Position Title: Conservation Corps North Carolina Communications – VISTA Summer Associate

Conservation Legacy Program: Stewards Individual Placement

Site Location:

Conservation Corps North Carolina

918 State Forest Rd,
Bahama, NC 27503

Terms of Service:

• Start Date: 6/15/2026
• End Date: 8/23/2026
• AmeriCorps Slot Classification: Minimum-time

Purpose:

Conservation Corps North Carolina (CCNC) empowers youth and young adults through meaningful outdoor work that benefits North Carolina’s land and water and fosters healthy communities. A program of Conservation Legacy, CCNC partners with public land managers and community organizers across the state to engage motivated individuals – typically ages 15-30 – in challenging and impactful conservation service projects. These projects may include trail construction and maintenance, habitat restoration, hazard fuel reduction, invasive species removal, and other technical conservation work. CCNC crews and individual placements gain hands-on experience, professional development, and the opportunity to positively impact North Carolina’s natural resources and communities. CCNC has program offices in both Durham and Old Fort and supports project work statewide with partners including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, AmeriCorps, NC State Parks, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, local governments, community organizations, and nonprofits.

This project is focused on improving the communication and outreach tools that CCNC uses to recruit and retain youth and young adult program volunteers and tell the story of their work to support the organization’s mission. The Summer Associate VISTA member will support the development of a media asset library, create and implement SOPs for social media, collect stories and other content from summer programming, and develop ideas for expanding the reach of CCNC’s newsletter and media presence. Building these tools and systems will help CCNC continue to share the important work of it’s volunteers and alumni and support partner agencies across the state. This project will also support future grant writing efforts by developing an easy bank of stories, data, and evidence to demonstrate CCNC’s positive impacts in future proposals.

Description of Duties:

The Summer Associate will focus on capacity-building activities that produce internal planning resources, documentation tools, and community engagement materials. Duties may include compiling labor market research summaries, developing workforce resource inventories, creating community asset maps, organizing environmental data sets, drafting partnership coordination frameworks, designing planning templates and resource guides, and assisting with public-facing informational workshops, outreach campaigns, or site observations. Activities are designed to strengthen host organizations’ capacity, guide long-term workforce and environmental program development, provide tangible connections between planning tools and community needs, and support measurable outcomes in workforce access, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.

The Associate will:

• Develop Social Media Standard Operating Procedures and provide support to staff in implementing them
• Visit summer programming to capture content, document stories, and develop ideas for media and outreach proposals. Visits will be coordinated by CCNC staff but will require spending time outdoors during the day with some hiking and potential exposure to heat, humidity, insects, and other natural elements.
• Develop a CCNC media asset library of photos and videos with detailed captioning and tagging
• Inventory CCNC’s current outreach and engagement tools and make recommendations for future improvements and additions
• Participate in Conservation Legacy’s Comms Collective and share best practices with CCNC staff
• Support an audit of CCNC’s public website and internal Weebly website to recommend opportunities for improvement

Qualifications:

• Education: High School Diploma
• Language: English
• Any other required skills or knowledge
• • Experience with social media
  • Course work in communications and/or outreach
  • Experience taking photos and videos for social media
  • Willingness to visit programming in the field
• United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien
• At least 18 years of age
• Has received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; or has not dropped out of elementary or secondary school to enroll as an AmeriCorps participant, and agrees to obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to using the education award
• Agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check.

Physical Requirements:

Conservation Legacy is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions. Some positions may require periodic overnight travel, non-traditional hours, ability to move across varied terrain, use program-specific tools and a range of technology on an infrequent or frequent basis. Exerting up to 25 pounds of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. Ability to safely drive an organizational vehicle may also be required for some positions. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.

Time Requirements:

• Typically, this position is expected to serve full-time, 35-40 hours per week, but exact service schedules may vary. A half hour lunch break will not be counted towards AmeriCorps service.

Orientation and Training:

• Member will receive an orientation that includes training on AmeriCorps prohibited and unallowable activities.
• Member will receive a Virtual Member Orientation (VMO) from VISTA on their first day of service.

Benefits:

• Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $1,565.08
• Living Allowance of $957.46 (taxable) every other week.
• Healthcare Coverage if Eligible
• Childcare Coverage if Eligible
• Loan forbearance if Eligible
• Interest Payments if Eligible
• Recreational Opportunities
• Professional Development Opportunities

No relocation assistance provided

Evaluation and Reporting:

As an AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associate, performance will be evaluated on whether the Summer Associate has completed their term of service, whether the Summer Associate has satisfactorily completed assignments, and if the Summer Associate has met other performance criteria that were clearly communicated at the beginning of the term of service.

Reporting requirements include, but are not limited to, bi-weekly timesheets and accomplishment tracking.

Supervisor Name and Contact Information:

Erin Adams

eadams@conservationlegacy.org

330 Harper Park Drive

Beckley, WV 25801

(304) 860-0578

Host Organization Contact:

Jessie Birckhead

jbirckhead@conservationlegacy.org

(919) 836-6098

Conservation Legacy is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodations due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.