Facilities Team Manager

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MISSION STATEMENT: Vida Verde is a nonprofit that promotes educational equity by providing free, overnight, environmental learning experiences for students who don’t otherwise get the opportunity.

This is a full-time and salaried management position, with housing, reporting to the (Co-Founder) Director of Facilities & Capital Projects (DFC).

The Facilities Team Manager is responsible for:

● MANAGEMENT & ONGOING RECRUITMENT of your facilities team that consists of: 1-2 staff, PT seasonal caretakers, volunteers, and contracted technicians. This management involves leadership, training, planning & coordination, great communication, and the ability to give and receive feedback. The ideal candidate is positive, outgoing, and a professional manager who loves working with people and helping them grow and be proud of their work.

● COORDINATION & ADMIN: planning, creating and following systems of site development and maintenance for three properties. Budgeting, ensuring compliance, writing proposals, and managing contracts in order to maintain and improve the facilities, grounds, animals and equipment for ongoing and future safety, function & appearance.

●COMMUNICATION & RELATIONSHIP: Critical to the success of this position is the relationship between the Facilities & Team Mgr and the DFC. The Facilities Team Mgr operates in close collaboration and alignment with the DFC and participates in the positive & communicative shared leadership of the organization.

Organization Info: We are mission-driven and provide 3-day, 2-night outdoor education programs free of charge to low-income/underserved 4th-6th graders, as well as teen & family programs. Vida Verde has a 20+ year history of achieving remarkable results with our students through our continually honed & high-quality programs coupled with strong organizational effectiveness practices and smart financial planning. We are also a small, tightly knit, & exciting team. Our jobs are the best, and so are the people who work here! Our staff members are at the heart of Vida Verde, and we value physical and mental health and wellness, along with professional development and growth. To that end, we actively invest in people and strive to rise above the status quo.

We offer high-quality housing, health/vision/dental benefits, a retirement plan, paid vacation, pro deals, and funding for professional development workshops and conferences. We have 11 years on our permanent farm & office home site, six years with our staff housing land and having these roots is exciting! We’re currently in the midst of some big building projects.

Work Environment: Vida Verde is a professional and dynamic nonprofit organization. The central site is located at Hidden Creek, in rural San Gregorio California, and is often abuzz with kids and activity as we staff and community members work towards our mission. Being in a natural environment there are hazards and risks that require foresight and prevention including those of heavy weather/flooding/fires and general country life: animals, falling trees, pests, heavy lifting (etc as noted on the Risk Management Plan).

The Facilities Team Manager (FTM) works on site in rural San Gregorio, CA and resides in Vida Verde provided housing (no dogs). FTM works mainly during regular business hours, Monday-Friday and keeps a flexible schedule to work occasional evenings/weekend days for special events, team meetings or ad-hoc projects.

Responsibilities:

● Recruit, Hire, Manage & Support your team using Vida Verde management plan.

o Integrate the facilities team and their work with the org’s ongoing activities, and with the rest of the staff at the org.

o Maintain & build relationships with contractors and local businesses

o Plan, prep, execute, & wrap up community volunteer days

● Manage Eight Residents in staff housing, as landlord

● Coordinate all things facilities utilizing the org's 3-year plan, annual goals and staying conscious of student programs, donor/volunteer events and make prioritized, dynamic, weekly plans.

o Communicate with everyone for clarity and to motivate the plans into action, productivity, and reality.

o Track & balance myriad competing priorities on a weekly, monthly, & annual basis.

● Learn & Use the Systems and traditions in place, and over time contributing FTM’s own experience and expertise to improve systems of the facilities, and keep careful records.

Responsibilities continued:

● Finances: Work within budget guidelines, keep financial records, pay contractors and create project proposals & budgets. Work in concert with the Development Director and Business & Office Manager.

● Manage the Facilities Team to complete the following on 35 acres/3 parcels:

● Garden & Orchard full, productive, beautiful and student-focused produce is sent home with students weekly, and projects are prepped for students groups to complete

● Landscaping and site aesthetics maintained to high standard for ongoing use by many stakeholders

● Dwellings, classrooms, outbuildings maintained, repaired and improved

● Vehicles & machines maintained for safety, commercial compliance, reliability and marketing, with records.

● Farm Animals healthy & productive: milk, eggs, honey, meat, wool for the program.

o Recruit, train, communicate and manage weekly, volunteer goat milkers.

o Goat reproduction, feed, health measures, testing & mgmt/culling.

● Utilities & infrastructure: maintain water supply & treatment, irrigation & plumbing, electricity, heat, driveways, internet, phone, septic, trash, recycling.

● Building Projects Lead and Capital Project Support

● Complete at least one new house/outbuilding construction project/year.

● Support the Capital Project site development -building process ensues 2022.

● Work as a team member and as collaborative leader with Vida Verde staff, embodying org’s values (see below).

o Collaborate with org team for successful events, programs, and other efforts.

o Attend monthly: all staff mtgs, mngrs’ mtgs, and 1:1 mtgs with your supervisor.

● JEDI work (Justice Equity Diversity & Inclusion): Contribute to an inclusive culture, commit to the org's JEDI statement. Consult the JEDI Plan specific tactics applicable to your position.

● Weekend duties: Manage wkd caretakers, cover 1 of 4 weekends. Extra work during goat kidding.

Required:

● Commitment to the Vida Verde mission & values (quoted below)

● Years of proven personnel management experience

● Communication, leadership, and motivational skills

● Extensive facilities & maintenance knowledge

● Skill with prioritization, organization, coordination of teams, routines, self-discipline

● Ability to communicate in spoken and written English, and we hope Spanish as well

● Contractor and budget management skills, including analytic and negotiation

● Knowledge of and commitment to use of safe practices around land, equipment, children and animals

● Willingness to live and work on site, in rural San Gregorio

Desired:

● Farm & Crop management experience, including knowledge of seed ordering, crop planning, and the ability to grow a variety of foods on a 1/4 acre plot, year round

Compensation: Annual housing & salary package $67,000-$80,000k dependent on experience (this includes the housing, valued at $12k annually). Eligible for retirement benefits (Vida Verde matches up to 5% of your salary) after nine months of employment. V.V.’s contributions are applied retroactively upon completion of 9 months of work, and are vested over a five-year period. Vida Verde doubles the matching 2:1 after 5 years. Eligible for coverage by the organization’s medical, dental, and vision insurance plans. V.V. contributes $200 monthly to plan of your choosing from several available. Paid sick leave and paid time off. Secluded rural setting. Use of sites’ facilities: hot tub, trail, creek, etc. Pro Deals (deep discounts on products from: Smartwool, Patagonia, Chaco, and others.)

Site: Vida Verde’s farm and office main site are located at 3540 La Honda Road, San Gregorio, CA 94074. This is a 25-acre property along San Gregorio Creek, 1 hour from San Francisco, 45 minutes from Santa Cruz, and 5 minutes from the coast. The nearest town is Half Moon Bay, which is 15 miles away.

Vida Verde is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (includes religious beliefs, observance or practice, including religious dress), sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender status, pregnancy, childbirth or related condition (including breastfeeding), marital status, national origin, veteran status, ancestry, age, medical condition, genetic characteristics, family care status, registered domestic partner status, or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable laws.

All applicants will be evaluated and job offers made based on experience and merit. Values of Vida Verde Organization Mission Vida Verde is a nonprofit that promotes educational equity by providing free, overnight environmental learning experiences for students who don’t otherwise get the opportunity.

We Value The Mission First We are a mission-centric organization. We make every decision with the kids' benefit and the mission as our guide. We specifically tailor the program to meet the unique needs of the kids we serve, with deep respect for students and their communities.

Persistent Improvement and Our Best Practices

We are driven to continually improve and reach the highest standards across the organization for the benefit of the kids we serve. From program quality to healthy communication, from strategic goal setting to prioritization: we utilize simple, documented systems. We are detail-oriented, reflective, and strive to serve as a model. We balance our best practices and lessons from our history with innovation and inspiration for improvement.

The Environment and Natural Resources

We practice responsible and long-term thinking regarding land stewardship, facility management, building, and design. Using resources wisely, we value the earth’s resources over convenience and cost, and share that value with the greater community.

Relationships and Community

People are at the heart of this work. We strive to create long-lasting relationships with our staff, supporters, students, and teachers. We believe that by honoring and including diverse perspectives, our organization is stronger and more sustainable. We believe in love, not hate. We help different people see each other and all that we share in common, as well as what we can learn from each other.

Making It Happen

We overcome outrageous obstacles and successfully achieve ambitious goals by using a combination of resourcefulness, a positive mindset, and our team’s diverse set of skills and experiences, without compromising our work/life balance and well-being. We know that beliefs lead to actions, which lead to results. We "make it happen" even when circumstances would lead most to think progress impossible.

JEDI STATEMENT

We acknowledge that: Everything is not okay. We live in a world and society with personal, structural, and institutional injustice based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other differences. This is affecting the lives of the Vida Verde students and the Vida Verde community in myriad profound ways.

We see our role as:

We have a deep commitment to examining, understanding, and working intentionally, every day, and for the long run to do our small part in dismantling the pieces of institutional injustice that we are able to. Vida Verde is one of the few outdoor education organizations that is focused on educational equity, and is dedicated to engaging Bay Area youth from low income families and communities who do not have free access to outdoor education experiences.

Even though equity is a cornerstone of Vida Verde’s mission, intentionally and actively engaging in Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) work more holistically will only continue to support these young people in accessing quality culturally relevant and inclusive nature education experiences that translate to positive outcomes in their traditional classrooms.

Why?

- Culturally relevant outdoor programs better engage students, and support them in developing necessary critical thinking skills, improving their health and wellness, and more meaningfully connecting them to the land and food, and often fostering a passion and interest in the outdoors.

- The future of the environment is tethered to connecting the diverse youth of today to the outdoors.

- Research shows diversity in staff, an inclusive workplace culture, and culturally responsive practices lead to both better experiences and outcomes for students, and better attraction and retention of talented staff.

- Vida Verde aspires to serve as a blueprint/model for other values-aligned organizations (especially outdoor education organizations) who are looking for a examplenorth star in JEDI work.

Our vision:

We envision a future where all people have access to quality experiences in the outdoors, which have the power to profoundly impact hearts, minds and bodies.

Our commitments:

- To steadfastly work toward our mission to promote educational equity by providing culturally relevant, free, overnight, environmental learning experiences for students who don’t otherwise get the opportunity.

- Through culturally relevant programming, work to ensure Vida Verde students view nature as a place FOR them; a place they have a fundamental right to access, and a place that may influence them as leaders to vote, act and spend with the environment in mind.

- To build and grow a more racially diverse staff and board, and foster an inclusive culture within Vida Verde where all staff, donors and volunteers feel they are valued and belong.

- To serve as a blueprint/model for other values-aligned organizations (especially outdoor education organizations) who are looking for an example in JEDI work.

How to apply:

Application Procedure: Send Letter of Interest, Resume, 3 References and any other materials you wish by EMAIL ONLY to: Shawn Sears at shawn@Vveducation.org, Laura Sears at Laura@Vveducation.org, and Paula Alves at paula@Vveducation.org Org website: www.Vveducation.org Position Open until filled. “Priority” application due date: 9.21.22

Org website: www.Vveducation.org

Position Open until filled. “Priority” application due date: 9.21.22

*Vida Verde is committed to building a staff that is reflective of the incredible diversity of our communities and of the students we serve. Because we are committed to increasing the diversity of our workplace, people of color, women and individuals from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.