MKE Plays hiring Program Coordinator | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
City of Milwaukee
April 28, 2015
POSITION TITLE: MKE Plays Program Coordinator
WORKSITE LOCATION: City of Milwaukee – City Hall and Remote
EXPECTED DATES OF CONTRACT: April 2015 – October 2015
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LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 20-22 weeks (approximately 10-20 hours per week). Hours worked per week are dependent on volume of community activity for a given park. Night/weekend neighborhood and ad hoc board meetings are required.
INTERN SUPERVISOR & CONTACT INFORMATION: Sarah Zarate, Staff Assistant to Council President (414) 286-3272 (stasstp@milwaukee.gov)
FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR CONTRACT: Yes. Hourly Wage $/hr. (some travel required, 50% of time) PROGRAM SUMMARY:
The MKE Plays initiative aims to transform 12 of the city’s most deteriorated playgrounds, as evaluated by the Department of Public Works, into models for local collaboration and renovation. The restoration of the City’s playgrounds will bring much needed improvement to create safe and attractive places for families to play and socialize. At a time when obesity is the leading cause of preventable death in the US and when close to 35% of Milwaukee high school students are either overweight or obese, the systematic and cooperative transformation of Milwaukee play areas cannot be underestimated. Involving local residents in the restoration of community assets offers further benefits by providing opportunities for people to share in the design experience and develop a sense of ownership in their community. The social capital needed to improve and maintain the MKE Plays neighborhoods is as much an asset as the required financial capital, and is more likely to overflow into additional community action.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:
The Program Coordinator will oversee the implementation of the MKE Plays program through its first construction season, uncovering local playground dynamics in each of the geographic areas for the first two parks. The Program Coordinator’s community engagement and coordination activities are an opportunity to: provide multiple parties with the context and specific details of program intent and implementation summary; identify the geographic boundary to be used for community outreach strategy; identify branding/community identity dynamics for the surrounding neighborhood including user demographics; identify historical, current and desired best uses for the public spaces that include how use has evolved over the last five years; map community assets; identify points of contact surrounding the parks, including relevant local community organizations, and identifying for the Common Council President appointments to be made for individual ad hoc boards. The first MKE Parks are:
The Program Coordinator will be responsible for developing the tools necessary for successful participatory park assessment in consultation with the Program Manager and other project team members, for training and working with program interns and local partners in each of the parks to collect and analyze data, for overseeing that communication between various partners is efficient and direct, assisting in the organization and development of the evaluation design, and for the production of an implementation guide to be used in the first construction season and which will systemize activities and help facilitate the design and construction of future MKE Plays parks.
Extension of contract into second construction season is possible.
MKE Plays Program Coordinator Scope of Work 4/6/2015
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
MKE Plays program team members, contracted by the City of Milwaukee or local partners, are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, especially to our beneficiaries. The MKE Plays program aims to build playgrounds designed by local residents. With this as a guiding principle, team members must engage beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design process.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:
No direct responsibility. While the Program Manager oversees program implementation on behalf of the Common Council President, MKE Plays is horizontally structured to encourage collaboration and teamwork.
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Staff Assistant to Council President (Program Manager)
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Program Manager, Common Council President, Common Council members and their Legislative Assistants, Community Engagement Specialist (Trinity Fellow), Department of Public Works staff including the Commissioner of Public Works and Operations and Maintenance Manager, and local partners.
DELIVERABLES:
MKE Plays Program Coordinator Scope of Work 4/6/2015
The successful Program Coordinator will have strong organizational and communication skills and be orientated towards collaborative problem solving. S/he will be able to work independently, take initiative, and work closely with a diverse project team in a fast-paced, fluid work environment.
IDEAL CANDIDATE SHOULD POSSESS THE FOLLOWING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
development. Strong facilitation skills required.