Common Ground is Seeking a Facilities and Ground Maintenance Assistant

Job Title:  Facilities and Ground Maintenance Assistant

Organization Overview

Common Ground is a center for learning and leadership, inviting people across ages and identities to connect to their urban environment, build community, grow into their full potential, and contribute to a just and sustainable world. We work toward this mission through active, authentic learning rooted in justice and our environment: a farm, in a forest, in a city. Three connected efforts are at the core of Common Ground’s work: 

• An environmental education center, offering programs that connect people of all ages with the natural world while helping them develop habits of sustainable living. Connecticut’s only charter high school focused on the environment, preparing students for success in college and in environmental leadership.

• An urban farm that practices sustainable agriculture while contributing to a healthy food system for New Haven area residents.
• Common Ground operates from a 20-acre site at the base of West Rock Ridge where farm, forest, and city intersect to provide a unique, real world learning laboratory.

Common Ground follows organic growing practices, avoiding the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers on site.  For more information on Common Ground, see www.commongroundct.org.

Job Description

Help keep Common Ground’s site and facilities beautiful, welcoming and functional for the Common Ground community!  Common Ground’s Facilities and Grounds Maintenance Assistant assists the Site Manager with the care, upkeep and maintenance of Common Ground’s site and facilities in order to ensure they effectively meet all of Common Ground’s programmatic needs.  

The Facilities and Grounds Maintenance Assistant  interacts regularly with the public, and will often be assisted by volunteers and students in the performance of his or her duties.  

The Facilities and Grounds Maintenance Assistant is part time ( no more than 32 hours per week, $18 per hour) for the first 90 days of employment. We run multiple programs on site and you will need to work around program needs, which means your work schedule will be flexible, based on the organization’s needs. The hourly rate of pay is commensurate with experience.   Please be advised this position is a physically demanding role. 

Responsibilities

Site Management

• Helping maintain all landscaped areas including mowing, weeding, mulching, watering, feeding, etc.
• Pruning, trimming and removing trees, brush and invasives as necessary.
• Assisting with the management of Common Ground’s waste management systems, both indoors and outdoors, including trash, recycling and composting.
• Keeping grounds free of litter and trash. 
• Assisting with Winter snow removal 
• Keeping catch basins, culverts and gutters clear of debris.
• Overseeing Spring cleanup, Fall leaf removal.
• Maintaining paths and outdoor assembly areas including hauling and spreading wood chips as necessary.
• Supporting maple syrup production in the spring, including sap collection, boiling and filtering.
• Maintaining sufficient cut wood for program use, including cutting, splitting, and stacking wood from tree felling on site. 
• Overseeing upkeep and repair of sidewalks, parking lots,fences, planters, benches, sheds, tents, camping platforms, and other site improvements.
• Addressing potential site related hazards to ensure the safety of staff and program participants.
• Planting wildflowers, grass seed,  and landscaping of newly cultivated areas as required.

Facilities Management

• Assisting Site Manager in keeping HVAC systems properly operating, maintained and repaired.
• Performing regular maintenance and repair of all buildings including as necessary painting, minor plumbing and basic electrical repairs, etc.

Program Support

• Assisting with setting up and staffing festivals and events during the year as necessary.
• Performing site improvements to better meet program needs.
• Helping reconfigure the site to meet the seasonal needs of programs.

Equipment Maintenance and Repair

• Assisting Site Manager with maintenance and repair of grounds-keeping equipment including weed-whackers, mowers, etc.
• Assisting Site Manager with maintenance and repair of the tractor and utility vehicles.

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• Familiarity with general landscaping and plant care.
• Able to lift 50 pounds and engage in strenuous physical activity.
• Independent and self-motivated.
• Able to construct items out of wood.
• Ability to take direction and follow through on tasks without direct supervision.
• Enjoys working outdoors.
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
• Able to set priorities, and develop and execute plans to achieve desired results.
• Experience with power equipment, weed wackers, mowers, etc.
• Experience with chainsaws is a plus.
• Excellent communication skills.  
• Works well with others.  Comfortable working as a member of a team.
• Personable:  Comfortable engaging with the public.
• Experience working with youth.
• Eager to learn and willing to try new things.
• Able to think strategically and see the big picture.
• Computer proficient, Skilled in the use of Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, etc.), and google docs.
• Comfortable using email and texting to communicate.
• Excellent problem solving skills.
• Valid CT driver’s license
• Experience with tractors is helpful

Please send cover letter and resume to:

Mark Loalbo, Site Manager

Common Ground High School

358 Springside Ave., New Haven, CT 06515

mark.loalbo@nhep.com

Compensation for this position is $18 per hour, 32 hours per week.

Affirmative Action Policy Statement:

Common Ground is committed to the recruitment and retention of staff that is reflective of the communities we work with. We strongly encourage applicants from people of color, immigrants, women, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups.

It has been the policy and will continue to be the strong commitment of the Common Ground and all contractors and subcontractors who do business with Common Ground to provide equal opportunities in employment to all qualified persons solely on the basis of job-related skills, ability and merit. Common Ground will continue to take Affirmative Action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, mental disorder (present or past history thereof) age, physical disability (but not limited to blindness), marital status, intellectual disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and criminal record. Such action includes, but is not limited to, employment, promotion, demotion or transfer; recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, professional development, attendance at conferences or other opportunities for advancement. Common Ground, its contractors and subcontractors will continue to make good faith efforts to comply with all federal and state laws and policies which speak to equal employment opportunity.

The principles of Affirmative Action are addressed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the United States Constitution, Civil Rights Act of 1866, 1870, 1871, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VI and VII of the 1964 United States Civil Rights Act, Presidential Executive Order 11246, amended by 11375, (Non-discrimination under federal contracts)< Act 1, Section 1 and 20 of the Connecticut Constitution, Governor Grasso’s Executive Order Number 11, Governor O’Neill’s Executive Order 9, the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Law (Sec. 46a-60-69) of the Connecticut General Statutes, Connecticut Code of Fair Practices (46a-70-81), Deprivation of Civil Rights (46a-58(a)(d)), Public Accommodations Law (46a-63-64), Discrimination against Criminal Offenders (46a-80), definition of Blind (46a-51(1)), definition of Physically Disabled (46a-51(15)), definition of Intellectual Disability (46a-51(13)), cooperation with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (46a-77), Sexual Harassment (46a-60(a)-8), Connecticut Credit Discrimination Law (360436 through 439), Title I of the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972.

This Affirmative Action Policy Statement re-affirms Common Ground’s commitment to equity in the workplace and the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity.