Environmental Education Intern

Job Title: Environmental Education Intern

About EcoSpark

EcoSpark is an environmental charity whose mission is to empower communities to take an active role in protecting and sustaining their local environment. We do this by giving people the tools for education, monitoring, and influencing positive change.

EcoSpark’s key programs are:

• Changing Currents, a program introducing students in grades 6 – 12 from across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to their local watersheds and teaching them about watershed science.
• Sparking Science, a mentorship conference showcasing women working in STEM with a social purpose. Drawing from different fields, ages and backgrounds, these fantastic women mentor young women entering grade 9. Our goal is to increase science literacy and demonstrate that a career in science is fun, satisfying and comes in many different shapes and forms.
• School Watch, a program where teachers learn how to lead citizen science projects with their students on schoolgrounds. We deliver teacher professional development and student activities on curriculum-linked environmental projects such as tree inventories and bird surveys. This project allows students to contribute meaningful data while learning about ecosystem health, positive action and environmental science in the community.
• Park Watch, a project developed by EcoSpark in consultation with Park People and the City of Toronto, animates Toronto’s public green spaces through citizen science. The project enables volunteers to support the health and maintenance of public parks and ravines, fosters a stronger connection to our public green spaces and contributes scientifically meaningful data at municipal, provincial and national scales.
• Greenbelt Youth Ambassador Program, a project engaging youth across the GTA to better understand the ecological importance of the Greenbelt to protect the region’s fresh water supplies.

Environmental Education Intern

The Environmental Education Intern will support EcoSpark’s citizen science programming team as we empower people to become environmental champions in their community. The intern will support our work with youth and adults, helping deliver citizen science projects to promote native biodiversity in public greenspaces. In addition, the intern will help develop resources for our fall Sparking Science conference – mentoring grade nine girls about STEM opportunities for future careers.

Specific roles will include:

• Assisting in citizen science monitoring and stewardship events including biodiversity and water quality monitoring
• Providing leadership and serving as a mentor to youth participants
• Organizing logistics for citizen science events
• Coordinating program registrations
• Providing data management support
• Providing program evaluation support

The intern will work as part of the environmental education team and will be supervised by the Citizen Science Coordinator, with support from EcoSpark’s program staff based on the particular skills and expertise that best match the student’s professional development goals. As part of this team, the student will have access to expertise in citizen science projects, environmental education, youth engagement, marketing and communications and the non-profit sector. Through the mentoring plan, EcoSpark will ensure that the student will gain valuable experience in all of these areas.

The mentoring plan will include:

• An initial orientation to the organization, the office and our LEED gold certified building
• Setting of professional development and project goals
• Weekly meetings with the project supervisor to discuss progress towards professional development and project goals
• Interim and final evaluations to discuss project success
• Training in citizen science topics
• Opportunities to network with partners and collaborators (e.g. municipal, academic, and conservation authorities)
• Participation in EcoSpark staff meetings
• Access to professional development resources and advice
• Attendance at pertinent conferences and/or EcoSpark’s Annual General Meeting

Qualifications:

• Experience working with youth (for example, as a camp counselor or program leader)
• Experience collecting and analyzing data
• Able to grasp new concepts quickly and efficiently
• Proven time management skills, punctuality, and strong attention to detail
• Superior communication skills both written and verbal
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment
• Comfortable working outdoors in all weather
• Comfortable moving and lifting heavy bins of field equipment
• Comfortable using conferencing software, Microsoft office, and Google platforms

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working or volunteering with a not-for-profit is an asset
• Demonstrated interest in citizen science
• We are looking to hire someone in the Greater Toronto Area, with the ability to travel to some sessions throughout the GTA. Valid G2 or G driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle is highly preferred. EcoSpark pays for mileage and access to carsharing when available.

Desired Level of Education: Secondary or Post-secondary, preferably majoring in Education, Environmental Studies/Science, Biology, Ecology or Geography, or related fields.

Working Conditions:

• This position is a mix of in-person and remote work. It supports our in-person work with schools and community groups in the City of Toronto, York Region or other parts of the GTA. On days without sessions scheduled, the Intern may choose between working remotely or at our office location (601 Christie St., Toronto).
• The Environmental Education Intern may from time to time be required to work more than 7.5 hours per day and occasionally on weekends with lieu hour Compensation.

Location: City of Toronto, and some parts of the Greater Toronto Area.

Employment Type: Full-time contract (37.5 hours/week) to begin by April 24, 2023 for 16 or 20 weeks. Depending on program needs, the contract may be extended beyond 20 weeks by mutual agreement.

This position is funding-dependent. Although we expect to secure external grant funding by the start date to support this new role, there is a possibility that we will not be able to offer the position.

Salary: $15.90/hour

Additional Considerations:

We actively encourage applications from members of groups with historical and/or current barriers to equity, including, but not limited to:
●   Youth ages 15 – 30 years old;
●   First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and all other Indigenous peoples;
●   Members of groups that commonly experience discrimination due to race, ancestry, colour, religion and/or spiritual beliefs, or place of origin;
●   Persons with visible and/or invisible (physical and/or mental) disabilities;
●   Persons of marginalized sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.

EcoSpark is an equal opportunity employer.

A unique funding opportunity is available to support this role through the United Nations Association in Canada’s Youth Break Barriers to Employment (YBBE) Program or the Canada Summer Jobs program. Candidates who meet the following additional criteria are encouraged to apply:
●   Be a youth, aged 15-30 years old at the start of employment
●   Be eligible to work in Canada
●   Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or have refugee status
●   Reside in Ontario
●   Be available to work full-time (at least 30 hours per week or more)
●   Have been out of school for at least 6 months at the start of employment (exceptions apply)

Application Deadline and How To Apply:

Send a cover letter and resume in a combined pdf document with Environmental Education Intern in the subject line, to jobs@ecospark.ca, by 11:59pm on March 26, 2023.