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1 person is interested
Amazon Forest Roadshow Ambassador
ORGANIZATION: JCP CACE cc
Please visit the new page to apply.
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1 person is interested
Center for Amazonian Community Ecology (CACE)
The Center for Amazon Community Ecology is a non-profit organization that helps traditional peoples in the Amazon to develop and market innovative handicrafts to create sustainable livelihoods for their families, promote forest conservation and support local community development. CACE is a member of the Fair Trade Federation that works with 15 native and campesino communities in the northern Peruvian Amazon. We host skill-sharing workshops where artisans learn to make unique handicrafts, strengthen their organizations, and better manage the plants they use to make crafts. CACE buys their crafts in Peru to help them earn a living without damaging the forest. We then market their crafts in the US and use part of the sales to support health, education, and conservation needs in our partner communities. Our social rebates have been used to build a community health clinic, buy supplies for schools, and reforest chambira palm trees. Read more about CACE.
Marketing Amazon Handicrafts at Summer Music Festivals and Beyond
We are seeking one or two committed people to help CACE sell our partners’ crafts at music festivals, craft fairs, fair-trade stores around the country, and online ( www.AmazonForestStore.org). These efforts will help improve the lives of hundreds of traditional artisans, strengthen their communities and support forest conservation. Our helpers will gain fun and valuable experience marketing fair-trade handicrafts, earn some money and maybe join us in the Peruvian Amazon.
The Amazon Roadshow Ambassador (ARA) will be a critical member of our Amazon Forest Roadshow team. From late May to early September, CACE will sell our fair-trade handicrafts at seven music festivals in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Events include the Romp Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Rhythm and Roots Festival. They bring together great musicians in their genre and fans who love to share a camping community for three or four days. Beyond loving music, many festival attendees also want to support social justice and protect the environment. Visit www.AmazonEcology.Org for the schedule of these and other events we will attend this summer.
Our ARA will help: 1) Set-up and take down the tent, display materials and crafts, 2) Greet and sell crafts to customers, 3) Train volunteers, 4) Engage booth visitors in our Amazon Discovery Zone with activities like the Community Art Gallery, Rainforest Puzzle, and Nature Trivia Quiz, 4) Take pictures of enthusiastic customers to post on social media, and 5) Drive the vehicle to and from the festival (if possible). We expect the ARA to help with all aspects of set-up and break-down and spend six hours per day at the booth during the festival. They will be free to enjoy the music with a free vendor pass during the rest of the time.
We are also seeking a Fair-trade Marketing Maven to support our online, wholesale and craft sales at music festivals this summer. One person could do both of these jobs during the summer. See full FMM position description.
Position Qualifications and Lifestyle
Our Amazon Roadshow Ambassador will need reasonable physical strength, abundant stamina, a creative sense for product display, good sense of humor and a love for nature and good conversation. The ARA also needs to be passionate about our mission, skilled at selling, an excellent listener, honest, responsible, patient, attentive to details, and enjoy engaging with all types people. They also need to be comfortable camping and a good driver.
People who attend camping festivals come to hear great music, gather with friends, and fully experience each festival’s unique culture. Vendors are an important part of these communities since people count on finding unique items for themselves and gifts for others. Many people want to get to know vendors, learn the stories behind their products, and share their own adventures. We cook near our booth, sleep in our vehicle or a tent, and help out our fellow vendors. We take breaks to listen to awesome bands and often hang out or dance with other vendors, campers, and musicians when we close for the night. We work hard, sometimes play hard, and sleep when we can. It’s an incredibly fun way to learn a lot, meet some great people and make a difference in the world.
Since CACE’s home base is in Camp Hill, PA, our ARA should live in central Pennsylvania (ideally near Harrisburg) or have their own way to get there before events if their home is not on the way to the festival. We may be able to offer ARA positions for select events, but we ideally want one person to help us with most or all festivals this summer. If our top candidate wishes to move to the area for the summer for this position, we would help them seek low-cost housing.
Terms and Benefits of the Positions
Amazon Roadshow Ambassador. Our first event of the summer will be a non-camping festival in late May in Maryland. The roadshow will end with one camping festival in early September in Rhode Island. Dates and locations for all events can be seen at: http://www.amazonecology.org/. We will usually leave for a festival one to three days before it starts and head home the day after it ends. Again, we expect the ARA to assist with all aspects of booth set-up and break-down, spend six hours per day at the booth during the festival and help drive the vehicle and trailer to and from the festival if possible. Helping at all 7 festivals would involve about 36 days of the total 94 days of the season.
This position is structured as a fellowship where the ARA will learn multiple aspects of fair-trade marketing and sales through intensive orientation and on-the-job training. We would welcome applications from people able to take on this position as a volunteer. We will, however, pay for festival related food expenses for the ARA and offer them a maximum stipend of $1,400 depending on their time invested during the season. The ARA could also be invited to apply part of their stipend to spend up to one month in Peru with CACE as an Amazon Field Volunteer. AFV details described below. The ARA will receive a detailed letter of recommendation, support to fulfill internship or service requirements, opportunities to sell CACE crafts in other venues, and consideration for other positions with CACE.
Amazon Field Volunteer (AFV). These special CACE volunteers directly support our work with our native and campesino partners in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Every AFV project is customized to fit the volunteer’s skills and interests with the needs of CACE’s partners and programs. They might document or support our artisan empowerment workshops or projects that support health, education or reforestation in their communities. The AFV could also help prepare profiles about our artisan partners, their communities or the plants used to make crafts and essential oils. They could share a special skill with our community partners such as drawing, photography, or teaching English. An AFV needs to be in good health, ready to serve, enthusiastic about adventure and willing to accept the risks of travel in third-world conditions. They should already be conversant in Spanish or learn enough before their trip to function well on their own. If one person does both the ARA and FMM positions and qualifies for the AFV program, CACE could apply $1600 of their combined stipend to cover their airfare and other expenses in Peru. If a person does just the ARA or FMM position for the whole summer, CACE could apply $800 of their stipend to cover their AFV related trip expenses. This AFV position would probably last 3 to 4 weeks, but the period could be extended for exceptional volunteers able to finance the remainder of their stay. See full AFV program description.
Application process
If you are excited about joining the CACE team, please email your resume, unofficial transcript (if recent student), and a letter describing your relevant experience and interest in this position and/or the Fair-Trade Marketing Maven to Dr. Campbell Plowden, CACE Executive Director at cplowden@amazonecology.org. Please also tell us if you’d like to join us in Peru as an Amazon Field Volunteer. Applications will be reviewed upon receipt until positions are filled. Strong candidates will be invited to interview with Dr. Plowden, provide references, and agree to a background check.
More opportunities with JCP CACE cc
1 ReviewNo additional volunteer opportunities at this time.
About JCP CACE cc
Location:
1200 Market St., PMB# 285, Lemoyne, PA 17043, US
Mission Statement
The mission of the Center for Amazon Community Ecology is to promote the understanding, conservation and sustainable development of human and other biological communities in the Amazon region. Our three strategies are research, community support and education. One of our main goals is to study the ecology and develop the sustainable harvest and marketing of non-timber forest products such as fruits, fibers, resins, and oils. We also work with indigenous and other forest peoples to sustain local resources and support their communities.
Description
The main strategies for achieving our goals are research, community support, and education. This will include investigating the ecology and sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products (like resins, fruits and fibers) and assisting indigenous and other forest-based communities to manage and market them to support local development and conservation. This will require reaching out to and connecting many people and communities in the Amazon and abroad. CACE is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
406 Allendale WayCamp Hill, PA 17011
DATE POSTED
April 22, 2019
SKILLS
GOOD FOR
N/A
REQUIREMENTS
- Driver's License Needed
- Background Check
- Must be at least 18
- Orientation or Training
- Assist CACE director at up to 7 music festivals. Travel, set-up and selling time at festivals range from 2 to 6 days. Minimum commitment 6 hours per day during festivals.
- See full position qualifications above