High School Diploma

JVC Northwest; Tacoma (WA); Hybrid; USD 18,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

JVC Northwest offers opportunities to serve on a farm in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, with remote options via JV sibling organization. As you plant, weed, water, harvest, and sell produce, you’ll work alongside people with intellectual disabilities, learning to support and be supported by them as colleagues.

A typical day begins with morning routines, team meetings, and group service activities, including guiding volunteers and interacting with core members in a collaborative

Qualifications

• High School Diploma required.
• Driver's license required; vehicle ownership or access preferred.
• Ability to work with people with intellectual disabilities and staff.

Responsibilities

• Serve on a farm, plant, weed, harvest, and sell produce while building relationships with participants.
• Guide and supervise volunteers, both individually and in groups.
• Support the mission of the community by promoting inclusive participation.

Skills

Driving

English

Team collaboration

Open to growth

Leadership

Education

High School Diploma

Job description

Opportunities to serve with JVC Northwest exist in the five beautiful states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska in remote, rural, and urban settings. Click the pins to read about each locale.

Jesuit Volunteers also have the opportunity to serve in other US regions through our sibling organization, Jesuit Volunteer Corps .

Below is a list of opportunities organized by location and by category of service. As part of your application to become a Jesuit Volunteer, we’ll ask about your service preferences, but we ask all applicants to be open to where the need is greatest, and we may ask you to consider options you had not initially thought about. Visit The JV Experience to learn more about the application process.

Position Focus

AmeriCorps Status

AmeriCorps

Service Impact Area

Capacity Building

Primary Role

Environmental Conservation, Education, or Restoration (AmeriCorps)

Length of Service Term

12 months

Primary Service Area

Ability/Disability Resources

Populations Served

Children and Families, Individual with physical or intellectual disabilities, Teens/At-Risk/Opportunity Youth

Other Issues and Roles

Education (K-12 School), Environmental Stewardship, Food and Hunger

Brief Position Description:

Serve on a Farm while building meaningful relationships with people with intellectual disabilities! As you plant, weed, water, harvest, and sell produce, you'll serve alongside people with disabilities, learning to support and be supported by them as colleagues.
You'll also guide volunteers, both individually and in groups of all sizes, in the mission of our Community: to make known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities, revealed through mutually transforming relationships.

Day in Life of JV

A typical day on the Farm begins at 8:00 AM, arriving in the community vanpool. At this point you run through the morning routine for the Farm: tending to the chickens (water, feed, eggs), opening the greenhouses, checking on plants, and prepping the site for service and/or groups that may be coming to the Farm. This can also be a time to meet directly with any particular staff/Supervisor. At 8:30 AM we have a team meeting where we check in to talk about the day and week. This is an opportunity to discuss groups, schedules, challenges and changes to the service plan.

At 9:00 AM we have our group meeting with the full crew, including core members (individual with disabilities) and volunteers. This can be up to 16 people at the meeting or more when there are groups. Around 9:30-9:45 everyone transitions into service attire and moves into their assigned tasks; planting, shoveling, trimming, harvesting, weeding, etc. These tasks can occur in larger groups or smaller specific groups. Sometimes you will be the lead depending on the groups and tasks assigned. Most times core members leave at lunch time; however, lunch sometimes includes a celebration of some kind, such as for birthdays. The afternoon looks similar to the morning, except that there are often fewer core members on the Farm.

Service is set up in groups -- you could be serving with one core member or part of a small group completing a task. After core members depart the Farm, we will finish projects or any prep needed and decompress the day. Depart from the Farm around 4:00 PM.

Required & Preferred Skills

Education Requirements

High School Diploma

Driver's License Requirement

Yes

Vehicle Requirement

A vehicle owned by your organization or program

Nature of Driving

Daily, drive a minivan to commute approximately 20 minutes from the JV house to service site. (If there are multiple JVs at the agency, this responsibility is shared.) About once a week, driving our 15-passenger van to take produce and/or core members to farmers markets. Picking up or dropping off supplies and produce to LTH homes, using either the 15-passenger van or the minivan. Most of these trips are within 15 miles of the Farm and occur 2 or 3 times per week. L'Arche provides practice time in the 15-passenger van before the member is scheduled to take it on a public road.

Spanish Language Requirement

No requirement other than English

Preferred Spanish Language Level

No requirement other than English

Additional Languages and Level Preferred

Required experience, qualities, or specialized training

Openness to personal growth as well as engaging the mission of L'Arche.

Preferred experience, qualities or specialized training

Background in learning from and teaching others, environmental awareness, and/or supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities. Background in art & crafting, agriculture and/or horticulture. Open to the physical service of a farm and an openness to learn in varied settings.