Employment Opportunities

Program Associate

BACKGROUND: The Trinity Together: Cradle to Career Partnership (Trinity Together) is a county-wide partnership aimed at providing local youth with pathways that link to developmental, educational, and career opportunities within Trinity County and beyond. Trinity Together is part of North State Together, a larger regional collective-impact initiative. It is composed of local leaders from education, business, philanthropic, nonprofit, civic, and faith communities joined together to improve educational success and career opportunities for every child. The initiative is led by a dedicated group of community leaders, organized as the Trinity Together Steering Committee.

Trinity Together Mission statement: To collaborate, as an education-business community partnership, to create career pathways for all Trinity County students, as our future workforce.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

Trinity Together is seeking a creative, self-starting, independent, organized, and passionate professional.  Working under the general direction of the Trinity Together Program Manager, the Program Associate will lead initiatives that focus on youth health, career exploration/experience, and leadership activities with a special lens on implementing equity strategies.  The Program Associate will work primarily with youth in grades K-12, working in and outside of a classroom setting.  There will also be opportunities to teach adults as well as facilitate community meetings and organize events. 

The successful candidate will be someone who can effectively communicate with others, organize groups, and lead projects. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with the business, community, and educational sectors, providing support to schools in all corners of Trinity County in order to prepare youth for successful futures. This is a position that contains a lot of variation and a dynamic candidate would be the best fit.

The Program Associate will be employed by the Watershed Research and Training Center (Watershed Center), a non-profit organization based in Hayfork, California, serving as fiscal sponsor for the program. Trinity Together Partnership is a county-wide program and staff will be required to reside within Trinity County. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Undergraduate degree or equivalent work experience in a relevant field
  • Proven ability to work with a diverse range of people, including community members, businesses, schools, and students in a manner that promotes collaboration
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Possess a growth mindset and can-do attitude
  • Exceptional attention to detail, organizational skills, and time management
  • Dynamic problem-solving skills
  • Be willing and able to travel to meetings and training.  While typically within-county/single-day, overnight and multi-day travel may be required 2-4 times per year
  • Must possess or obtain a California driver’s license
  • Be able to work in a creative, dynamic work environment with distributed leadership, and evolving authorities and responsibilities. 
  • Self-direction is an absolute necessity

DESIRABLE SKILLS and QUALIFICATIONS: 

  • Familiarity with rural communities and willingness to build relationships and partnerships within diverse Trinity County communities
  • Comfortable with technology
  • Experience working in networks or large teams
  • Basic facilitation and presentation skills
  • Experience working remotely, and with a remote team
  • Experience communicating technical information, especially education, childhood development and community health-related issues

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Assist the Program Manager and various community partners by providing coordination and leadership in the following areas:

Coordinate with and work in service to various local educators, businesses, and community leaders

  • Maintain and build strong working relationships with various groups invested in early childhood education and health, such as Trinity County Office of Education, First 5 Trinity County, and Health and Human Services.  Assist these groups in advancing and achieving goals as they relate to Trinity Together’s mission and goals
  • Provide elementary schools with the support needed to implement career education.
  • Determine how to strengthen existing education-business partnerships and build synergy within those connections.
  • Identify and recruit educational and business/community partners.
  • Identify current and future programs.
  • Liaise with various groups and partners.

Connect Trinity County Youth with Opportunities 

  • Connect youth with opportunities consistent with the Trinity Together mission and goals.
  • Create a network and communications between existing education, vocational training providers, and economic stakeholders, and follow up to create programmatic approaches to identified opportunities.

ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT: 

The Watershed Center is a Trinity Together partner and is acting as the independent contractor providing Trinity Together with programmatic assistance in the areas of finance, staff, and subcontractors. The larger Trinity Together collaborative is advised and directed by a local Steering Committee which is comprised of business and educational partners. 

OTHER REQUIREMENTS and PROVISIONS:

  • The Trinity Together Program Associate will need to have a valid CA driver’s license and personal vehicle.  Compensation for vehicle use will follow the federal mileage reimbursement standards (currently $.625/mile).  Regular travel within Trinity County will be required.
  • Some regional travel within the North State will be required to participate in training and learning exchanges with North State Together colleagues (est. 1-2 trips per year).
  • There will be opportunities and need for out-of-state travel to larger national peer networking events (est. 1 trip per year). 
  • Certain expenses incurred within the conduct of job responsibilities will be reimbursable.
  • A laptop computer, work email and necessary software will be provided.
  • Work location and space will be negotiable, with office space available in Hayfork and Weaverville, and the potential to work from home as appropriate.  

COMPENSATION and TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: 

This position has the ability to offer between 20-30 hours/per week. Compensation will be based on experience and skills, with a hiring range between $21-24/hr. Benefits (health insurance and holiday/paid time off), will be determined by full-time or part-time employment status. This position is grant-funded and is secured through June 2026. 

TO APPLY:

Submit a cover letter, and current resume to: teckla@thewatershedcenter.com.  Please include “Trinity Together Program Associate Position” in the subject line. This position is open until filled.