Position: Programs and Outreach Manager

Hours and Pay: 20/week, flexible times, $14/hr

Reports to: Board of Directors

Desired Start Date: January 16^th

Summary

Hostelling International Washington State Council is a small branch of the national non-profit Hostelling International USA (formerly American Youth Hostels). The Programs Manager position will work with a part time coordinator, interns, volunteers and the Board of Directors to promote Hostelling International’s mission “to help all, but especially the young, gain a great understanding of the world and its people through hostelling”. The Programs Manager will develop and run our community lecture series, campus engagement efforts and work with Seattle Public Schools and youth programs to set up and facilitate intercultural educational programs. The Programs Manager is also responsible for developing membership communications, program budget maintenance and general office management.

Position reports to the Board of Directors monthly and supervises one quarter-time employee, as well as 2-4 college interns. Position is through December 2012. After this time employee may reapply for a permanent position with the reorganizing national organization if desired.

Duties

Intercultural Education Programs

·         Work with HI’s Girl Scout coordinator and existing contacts at the Girl Scouts of Western Washington to maintain and grow our existing partnership

·         Conduct outreach to Seattle Public Schools, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club and others to promote our Cultural Kitchen and Community Walls programs.

·         Track grant spending, complete required grant reports in a timely manners

·         Ensure program budget stays on target

·         Work to recruit and train volunteers as needed

·         Keep the hostelling community informed, engaged and excited in our youth programming

 

Campus Engagement

·         Assist college engagement interns and newly formed campus Travel Club with their event development and promotion

·         Recruit and train interns quarterly from the UW to assist with campus engagement, educational programming and community engagement as needed

·         Continue UW campus outreach efforts to promote travel within the campus community

 

Community Lecture / Workshop Series

·         Recruit speakers for travel centered workshops and lecture series at the local HI hostel

·         Promote speaking events within hostelling community and Seattle’s overall travel community

·         Facilitate events to best promote engagement and learning

·         Ensure lecture series stays within budget by managing donation requests, utilizing social media options, etc.

Communications / Social Media

·         Maintain regular communications with our membership and community through the development of Fall and Spring e-newsletters and event postings

·         Keep HI-WSC website and social media sites up-to-date and engaging

·         Keep in communication with national HI staff, hostels and councils to communicate our local activities and share best practices

 

Membership

·         Serve as local point of contact for membership questions or concerns

·         Conduct membership sales for any walk-ins to the office; track membership sales and petty cash to ensure membership packets are available as needed.

 

Office Management

·         Monitor office supplies levels, order new supplies as needed

·         Set and maintain regular office hours for meetings and public questions

·         Work with Girl Scout Coordinator to keep office neat and presentable

·         Track and manage expenses; work with Board treasurer to ensure accuracy of budget and financials

 

Overall

·         Ensure HI-WSC meets its annual program participant requirements

·         Completed all grant reports and requirements in a timely and efficient manner

·         Other duties as needed (within the assigned hours)

 

Required Qualifications

·         Event planning experience

·         Project management experience

·         Self-starter; ability to work independently and with a remote team

·         Strong written, verbal, and intercultural communication skills

·         Detail oriented

·         Personal travel experience and an enthusiasm for world exploration, hostels and hostelling’s mission

 

Desired Qualifications

·         Experience in a startup environment

·         Experience working with high school youth through Seattle Public Schools, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, etc.

·         Organizational management experience (non-profit or for profit)

·         Training in intercultural and/or interactive program facilitation

 

How to Apply

Email Carissa at director.washington@hiusa.org with a cover letter and up to date resume highlighting your relevant experiences. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis as qualified applications are received. Desired start date is mid -January. 

The Hostelling International Washington State Council is sad to report that the Olympic  Guest House and Hostel at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend will be closing its doors on November 26, 2011.

Located in scenic Fort Worden State Park, with winding trails, scenic views, beaches and WWII era bunkers, the hostel has been a favorite of travelers from all over the world for years.  During its 36 years of operation, the hostel and its staff have seen many changes in the world, in hostelling and in the State Parks. Two years ago ownership of the hostel was transferred from the Washington State Council to long-time manager Christopher Overman. As owner and as manager Christopher has done wonderful work at the hostel, generating over 3,000 overnights each year and running highly successful programming such as the annual Winter Wanderlust series in Port Townsend. Please help us give Christopher and his staff at the hostel our best wishes for the future.

For more information on the hostel's history and closing, please see the Olympic Guest House and Hostel website (www.olympichostel.org). As the hostel closes its doors it will also be selling much of its furniture, equipment and supplies. Please contact the hostel if you have interest in purchasing any items.

Please join us in celebrating the history of the hostel in style with a farewell potluck on Saturday, November 19th from 12:00PM to 3:00PM.  Overnights at the hostel are still available until November 26; please contact Christopher at christopher@olympichostel.net to make a reservation.

Thank you for your support and patronage of the Olympic Guesthouse and Hostel for the past 36 years.

Seattle's World Affairs Council has a great upcoming program for teachers and educators, check it out! Global Classrooms is a wonderful resource for educators across Washington. 

The internship position openings for the fall quarter are now posted! Check them out, spread them around, apply! Application and descriptions attached.

Hostelling International - Washington State is forming a Young Professionals Committee to organize a "Brews for Peace" event at a TBA Seattle pub in late Fall.We're looking for more members to help out with planning the event. Members of the Committee gain valuable event organization experience while helping a great non-profit grow. YPC members are a group of high impact volunteers who will work with HI-Washington's Executive Director and each other to organize fund raising and socializing event(s). Members will be broken into subcommittees with various duties / time lines, so different schedules / time commitment levels can be accommodated as needed.

Please read through the attached announcement for more information. If you're interested in joining, email Carissa at carissa.dilley@hiwsc.org with a brief summery of your interest and skill set. Our first meeting will be on May 31st at 7pm in the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford, room 223.

At the National Council Meeting this Fall, the recommendations of HI-USA's Optimum Organizational Structural Task Force (OOSTF) were presented. These recommendations are wide reaching and will greatly affect the future of HI-USA.

The gist is that the individual councils that currently operate across the country will be eliminated in their current form in an effort to streamline and consolidate HI's resources. If approved by Councils nationwide in a special April meeting, HI-USA will be taking on the operations and holdings of all Councils to create a more cohesive operational structure.

The full recommendations are attached to this post. Discussion is welcome! Leave your comments here!

CNN posted an interesting article on Friday entitled "Why Americans don't travel abroad." These very issues and mindsets are what HI-WSC is trying to address and expand over time. I'd love your comments on the piece!

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Di Lodovico began the work in 2005, with the intention of bringing together 100 artists — 10 artists from 10 different countries around the world. The project was founded as a unique method of getting to know new places, people and cultures through art and artists and then publicly recount this journey through the diversity of contemporary art.

Now, five years after its first exhibition in New York, which included 20 artists from two countries, this Suitcase will reach its culmination at the gallery by exhibiting the work of 100 artists from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland, and the United States. It is the end of a journey that illustrates that the universality of artistic production creates a unique bond between disparate places and people.

Di Lodovico holds a degree in Medieval Art from the University of Perugia and an M.A. in Italian Studies from the UW. Along with Suitcase, he has curated the exhibition VerSaniSibillini. nel sacro exploring how contemporary artists tackle the issue of devotion.

There will be an opening reception for the exhibit from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7. The Jacob Lawrence Gallery is located in the north corner of the Art Building on the first floor. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon-4 p.m. All events at the Gallery are free and open to the public. For more information call 206-685-1805.

Click here for more information.

A colleague sent this article my way, and I wanted to share it because it makes some very important (and too often unmentioned) points about volunteering abroad, particularly about short term voluntourism. The article talk specifically about a study conducted on AIDS orphan tourism in Southern Africa. Incidentally, I wrote a paper in 2006 during my undergraduate which came to strikingly similar conclusions about volunteering / voluntourism in Rajasthan, India, and have heard echos of these worries from friends volunteering around the world.

Two paragraphs in particular are worth thinking about:

"The study reveals that short-term volunteer projects can do more harm than good. Wealthy tourists prevent local workers from getting much-needed jobs, especially when they pay to volunteer; hard-pressed institutions waste time looking after them and money upgrading facilities; and abused or abandoned children form emotional attachments to the visitors, who increase their trauma by disappearing back home. "The more I delved into it, the more disturbing I found it," said Amy Norman, one of the researchers."

"The desire to engage with the world is laudable, as is the desire to volunteer. But we need to tread more carefully. Unless we have time and transferable skills, we might do better to travel, trade and spend money in developing countries. The rapid growth of "voluntourism" is like the rapid growth of the aid industry: salving our own consciences without fully examining the consequences for the people we seek to help. All too often, our heartfelt efforts to help only make matters worse."

- Before you pay, think of the harm you may do by Ian Birrell

I do believe that there are many important positives that come out of volunteering abroad, most notably the possibility for a wonderfully in-depth intercultural exchange and the development of international community of caring citizens. However, think before you leap - How are you helping? What skills can you share? How can you improve the situation by being there? Are you a tourist, or are you a worker? Are you exchanging skill sets, teaching a skill set, or just doing something for them (teach a (wo)man to fish...)? Often the most important thing you can do is not feed the starving baby, but sit in an office with the director and work on writing a grant application together, so they may feed 100 starving babies.

Be honest with yourself. But don't paralyze yourself with fear of doing ill either.

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