Position Title: Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) Environmental Educator AmeriCorps Member at Acadia National Park

Conservation Legacy Program: Stewards Individual Placements

Site Location: Acadia National Park
20 McFarland Hill Dr.
Bar Harbor, ME 04609

Terms of Service: 16 weeks

• Start Date: 01/11/2027
• End Date: 04/30/2027
• Application Deadline: 11/15/2026
• Number of Positions Available: 1
• AmeriCorps Slot Classification: 450 Hours

Stewards Individual Placements & Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) Initiative:
Stewards Individual Placements provides individuals with AmeriCorps service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural and cultural resources. The Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) initiative aims to increase access to the outdoors for all Americans.

Are you passionate about expanding access to public lands and creating welcoming outdoor experiences for all visitors? Do you believe everyone should have the opportunity to explore and enjoy our National Parks? Our health, our planet, and our collective future rely on variety – in thought, ability, experience, and ideas. Join the Youth Empowerment Stewards (YES) program and contribute to strengthening park operations and enhancing the visitor experience by helping to remove barriers to outdoor access—ensuring that our national parks remain open, attainable, and welcoming to all Americans.

Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the United States, an abundance of habitats, and a rich cultural heritage. At 4 million visits a year, it's one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the United States. Visitors enjoy 27 miles of historic motor roads, 158 miles of hiking trails, and 45 miles of carriage roads.

Acadia National Park's Education District works with an average of 42,000 students and teachers each year, highlighting the NPS Mission, providing programs and field trips to learn more about cultural and natural resources, and teaching recreation-based skills to students grades Pre-K through 12.

Role of YES Member at Acadia National Park
Stewards Individual Placements, in collaboration with Acadia National Park, are seeking a Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) AmeriCorps Member with Acadia National Park. This Environmental Educator YES service member will assist with leading both virtual and outdoor education winter programs and will help adapt those programs to better serve students with hearing and visual impairment needs.

The YES Member will collaborate with Acadia National Park’s Education team to learn the park’s winter programming operation and help adapt virtual program formats to improve access for students who are members of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Community and/or experience some degree of visual impairment. This YES Member will adapt our key virtual program outlines to include vocabulary lists for ASL Interpreters, adapt program scripts to accommodate the timing of two presenters (one ranger and one ASL Interpreter). This position will develop a "How To" guide for teachers and Rangers to use when setting up a virtual programs that includes ASL translation. Additionally, this position will investigate and help adapt Acadia’s virtual programming to better serve students with visual needs, as well as English as a second language classrooms.

Description of Duties:

To achieve the goals of this YES position, the Member will:

• · Review program outlines and shadow a variety of park field trips, virtual programs, and school outreach programs

o Attend park-led trainings with the K-12 Education Team

o Learn studio set-up, program software, and practice four (4) key programs

§ Co-facilitate in-person and virtual educational programming

§ Lead facilitation of various in-person and virtual educational programming

• · Research best practices and available ASL services for virtual platforms
• · Research best practices and service providers for creating Closed Captioning

o Learn about, implement, and utilize descriptive text for in-person and virtual needs

o Adapt existing programming outlines to include ASL Interpreters, enhanced visual descriptions

§ Pilot proposed changes and enhancements with Acadia’s Education Team

• · Compile a list of local ASL services

o Create a guideline for Acadia’s Education Team on how to contact local ASL service providers, request services, and payment for providers

o Will collaborate and learn from Acadia staff to outline billing and payment options

Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will be an energetic educator excited to provide K-12 students environmental educational programming both online and in outdoor winter weather settings, leading winter ecology field trips, school outreach programming, and virtual classes.

• United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien
• Be between the ages of 18-30 (or up to age 35 with Veteran status)
• Has received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate
• Agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check
• Ability to drive with an insurable driving history
• Able to commit to 16 weeks of service
• · Have a connection to the disability community
• · Individual ready to work as integrated member of a teaching team sharing production studio space and team teaching
• · Outdoor enthusiast interested in ice fishing
• · Technological savvy individual interested in working with large groups of K-12 students on multiple platforms (Zoom, Teams, Google Meets, etc.)
• · Responsible adult ready to collaborate with a team of educators

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• · Self-starter with the ability to work independently and collaboratively
• · Associates or Bachelors degree preferred

Our Commitment:
Conservation Legacy is committed to the full consideration of all qualified individuals and will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential job functions. Physical requirements may include periodic overnight travel, non-traditional work 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. The ability to safely drive an organizational vehicle may also be required for some positions. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.

Time Requirements:

• Typically, this position is expected to serve Monday – Friday, but exact service schedules may vary. A half hour lunch break will not be counted towards AmeriCorps service
• Member may be required to participate in national, state, or local service projects or events as part of their service term
• YES Members are part of a cohort and meet virtually online on a bi-weekly basis; the YES cohort space is established for YES Members to collaborate and support one another on various access projects, while also discussing various personal and professional development topics

Orientation and Training:

• Member will receive an orientation that includes training on AmeriCorps prohibited and unallowable activities
• Trainings on all aspects of developing and presenting virtual programming for K-12 audiences
• Additional trainings include: Professional teacher workshops, team visits to local museums to discuss technique with specialists, as well as online courses through organizations such as the Eppley Institute and DOI Learn
  
  
  

Benefits:

• Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
• Weekly Stipend of $700/week (paid via direct deposit on a bi-weekly basis)
• • The $700/week stipend is comprised of: Living Allowance of $600/week + Additional Benefits of $100 per week
• · Park housing available
• · Access to all member and Alumni benefits of Conservation Legacy
• · Opportunity to make a HUGE impact on your community
• · Service opportunities can help propel your career forward with intentional experience and professional connections
• · YES Members have opportunities to connect and collaborate with other YES Members in the bi-weekly virtual YES Cohort space

Evaluation and Reporting:
As an AmeriCorps member, performance will be evaluated on whether the member has completed the required number of hours, the member has satisfactorily completed assignments, and if the member 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.

Application, Resume and Cover Letter:
When uploading and attaching your resume to this application, please also upload and attach a cover letter. In your cover letter, please note your interest and qualifications in this position.

How to Apply:
To apply, please click on the green “apply” button in the top right corner of the page. In addition to uploading your resume to this application, please also upload and attach a cover letter. In your cover letter, please address your experience with the disability community.

Recruiter & Program Coordinator Contact Information:
Susie Schroer
Stewards Individual Placements Program Coordinator
sschroer@conservationlegacy.org
970-317-9131

We are 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.