal wild lands just 25 minutes north of San Francisco. The mission of Slide Ranch is to connect children and people of all ages to the outdoors and partner with community groups, families and educators to provide transformative learning experiences on our organic farm and national park land along the California coast. By farming, cooking, caring for animals and exploring wilderness and the coast, we teach people of all ages to see the connection between their own health, a healthy food system and a healthy environment.Job description
Please view full Job Description and application here: https://apply.workable.com/slide-ranch/j/E001569C65/Description
Slide Ranch seeks an energetic and talented Program Director who will lead efforts to grow our 53-year legacy of planting kids in nature to uphold Slide Ranch as a model environmental education center. This person will direct new and continuing programs including our school/community group visits, summer camp, and our family programs. We are looking for a seasoned team leader who can drive impact and innovate with a smart business and education mindset. This person has a great attitude and will implement best practices into our curriculum, organizational development, service delivery, customer service and all facets of our work.
Slide Ranch Background
Slide Ranch is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to planting kids in nature. Through our farm-based environmental education for Bay Area youth and families, we connect children to nature to cultivate healthy bodies and minds and foster future generations of environmental stewards. By cooking, gardening, caring for animals and exploring wilderness and the coast, visitors of all ages see the connection between their own health, a healthy food system and a healthy, resilient environment. Slide Ranch serves more than 10,000 program participants a year, with a special emphasis on low-income, urban populations who have limited opportunities for nature-based learning.
Position Summary
Slide Ranch seeks a Program Director to lead the Educational Program Department. The three main programs that the Director of Education oversees include (1) School and Community Group Program day and overnight field trips, (2) weekend Family Programs, and (3) Summer Camp.
The Director of Education
- is responsible for hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating all program staff, including a Program Manager, Program Coordinator and all Outdoor Instructors
- is responsible for driving all programmatic outcomes, including units of service, quality of service, expense and income,
- is accountable for ensuring Slide Ranch meets and exceeds all best practice standards in its programs and their delivery, and evolves its curriculum and program design to align with emerging methodology and community needs,
- oversees the schedule of all programs, working with dozens of external partners to execute over 10,000 visits annually,
- leads all marketing, outreach and recruitment for all programs
- with the Executive Director, represents Slide Ranch regionally in coalition, alliance and partner groups
- collaborates closely with the ranch, operations, and development teams
- reports directly to the Executive Director and is part of the Senior Management Team.
We are looking for:
- A warm leader who exudes confidence and care for others, and who builds enduring relationships. A thought leader and strategic thinker.
- A visionary and entrepreneurial spirit, someone who will not only lead our programs, but continue to grow, improve and refine our educational models, strategies and program design.
- A person oriented toward the greater good of the organization and the natural environment.
- Someone with a respectful and accessible leadership style, self-assured and comfortable with situations of ambiguity, and able to easily relate to a wide range of constituencies.
- A highly competent team player who finds enjoyment in the work place, and who is honest, open and balanced.
- Someone with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Program Management
- Plan, calendar, staff and direct all logistics of our three main programs: 1) school/community groups, 2) summer camp, and 3) family programs.
- Supervise the Program Manager and Program coordinator.
- Collaborate with all external partners prior to schedule; price programs; and establish logistical guidelines.
- For the Outdoor Instructors:
- Oversee the hiring committee for Outdoor Instructors
- Organize and conduct training for seasonal OIs 3 times a year, as well as ongoing training.
- Plan and create staff development workshops.
Program Curriculum
- Revise, renew, and exceed the present high standard of quality education at Slide Ranch.
- Increase our pre-visit and post-visit engagement.
- Ensure quality of post-program evaluation sessions among teaching staff.
- Devise metrics to measure our impact.
- Align our curriculum to Next Generation Science Standards.
- Implement Youth Program Quality Assessment and similar tools.
Program Expansion and Entrepreneurialism
- Devise ways to increase the depth and breadth of our impact.
- Look for new ways to capture earned revenue through programs.
External Relations
- Work with the various national park, environmental and educational partners.
- With the Executive Director, represent Slide Ranch at educational forums.
- Cultivate and maintain relationships with schools, community organizations and other groups to raise Slide Ranch profile and develop new partnerships.
Administration
- Work with the Executive Director to prepare and monitor annual budget, develop forecasts, and prepare regular board programing reports.
- Provide new employee orientation and training, and oversee department-specific training.
- Recruit, hire, train and supervise all program staff.
- Attend weekly meetings to coordinate activities with the operations department.
- Maintain accurate programmatic records through File Maker.
- Supervise accurate collection of daily program statistics.
- Market programs to schools and the public to ensure full registration.
- Review and summarize participant evaluation feedback, and make appropriate program improvements.
- Assist in producing special events and programs.
- Participate in staff meetings.
- Develop annual job performance objectives with staff.
- Oversee granting of scholarship subsides for program fees and transportation.
- Work with development to help them apply and update grantors.
- Oversees program fee deposits, invoicing and collection process.
- Other related assignments as necessary.
Compensation
this position is: salaried, varies DOE, $75,000.00 - $90,000.00Application instructions
Deadline
no deadline