join our team

Kite's Nest is growing!

We are now looking for two awesome and talented people to join our little team as part-time staff members. Kite’s Nest is powered by a whole lot of community support and run by a dedicated core of 2 full-time and 1 part-time staff members. Each quarter we are joined by a host of educators, guest experts and volunteers. As we build our team, we are seeking people who have broad skill sets, as well as expertise and passion in the particular areas relevant to the job positions listed below.

We are currently hiring for the positions of Media & Technology Coordinator and Facilities & Environment Coordinator. We encourage people to apply who may have non-traditional resumes or backgrounds, and those who may have an interest in occasionally sharing some of their skills with the young people that populate Kite’s Nest. We are looking for people with vision and drive, people who ask good questions, problem-solve, and have the self-direction to manage their own time, tasks and projects. We are looking for people who like people, and who know how to have fun, when to buckle down, and when to prioritize self-care. Above all, we are looking for people who are highly collaborative and deeply self-motivated.

At Kite’s Nest, we are fully committed to addressing and challenging systems of power and privilege, both externally and internally, and expect our staff to be equally committed to principles of social justice. Because we don’t operate within a traditional hierarchy (i.e. we have shared directorial leadership and use consensus decision-making), experience with or interest in group process is a big plus.

We are excited to announce these positions and encourage you to help spread the word. Please email applications to hello@kitesnest.org or by mail to Kite’s Nest, 108 South Front St. Hudson, NY 12534 by Wednesday, September 24th. Interviews will take place during October, for a flexible start in October or November.

These positions are both part-time ranging from 15 - 25 hours per week. Pay is commensurate with experience. Health and dental benefits are possible depending on time commitment.

If you are interested in either position, please send the following materials in a single PDF document:

Resume, with pay history
Cover letter demonstrating your interest in the position, your relevant experience, and your interest or experience media, documentation, web and graphic work; or your interest or experience in building, design, maintenance, and volunteer coordination.
Optional: A sample of your work relevant to the position: websites, photos, writing, images, etc.
Names and contact information for 3 professional references.

Kite’s Nest is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages people of color, LGBTQ candidates, and disabled candidates to apply.

Click to see full job descriptions: Media & Technology Coordinator | Facilities & Environment Coordinator
Click to download job descriptions: Media & Technology Coordinator | Facilities & Environment Coordinator

Part-Time Position: Media & Technology Coordinator

Kite's Nest is a learning resource center dedicated to curiosity and inquiry in Hudson, NY, committed to creating an extraordinary environment for children and teenagers to learn, play, and grow. Our community-based learning center offers multidisciplinary, project-based workshops to a wide range of children and teenagers, serving as a crucial supplement to school and, in some cases, as an alternative to school for young people in Hudson. We also run a commercially-certified learning kitchen for children and adults, a community garden and sustainability education site in Hudson, and we advocate for community-based education throughout the city. It is our mission to generate experiences that spark the interests and passions of young people, and offer a supportive environment for children to pursue and develop their interests within their community. We believe that by supporting children to develop a passion for learning, we are building a generation of young adults with the skills, abilities, and confidence to create meaningful lives.

Media is central to our work at Kite’s Nest. As part of our approach to working with young people, we rigorously document what happens inside our learning center. We document as a reflective process, so that we can revisit what’s happening in the classroom through photographs, recorded conversations, and the drawn and written work of kids. We also document to share and exchange our work -- and the work of our students -- with our families, collaborators, neighbors, and people everywhere interested in alternative education and community-based learning.

Kite’s Nest is seeking a part-time Media & Technology Coordinator to support our organization in developing and maintaining systems for managing internal media, a creative online presence, and periodic press/outreach materials. We are looking for someone with tech and web know-how who will help to empower our whole staff’s skills, get our technology in order, and help us get the word out. The Media & Technology Coordinator will work closely with Kite’s Nest Co-Directors and staff to support our mission of youth empowerment by maintaining creative, organized, and innovative systems for storing and sharing our work.

Responsibilities include:

Maintain and develop Kite’s Nest website, including technical and graphic-design implementation.
Implement and advise the development of a digital content management system, including: storage of photographs (using Adobe Lightroom) and other materials (an archive of Kite’s Nest outreach materials, audio files, etc), and a system for internal sharing of documents.
Acquire and set up technology for use in youth programs.
Oversee our CRM and MailChimp databases, and coordinate regular Kite’s Nest email newsletters: coordinate the writing of newsletter content with Kite’s Nest staff, set up newsletter in dreamweaver template, and oversee email distribution.
Create periodic outreach materials, working with Kite’s Nest graphic designer and with Adobe Indesign to create flyers, program announcements, etc.
Design and implement a social media strategy for Kite’s Nest, creating content and posts for appropriate online platforms.
Support Director of Operations and Community Engagement in data entry with our CRM system.
Manage volunteers, interns and teen staff in these areas.
General: supporting Kite’s Nest staff in day-to-day operations, which can include a range of opportunities and shifting demands.

Ideal candidates for this position have:

Strong proficiency with basic web applications and computer software, at ease with technology, and able to learn quickly. Proficiency with some or all of the following programs: Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign, Photoshop, and Lightroom); Squarespace; Dreamweaver; MailChimp; and common social media platforms.
Graphic design experience is a plus.
Excellent writing, communication, and people skills.
Flexibility, and comfort working in a small organization and constantly shifting environment. On any given day, we might be sailing on the Hudson River with children, cooking a giant meal for a public event, hosting a forum for local organizations, or deep-cleaning our space. As a small organization, we often need everyone to help with the task at hand, and to respond quickly to the immediacy of youth programming.
Interest in becoming well-versed in Kite’s Nest’s mission, pedagogy and work, and a desire to work in a collaborative setting with a diverse range of community partners and families. Ability to work independently -- to manage time and take personal initiative -- as well as to to engage in collaborative process.
A commitment to and passion for social justice and youth empowerment. A respect for children, and an interest in supporting young people in developing their own passions and educational paths. A commitment to addressing issues of power and privilege personally, as well as within our organization and our local community.
Interest in participating in occasional Kite’s Nest youth programming, based on personal passions and skills.

Part-Time Position: Facilities & Environment Coordinator

The educators of Reggio Emilia view the school as a living organism, a place of shared relationships among the children, the teachers, and the parents. The school produces for the adults, but above all, for the children, a feeling of belonging in the world that is alive, welcoming, and authentic. (Malaguzzi, 1994)

Kite’s Nest is seeking a part-time Facilities And Environment Coordinator. We are looking for a creative problem solver with basic or advanced construction skills who is interested in supporting our work through attention to physical spaces and systems. We see the environment that we create together as integral to our work as educators, as learners and as a resource for the community.

Responsibilities will include:

Manage general cleaning and maintenance of our small but robust facility.
Coordinate volunteers for workdays, maintenance, building projects and general facility needs.
Manage ongoing improvement projects and creative adaptive furniture, storage and space solutions.
Provide logistical and labor support with extra events on evenings and weekends.
Create, implement and maintain systems for trash, recycling, cleaning and storage.
Act as point person with property owners regarding facilities.
Soliciting donations and sponsorships for tools, materials and equipment.
Manage purchasing, restocking and storage of materials, tools and supplies.

Ideal candidates for this position have:

Experience in the trades.
Strong creative aesthetic.
Excellent communication and people skills.
Willingness to do some of the dirty work required to run a community learning center, and the creativity to imagine, design, and construct spaces and systems that support our learning environment.
Resourcefulness: the ability to improvise and work with existing materials and tools, and to take on a mix of creation, re-construction, and maintenance projects within a constantly shifting environment.
Experience managing volunteers, and working on projects with a diverse group of people who bring a wide range of skills.
Flexibility, and comfort working in a small organization and constantly shifting environment. On any given day, we might be sailing on the Hudson River with children, cooking a giant meal for a public event, hosting a forum for local organizations, or deep-cleaning our space. As a small organization, we often need everyone to help with the task at hand, and to respond quickly to the immediacy of youth programming.
Interest in becoming well-versed in Kite’s Nest’s mission, pedagogy and work, and a desire to work in a collaborative setting with a diverse range of community partners and families. Ability to work independently -- to manage time and take personal initiative -- as well as to to engage in collaborative process.
A commitment to and passion for social justice and youth empowerment. A respect for children, and an interest in supporting young people in developing their own passions and educational paths. A commitment to addressing issues of power and privilege personally, as well as within our organization and our local community.
Interest in participating in occasional Kite’s Nest youth programming, based on personal passions and skills.