Lead Youth Garden Educator

Lead Youth Garden Educator

Reports to: Youth Program Manager

About City Green 

City Green, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the establishment of urban farms and gardens in northern New Jersey’s cities to create increased access to healthy, local food while cultivating education in food systems, nutrition and the environment. 

City Green has two farm sites: a 5-acre farm at our headquarters in Clifton and a one-acre farm in a public park in Paterson. We sustainably grow over 50 varieties of vegetables, keep a small flock of hens for eggs, a small herd of goats, and maintain educational gardens for programs.  We operate our own farm stands in Clifton, Paterson and Passaic as well as a mobile market serving neighborhoods in the area. Through our farms and markets, we aim to create increased access to local, farm-fresh food, while addressing issues of food justice. 

Diversity is a core value of City Green.  We believe the power of diversity enriches all of us by exposing us to a range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. City Green is committed to working to build and sustain an equitable and inclusive work environment where diversity is celebrated and valued. We believe diversity benefits and enriches the development of all of our staff, partners, supporters, and community.

Position Description: City Green is hiring full-time Lead Youth Garden Educators for the 2026 programmatic season, March through November.   The Lead Youth Garden Educator position is an opportunity to lead and teach hands-on, garden-based lessons for preschool and elementary-aged children, while planting and maintaining youth gardens in an urban setting. Lead Educators host programs at City Green’s educational gardens in Clifton and Paterson, as well as off-site at partner schools and organizations across Northern NJ with the support of interns and seasonal assistant educators. For the summer season, this includes providing mentorship & youth development programming for the “Growing Strong” high school intern program. We are looking for enthusiastic, responsible educators who have experience leading programming for children and some experience growing gardens.

Programs that Lead Youth Garden Educators facilitate include: 

• City Sprouts: Weekly after-school and summer camp garden programs hosted at local community organizations
• Field Trips: Field trips for local school groups aged Prek – 12
• Story Time in the Garden: Preschool storytime program for children and their families
• Open Saturdays: Free, open to the public nature exploration for families
• School Garden installations and garden clean-ups: Leading school groups in filling their gardens with soils, and cleaning-up their gardens for planting.
• Growing Strong High School intern program: Supervising a crew of 3-4 high school students at summer City Sprouts sites and providing mentorship and youth development programmin

Job duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Prepare for lessons by gathering and preparing supplies, reviewing the curriculum, setting up the outdoor classroom space, cleaning up, and returning all materials to their proper location
• Oversee support staff of interns and seasonal garden educators
• Implement City Green’s seasonal curriculum during garden-based lessons
• Foster a positive learning environment and exhibit outdoor classroom management skills
• Implement weekly maintenance of educational and public gardens.  Tasks include: planting, watering, weeding, spreading compost, harvesting or mulching.
• Adapt lessons when necessary to different sites, weather conditions, and student needs
• Communicate respectfully with parents, teachers, and school/program staff and share any partner feedback or concerns with City Green staff
• Travel between garden sites using City Green vehicles
• Perform daily program data collection
• Follow organizational policies and standards for safety and liability

Youth Garden Educators must:

• Have some direct experience working with children
• Have a basic knowledge of garden concepts and vegetable plant identification.
• Be comfortable working outside in all weather and capable of lifting 40 pounds
• Be flexible, patient, and comfortable adapting lessons to fit student and partner needs
• Must have a valid driver’s license of the state you reside in, at least 2 years driving experience, and be at least 19 years old. Employee’s driver history must meet City Green’s insurance policy safe driving requirements.
• Undergo a background check

Hours and Compensation :

• Lead Youth Garden Educators are paid $18.50 – $21/hour
• Positions are available ranging from 30 – 35 hours per week.  March – November commitment is required.
• Start date is March 10th, 2026
• Youth programs take place between the hours of 8AM-6PM Monday through Thursday,  8AM – 3PM on Fridays, and some Saturdays.  Schedules will vary based on the programs Lead Educators implement.
• Lead Educators must be available some Saturdays and Evenings.

To apply,

• Visit www.citygreenonline.org/careers to apply
• Fill out the online application and upload resume
• Please contact us at 973-869-4086 or opportunities@city-green.org with any questions.

City Green is a non-profit Youth Serving Organization. As such we require all employees to receive a recommendation of approval for employment from the New Jersey State Police through State and Federal Fingerprint-Based Criminal History Record Check. Once a candidate has been offered employment by City Green, we will provide instructions to obtain the required documentation.