Position Description: Camp Director
Reports to: The Executive Director
Employment Type: Hourly / Seasonal / Full-time (April through August)
Working Hours: Camp hours are from 7:30 am - 6:30 pm. (8.5 hours shifts required. Camp Director opens the camp day at 7:30 am)
Prep-Work Time Investment: This role calls for an additional time investment which is required for prep work. The additional time includes weekly virtual sessions (lasting about 1.5 hours) as well as self-led, self-coordinated study/reflection time and time for content development. The time expectation for this is around 4-10 hours a week, as of April. Also, the Director must be available for the following training and meetings:
Preference is given to candidates who can commit to all four sessions.
Must commit to all sessions.
Session 1: June 26-July 7 (Closed July 4 - unpaid)
Session 2: July 10- July 21
Session 3: July 24- August 4
Session 4: August 7- August 18
Must be able to attend our Camp Training dates:
1: May 20 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
2: June 3 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
3: June 10 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Must be able to attend our Camp Open House dates:
3: June 10 - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
4: June 13 - 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
5: June 15 - 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: 300 Morris Pesin Dr, Jersey City, NJ 07305
Hourly Rate: $25-$35 + paid hands-on training
POSITION DETAILS
Educational Arts Team is seeking an enthusiastic, collaborative, and organized Camp Director for our 2023 Summer Camp season.
Often referred to as "the hidden gem” of Jersey City, The Educational Arts Team sits on 5 acres of land and is a place of contrast: a suburban camp in an urban setting. A fifty-year institution serving low-income students, jersey city young people and families, and educators, The Educational Arts Team delivers over 200 school-based art education programs. It enrolls over 250 campers through our “Camp Liberty” summer program.
With a mission to engage young people with arts-based programs that connect creativity with critical thinking to stimulate personal growth and academic achievement by making their learning experience more meaningful, young people are prepared to become life-long learners and socially and emotionally competent.
Job Details include, but are not limited to:
Reporting to the Executive Director, the Camp Director plays a key role in ensuring all programmatic goals are reached in Camp Liberty. The role includes supervision responsibilities of the Camp Liberty Summer Camp team, creating/supporting communication strategies, staffing plans, program and schedules, and transportation plans. You’ll build, lead and maintain your site and your camp staff which includes Camp Coordinators, Counselors & Jr. Counselors, Teaching artists, Specialists, Camp Registrar, Aquatics, Health, and Emergency Crisis teams.
Direct Camp Liberty Summer Camp and your summer camp Team, under the supervision of the Executive Director. This will include creating policies and procedures, communication strategies, registration process, staffing plans, program and schedules, and transportation plans
Build, lead and maintain your site by managing attendance & registration processes, camp calendar, hiring and retaining your team, and creating program culture and traditions
Visualize and mastermind efficient and comprehensive program operations plans and then implement them, taking into account site nuances
Create training designs and coordinate training day activities for all staff, specialists, and teaching artists
Coordinate and manage resources to execute successful parent open houses
Develop and oversee the evaluation process for Camp Liberty including pre and post-surveys, focus groups, and end-of-year feedback forms for staff and families
Build and maintain relationships with families and stakeholders
Build departmental capacity by developing partnerships and finding volunteers.
Oversee the entire registration process for over 500 students and 1,100 camp slots.
Deliver customer service by supporting in person, on the phone, and through email as well as seeking solutions and following up to address community needs
Liaise with partner organizations to offer financial aid & free lunch to children from low-income households
Oversee the process for all payments of camp fees
Design and coordinate all aspects of the camp
Ensure success in developing camp curricula and demonstrating the ability to assume responsibility for the day-to-day management of a camp.
Supervise the ordering of camp supplies and maintain the supply inventory including camp swag
Supervise the Camp Registrar and data admin ensuring all daily attendance, enrollment, and registration are recorded and accurate
Ensure smooth shift changes with proper break times and program coverage.
Work in collaboration with HR to recruit, train and hire staff; process all background clearances
Approve payroll for all camp staff.
Assign camp staff to specific tasks and manage their performance
Develop and ensure compliance with camp policies and procedures
Design, plan, and coordinate camp schedule and activities maintaining and promoting the quality of services
Greet families and campers upon arrival and orientate them to camp
Establish rules with campers and staff and review emergency procedures
Manage parent expectations by knowing your campers and conversing with parents at pick-up and drop-off times
Build relationships with camp parents; design and coordinate all camp parent open houses
Manage any issues that may arise including, but not limited to, camper behavior issues, parent complaints, etc.
Ensure all of our camp licenses and camp binder (with all related contents) are updated; Ensure all legal and regulatory documents are filed and monitor compliance with laws and regulations
Ensure all camp ratios are covered daily and address staff absences
Work collaboratively with the Facilities and the Art Ed Program Director to seamlessly coordinate all details of camp related to Health, Crisis, Aquatics and Performance and Visual Art events
Manage the incoming cash by counting, preparing off-loads, and preparing weekly reports
Promote camp sales and ensure full enrollment in all camp sessions
Shop for camp supplies, staying within the supply budget.
Managing the budget by camp personnel and OTPS expenses remain within their budget.
Overseeing a smooth change-over day, giving campers a good send-off and a good welcome
Help promote a company culture that encourages top performance and high morale
Promote the Educational Arts Team as a place for experiential learning, restorative practices, and community-building through art education
Host and facilitate weekly meetings with Camp Committee
Meeting (virtually) with Executive Director on a weekly basis to discuss program, operations reports, feedback, and any challenges you are facing
Maintain your team’s morale as well as organize their staff events to boost morale
Oversee the maintenance of daily attendance logs, bus transportation, and extended care
Liaise cross-departmentally through a project management function expertly leading successful outcomes for diverse projects to make sure all organizational and programmatic objectives are being met and that everyone is being kept in the loop on program progress and updates using best practices in project management
Modify activities to suit the diverse learning and behavioral needs of all children with the support of your team
Required Qualifications
Leading with a constantly iterating, entrepreneurial spirit. Working from a results-oriented mindset and with exceptional execution savvy, you’ll get things done. You’re determined, flexible, and scrappy when needed, always being the first to jump in and support the programs and your people
Experience in management, operations, and leadership
Understanding of general finance and budgeting, including profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash-flow management
Ability to build consensus and relationships among stakeholders, partners, and employees
Must be well organized and able to handle multiple tasks as well as have project management, communication, and/or facilitation skills
Must be a team player able who enjoys working in a high-paced environment, collaborating and working with others, and is motivated towards constantly improving processes
Must have strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present information in one-on-one and small group situations to other employees of the organization
Demonstrated management and supervisory skills as well as budget oversight and planning experience
Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team, within the department and with faculty and other administrators
Strong organization, project management, communication (oral, written, and interpersonal), and facilitation skills
Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills (oral, written, and interpersonal)
Excellent multi-tasking ability and responsiveness to time-sensitive requests.
Familiarity with issues facing students, especially in urban settings
Prior experience developing, cultivating, and managing partnerships within nonprofits and government agencies
Familiarity with industry-related laws and regulations
Knowledge of recruiting & hiring processes
Analytical thinking & Problem-solving aptitude
Demonstrated management and supervisory skills as well as budget oversight and planning experience
Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team, within the department and with faculty and other administrators
Excellent multi-tasking ability and responsiveness to time-sensitive requests.
Familiarity with issues facing students, especially in urban settings
Prior experience in youth development and summer camp best practices
Ability to use your cellphone for work purposes, including using the encrypted (therefore confidential) app “Whatsapp” to quickly receive work-related updates.
Willingness and ability to swim with children are a MUST
Restorative practices are part of the education and culture at EdArts. Community is at the forefront of our priorities. Must be willing to embrace and adopt a non-punitive behavioral system utilizing restorative practices principals
Proficient in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, & PowerPoint or G-Suite programs.
Bilingual is a plus (English, Spanish, and Arabic are preferred)
LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES: ● Developing Self & Others ● Emotional Maturity ● Inclusion ● Critical Thinking & Decision-Making
ABOUT US
Educational Arts Team
The mission of the Educational Arts Team is to engage young people with arts-based programs that connect creativity with critical thinking to stimulate personal growth and academic achievement by making their learning experience more meaningful. The arts provide powerful tools for children to achieve academic success and increase self-esteem and are at the center of all Ed Arts programs. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to think, create, reflect, and be heard within a community of engaged learners. Throughout our programs, children are led to question, reflect, deduce, and problem-solve while considering issues, themes, and characters from texts that they read or hear.
Our History
The Educational Arts Team was founded in 1974 by Carmine Tabone and a group of artists, educators, and youth development professionals who believed in the power of the arts to improve literacy, and social-emotional development, and build community. Our fifty-year imprint on Jersey City, Hudson County began with art education programming in community centers, schools, and public spaces through professional development programming for teachers and workshops, theater shows, and enrichment opportunities for low-income students. Camp Liberty follows as our organization's signature program, for more than 40 years, has been a summer oasis offering summer camp programming in the heart of Jersey City. Located on five acres at the edge of Liberty State Park, the Educational Arts Team transforms children, families, and the community through the arts.
The Educational Arts Team addresses literacy, family literacy, equity and inclusion, drug prevention, learning loss recovery, social-emotional learning, life lessons, anti-bullying, writing skills, and academic achievement using theater arts, drawing, and other art techniques. Our in-school, after-school, community, and summer programs are designed to be interactive, with children and families engaged in speaking, listening, acting, reading, writing, drawing, and asking questions. Through this process, the programs which include our Professional Development for Educators, Bringing Literature to Life, Family Literacy, Art Enrichment, and Camp Liberty work to build community and teach healthy ways for people to interact with one another. Most of our programs occur in Jersey City and Newark and their surrounding communities. We work in low-income neighborhood schools providing interactive programs that support both literacy and social-emotional learning. During the 2021-2022 school year, Ed Arts provided more than 1,100 classroom workshops, assisting teachers in combating COVID-19-related learning loss.
Our Values
Our organization is proud our programs are founded on these values: Access • Inclusivity •Community-centeredness • Empowerment •Creativity •Collaboration •Compassion •Innovation • Engagement•Transformation
Our Vision
It is our vision to strengthen youth, their families, and the community we serve through art education by:
Empowering young people to take charge of their academic and personal success
Teaching young people the tools and skills to manage adversity and challenges at school, with peers, and at home through the arts
Building tolerance, empathy, and personal resilience
Establishing a foundation for students to say no to negativity and to say yes to working on a positive future.
Empowering teachers and parents to address some of our young people’s most pressing academic and social-emotional needs.
Our Programs
HANDS-ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
High-Impact Teaching Strategies
Our professional development workshops equip teachers and administrators with a basic toolbox of interactive techniques they can use in conjunction with their school district's language arts or social studies curriculum.
In these energized, highly participatory sessions, teachers are given a much-needed opportunity to unlock their creativity, collaborate with colleagues, and recharge their pedagogy with a lively exchange. They'll learn easy-to-implement strategies to increase student engagement and facilitate meaningful learning.
STUDENT LITERACY AND ART INTEGRATION WORKSHOPS
Bringing Literature to Life - Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills >> Grades K - 2
Joy and curiosity of the written and spoken word, through storytelling, art, music, movement, and puppetry, including our proprietary Pop Up Puppet Theater experience. >> Grades 3 - 5
Finding meaning, gaining skills, and expanding awareness, with Myths, Fables, Curriculum stories, and Improv. >> Grades 6 - 8
Understanding human nature and honing writing skills by delving deeper into curriculum novels and informational texts. >> Grades 9 - 12
Awareness of current issues and advanced critical thinking with Drama studies, script-writing, literature and articles, and art history
Also offered:
Bringing Literature to Life - Social Studies
Adapting group and pair activities to the social studies curriculum for any grade, helping students understand events in world history as they relate to their own lives.
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT AND PROMOTING READING TOGETHER
Family Literacy offers 90-minute sessions for schools, libraries, and community centers, to bring families together to hear and tell stories, draw paper puppets and scenery, perform one-on-one for each other, and take home custom-designed desk-top stages to use again and again. After this workshop, children and their caregivers can make a puppet show for any story they read, and perform it for the whole family.
Encourage families to read together by sharing enjoyable literacy activities! Research consistently shows that children whose parents read to them become much better readers with larger vocabularies. Our hands-on approach promotes
positive family interaction and lays the foundation for a love of reading and learning through shared storytelling and art activities.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Anti-Bullying, Drug, and Alcohol Prevention
Programs for Grades 4-8 Using role-drama, improv, and relevant stories and articles within a restorative practices framework, our participatory workshops help students grapple with topics such as problem-solving, conflict resolution, and good decision-making. They will experience positive, interactive, and cooperative activities and explore significant social issues that highlight the power of reflecting before acting out. These workshops will also impact classroom culture by building community among students.
PERFORMING ARTS ENRICHMENT
Out-of-school-time workshops, for after-school programs, community centers, or youth groups. Our sessions feature out-of-your-seat, collaborative activities that help all levels of learners find their inner artists. Arts Enrichment programming includes dance, theater, writing, music, and visual arts.
SUMMER PROGRAMS
Camp Liberty - The iconic summer camp is an urban oasis nestled on 5 acres of trees and grass. Thousands of campers have attended over more than four decades, and many return as counselors. Camp Liberty, a summer extension of Ed Arts year-round programming, integrates summer fun, visual and theater arts, music, sports, and swimming with the foundational values of equal access, inclusivity, mutual respect, independence, creating community, and making new friends.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
The Educational Arts Team benefits include a fun, flexible, creative working environment. We center health and wellness, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and invest in teaching artists’ professional development. The Educational Arts Team is aligned with state and federal employment law including sick leave benefits.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The Educational Arts Team is committed to fostering a workplace culture that values Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging (DEIAB). We actively encourage applications from individuals who have been historically underrepresented and marginalized, including those who identify as people with disabilities, members of ethnic and racial minority groups, veterans, and women. Our organization upholds the principle that all applicants and employees have the right to a workplace that is free from discrimination based on any legally protected characteristic, including sexual orientation and gender identity. As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Action (AA), veteran, and disability-friendly employer, we are dedicated to creating a welcoming and supportive work environment where everyone can thrive.
Please note: Potential New Hires are required to complete a background check and must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (i.e., have received both doses of a two-dose vaccine or a single dose of a one-dose vaccine). They must provide proof of vaccination upon request by the organization. Requests for potential accommodation shall be considered per applicable law if and at such time as a conditional offer of employment is extended to a candidate. Applicants should not provide any medical or genetic information with their application.