Work alongside staff and volunteers to help run Farm Camp and ensure that our campers have a safe, fun, educational, nurturing, and empowering experience.

The Chicago Lights Urban Farm is a ¾ acre farm in the Near North community of Chicago. The Farm is dedicated to cultivating a thoughtful and engaged community of youth and adults through economic and educational opportunities, hands-on learning, and access to fresh, local, and sustainably grown produce. The Farm provides a safe sanctuary for community members, grows a variety of annual and perennial crops, offers programming for youth, distributes produce to the community, hosts volunteers, holds several community events, and provides space for community gardening.

The Farm Camp Assistant is a part-time, seasonal position at Chicago Lights Urban Farm responsible for helping run Farm Camp and making sure that our campers’ day-to-day experience is safe, fun, educational, nurturing, and empowering.

Responsibilities

• Help build relationships with neighborhood families and assist the Associate Director to
recruit participants for summer camp.
• Gather all supplies for daily activities, set up outdoor program spaces, lead program activities,
and clean up at the end of each day.
• Help implement an existing curriculum, which includes lessons in urban agriculture, Food &
Environmental Justice, arts & crafts, African American and Chicago history, and group sports.
Help lead and structure select activities as part of the above curriculum.
• Partner with the Associate Director and other Farm Camp staff to build a foundation of trust,
respect, and positive communication between staff and campers in our Farm Community.
• Deepen the campers’ knowledge of core principles of urban farming, highlighting strong
connections between the natural world and our society and keep the campers engaged within
our active, outdoor, Farm environment.
• Assist farm staff in other community engagement efforts throughout the season.
• Provide trauma informed care to all, ensuring that program environments and interactions are
safe, inviting, and demonstrate best practice.
• Use the S.P.I.R.I.T. principles of hospitality when interacting with visitors, guests, members,
and staff of Fourth Presbyterian Church and Chicago Lights.
• Attend staff meetings as required.
• It is impossible to convey every single task into one job description. As the role evolves over
time, this job description will be adjusted accordingly.

Qualifications

• Familiarity and experience with the Cabrini-Green/Near North community.
• Previous teaching experience or experience working with kids in an educational afterschool or
community-based youth program
• Experience, skill, abilities, or knowledge with any of the following: farm-based education,
Farm-to-table practices, gardening, outdoor education or wilderness experience, social and
environmental justice, crafts, arts, music, culinary arts, nutrition, environmental science,
natural history, ecology, community building, and conflict resolution
• Comfort and experience working with 6- to 11-year-old youth.
• Flexible, self-directed, organized and goal oriented. Ability to handle multiple projects
simultaneously, handle pressure well, and have a sense of humor.
• Act as a mentor to a job-training teenage intern through modeling positive workplace
behaviors such as promptness, positivity, follow-through, and strong communication.
• Ability to lift 35lbs and work in a dynamic, changing outdoor environment
• Strong work ethic and judgment, apparent collaboration skills, and a commitment to Chicago
Lights’ mission.
• Commitment to racial equity and social justice: Recognize the role of race, income, age,
immigration status, and other identities in shaping disparities, and work toward amplifying
community voices to advocate for equity. Recognize how your own identities show up in the
work, and welcome, reflect on, and act on feedback with an eye toward continuous learning
about race, ability, and other lines of difference.

Schedule

Late June through August 9th

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for approximately 18 hours per week.

Exact schedule TBD.

Compensation

$17 per hour

Reimbursement of authorized supplies and materials. This is a seasonal position and does not
qualify for benefits.

Apply

Please send cover letters and resumes to jobs@fourthchurch.org. Individuals with barriers to employment (under/un-employed, low-income, prior court involvement or other) are encouraged to apply. Resumes are due by March 25, 2022.

No phone calls, please.

Fourth Presbyterian Church and Chicago Lights are committed to equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons, without regard to race, color, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, creed, physical or mental disability, marital status or familial status, veteran status, military status, source of income, political affiliation, or any other factor protected by law.