The FAO Schwarz Fellow at Trust for Public Land
Philadelphia, PA
Trust for Public Land protects the places people care about and creates close-to-home parks so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of the outdoors.
About the Fellowship Position
The FAO Schwarz Fellowship has two components: first, engagement in direct service as part of our Community School Yard programming; and, second, playing a leadership role in strengthening and expanding our volunteer program.
Direct Service
The FAO Schwarz Fellow will support stewardship and engagement programming across all TPL Community Schoolyards in Philadelphia in direct service to and with the young people, their families, and residents who use them every day.
The Fellow will:
- Engage with our diverse community of principals, teachers, students, families, and neighbors, by attending meetings, in-school events, resource fairs, etc. to strengthen and support these important relationships. Be the TPL representative at these events and share your insights and observations with your team.
- Assist in the design and implementation of environmental education activities and stewardship projects at Philadelphia Community Schoolyard sites.
- Provide guidance/technical assistance and occasionally hands-on support for school or community-led stewardship engagements and site activations.
- Manage the TPL annual mini-grants program which funds partners’ stewardship projects, including distributing the application, reviewing and selecting projects, and dispersing funds.
- Create a bi-monthly community newsletter with curated partner resources and stewardship updates.
Special Project
The FAO Schwarz Fellow will create and lead meaningful volunteer engagement opportunities, establish volunteer “best practices” and systems, and create volunteer resources for schoolyard stewardship partners across Philadelphia.
The Fellow will:
- Develop an annual plan for TPL-led volunteer events (e.g. schoolyard cleanups, partner trainings, convenings, etc.) at TPL sites across the city. Ensure these events are specifically designed for energizing and connecting our growing network of schoolyard community partners with their peers at different locations.
- Work with the TPL philanthropy staff to design, implement, and lead volunteer engagement events for donors as needed.
- Assess needs and develop/educational schoolyard stewardship materials to support volunteers in their stewardship projects.
- Play a leadership role in the development of a management framework for tracking volunteer event outcomes. The framework may include creating reporting tools for attendance data, key metrics, etc., a framework for volunteer event management (e.g. securing site clearance, procuring event materials and supplies, day-of support and event coordination, etc.), and surveys or other engagement tools to inform the design of TPL’s volunteer experiences.
LOCATION Philadelphia, PA
WEB https://www.tpl.org/
FOUNDED 1972
STAFF 365 (nationally);
8 (Philadelphia)
How to Apply
Applicants must be college seniors at accredited four-year colleges or universities on track to graduate between December 1, 2024 and June 31, 2025. They must also be eligible to work in the United States for the duration of the two-year Fellowship.
The deadline to apply is February 1, 2025 at 9:00 pm ET.
Host organizations will select applicants for interviews and make their decisions by the end of April 2025. Fellowships begin in the summer of 2025.
Learn more about Trust for Public Land by visiting their website. [LINK]
A Closer Look
About Trust for Public Land
Our work equips communities with the tools, partnerships, and support they need to utilize parks to address the many challenges their cities face, from ensuring community health and vitality to mitigating the impacts of climate change, to building equity among city residents. Our signature participatory design process allows community members to design their future public spaces. By hosting visioning sessions, design workshops, and planning meetings throughout the park design process we build parks and schoolyards that are full of the amenities that community members want, leading to better-used and cared-for public spaces.
TPL’s Philadelphia office is one of 30 offices working nationwide to plan, design, and build parks in cities. Three full-time program staff lead participatory design efforts, engage local stewardship partners, and manage the professional design team and contractors. Local philanthropy staff, in partnership with our Regional Director, lead our local fundraising efforts. Our local team is supported by shared services from our finance, legal, and marketing departments.
Since 2012, TPL—with our partners at Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, the School District of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Water Department—has built or restored eighteen parks in Philadelphia. Thirteen of these are Community Schoolyards®, which are part of TPL’s signature initiative aimed at improving communities and the lives of children with new schoolyards featuring outdoor classrooms, rain gardens and vegetation for connections with nature, community gathering spaces, healthy play and fitness features, and other green infrastructure features to promote better air and water quality. These sites function as high-quality educational and recreational amenities for students to use during the school day, and transform into community spaces for residents and families to use after hours or on the weekend. Our Philadelphia program continues to expand and build on its success; there are two additional Philadelphia schoolyard projects set to open in 2024, and we are planning to undertake another three sites in the year ahead.
Impact
Our Impact
- The existing Community Schoolyard sites in Philadelphia create direct access to a high-quality, climate-resilient outdoor space for an estimated 7,000-plus students (95% students of color, 100% economically disadvantaged per Philadelphia School District data) and 150,000-plus people living within a 10-minute walking distance (65% people of color, majority of households are low-income).
- As a result of our work in Philadelphia, the city has thirteen new outdoor spaces, dozens of acres of new green space in areas that previously did not have a high-quality outdoor space, and more than 200,000 square feet of new tree canopy.
- More than 50 million gallons of stormwater have been diverted from nearby rivers and streams thanks to our parks’ green features, contributing to a healthy watershed and mitigating flooding.
- We have engaged with close to 80 community groups through our design and programming efforts with thousands more residents involved in the design of these spaces.
Policies
COVID POLICY
If you are experiencing symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19 (which unfortunately include nearly all of the symptoms of common colds, flu and allergies), do not come into the office or to an in-person meeting, unless you have first tested negative for COVID.
NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
The Trust for Public Land (“TPL”) is committed to providing a work environment in which people are treated with dignity, decency, and respect. The environment of the organization should be characterized by mutual trust and the absence of intimidation, oppression, and exploitation.
TPL will not tolerate unlawful discrimination or harassment of any kind. Through enforcement of this policy and by education of employees, TPL will seek to prevent, correct, and discipline behavior that violates this policy.
All employees, regardless of their positions, are covered by and are expected to comply with this policy and to take appropriate measures to ensure that prohibited conduct does not occur.
Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against any employee who violates this policy. Based on the seriousness of the offense, disciplinary action may include verbal or written reprimand, suspension, or termination of employment.
Managers and supervisors who knowingly allow or tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, including the failure to immediately report such misconduct to human resources (“HR”), are in violation of this policy and subject to discipline.
It is a violation of TPL’s policy to discriminate in the provision of employment opportunities, benefits, or privileges; to create discriminatory work conditions; or to use discriminatory evaluative standards in employment if the basis of that discriminatory treatment is, in whole or in part, the person’s:
- Age (40 or older)
- Ancestry
- Color
- Religion (includes religious dress and grooming practices)
- Disability (physical or mental)
- Marital status
- Medical Condition
- Military or Veteran Status
- National Origin
- Race
- Sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and other medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding)
- Gender, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression
- Sexual Orientation
- Political Affiliation or Opinion
Discrimination of these kinds may also be strictly prohibited by a variety of federal, state, and local laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination Act of 1967, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
This policy is intended to comply with the prohibitions stated in these anti-discrimination laws. Discrimination in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including termination.
Compensation & Benefits
Compensation
First year: $45,000 (includes $2,000 start-of-Fellowship bonus)
Second year: $50,000 (include a $3,000 end-of Fellowship bonus)
Benefits
+ Health insurance: TPL offers medical, dental, vision and prescription drug plans and pays an average of over 89 percent of the cost of health insurance for employees.
+ Vacation days: 15 paid days
+ Retirement contribution: TPL matches 1:1 up to 7 percent
+ Education assistance: TPL reimburses up to $1,500 per year for courses as part of degree program and up to $500 for job related seminars, conferences, webinars, etc.
For general questions about compensation, please see the Fellowship FAQ.
Typical Work Schedule
The Fellow will work Monday-Friday, 9:00–5 :00 PM. The working location will be hybrid, with the Fellow expected to be in person 2-3 days per week at TPL’s Philadelphia office and 20%-30% of their week will be spent in the field.
There will be opportunities to work from home (~ 1-2 days/week), but this will depend on the field time required.