Community Gardens

Position: Senior Coordinator, Community Garden
Organization: Building Roots
Location: Moss Park / Downtown East, Toronto

Compensation: $29.00/hour
Hours: Up to 30 hours/week during peak season
Contract Term: March 2026 – October 2026
Application Deadline: February 27, 2026
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

About Building Roots

Building Roots is a community-based organization rooted in Moss Park, working to increase access to healthy food, strengthen community connection, and support dignity, belonging, and local leadership.

Our Community Garden is a shared space for growing food, learning together, and building relationships that foster a supportive, inclusive community.

Position Overview

The Senior Coordinator, Community Garden plays a central role in supporting the Moss Park Community Garden as a welcoming, inclusive, and community-led space. This role focuses on garden workshops and events, peer-led activities, food growing and harvesting, and broader community engagement connected to Building Roots’ programs.

Working closely with the Coordinator, Community Garden, Director, Community Engagement and Manager, Food Programs, the Senior Coordinator helps ensure the garden is accessible, well-animated, and responsive to the needs and interests of community members with a strong emphasis on outreach, relationship-building, and community presence on weekends.

Key Responsibilities:

Garden Programming & Workshops

• Develop, coordinate, and facilitate community garden workshops and seasonal events
• Deliver beginner- to intermediate-level workshops on topics such as:

  • Plant care, soil health, and basic food growing

  • Harvesting and seasonal garden maintenance

  • Pollinator plants and/or other topics related to local plant and food growing

• Adapt workshops to be accessible to families, children, youth, seniors, and community members facing barriers (including language, confidence, or prior experience)

Peer-Led & Community-Led Activities

• Support peer-led garden workshops and activities, including preparation and facilitation support
• Encourage participation and leadership from community members
• Support outreach and relationship-building to increase engagement in garden activities including regular Saturday outreach at the market, sharing food from the garden, as well as informal community check-ins
• Program collaboration for Community Leaders Program including creating content, facilitation and other activities as needed for support of this and other community programs

Garden Operations & Food Growing

• Support planting, growing, harvesting, and maintenance of the community garden
• Assist with organizing tools, supplies, and shared garden resources
• Work outdoors in varied weather conditions and support physical garden tasks as needed

Community Engagement & Documentation

• Build positive, respectful relationships with garden participants and community members
• Support program documentation and reporting, with guidance from the Director of Community Engagement and Executive Director
• Stay organized and up to date with reporting, attendance tracking, and activity documentation
• Contribute to a welcoming, trauma-informed, and harm-reduction-aligned environment

Position Details:

• Hours: Up to 30 hours per week during the main growing season (April–October); reduced hours in March
• Schedule requirements:

  • Must be available to work Saturdays, and Sundays as needed, throughout the growing season, including some holiday long weekends.

  • Additional weekday hours will be scheduled in coordination with the Garden Coordinator, garden open hours, and program needs

• Contract: Fixed-term contract for the 2026 growing season (March–October). Exact start date to be mutually agreed upon.

Skills & Experience

We are looking for someone who brings practical skills, strong communication, and a community-centred approach. Formal accreditation is not required.

Required / Strongly Desired:

• Hands-on gardening knowledge and experience
• Ability to explain and demonstrate gardening concepts in accessible, engaging ways
• At least 1-2 years experience creating and facilitating workshops for a variety of groups
• Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences
• A collaborative, enthusiastic approach and comfort working as part of a small, interconnected team
• Strong relationship-building skills and ease engaging with community members in informal and structured settings
• Ability to work outdoors and support physical tasks (e.g. lifting, bending, standing)
• Comfort using basic technology and digital tools for communication, scheduling, and documentation

Assets:

• Connection to Moss Park or surrounding neighbourhoods
• Lived experience of poverty, food insecurity, or other forms of marginalization
• Experience in community gardens, food access programs, or peer-led initiatives
• Multilingual skills
• Experience using CRM for volunteer or community engagement (e.g. Bloomerang)
• Familiarity with Slack
• Training in trauma-informed facilitation; first aid; harm reduction; or conflict resolution

Equity & Hiring Statement

Building Roots is committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and racialized people, people with lived experience of poverty or food insecurity, newcomers, people with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ individuals, and others who may contribute to the diversity of our team.

We intentionally deprioritize paid accreditation in our hiring process and prioritize lived experience, community knowledge, and transferable skills. While formal training and certifications may be considered, they are not required and will not be used to exclude candidates.

How to Apply

Please submit a brief cover letter or written statement outlining why you are interested in the role as well as a resume or summary of relevant experience.

Submit your application by email to: hiring@buildingroots.ca

Applications accepted until 5pm est February 27, 2026.

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