Youth Farm Coordinator, Windy Harvest; Chicago, IL

Title: Youth Farm Coordinator, North Lawndale Youth Farm (1) and Washington Park (1)

Exemption Status: Non-exempt

Department: Windy City Harvest

Reports to: Senior Manager, Farm Operations

Year-round, Full-time

Supervises: Program participants and volunteers

Year‑Rough Full‑time employees of the Chicago Botanic Garden are eligible for the following Benefits:

• 2026 A Guide to Your Benefits JP.pdf

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, our compensation philosophy is rooted in our core values:
Growth, Understanding, Resilience, and Trust through Transparency. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and appreciated.

Our objective is to create compensation and growth opportunities for our employees that are highly competitive, internally equitable and transparent. The foundation of our efforts is a straightforward approach that can be easily communicated by managers with defined pay ranges for all positions. When posting job openings, we share the minimum salary up to the budgeted amount.

The starting salary for new staff members is determined by considering the salary range assigned to the position and by reviewing the candidate's qualifications for the job as compared with job responsibilities. Prior work experience should be considered in determining the salary offer, provided that it is relevant to the job. Additional factors such as secondary language proficiency or advanced degrees that enhance performance may also be considered.

A candidate's salary may exceed the minimum amount based on factors such as experience, additional skills (e.g., secondary language proficiency), or pertinent degrees that enhance the individual's contribution to the role but are not required. Opportunities for increased compensation are provided through referral bonuses, shift differentials, Thank You Pay, promotions, and periodic pay increases based on the Garden's overall performance and financial budgets.

Our total compensation and benefits package is people centric. We prioritize employee wellness across three pillars: physical, mental, and financial. Our goal is to offer innovative total rewards that support continuous professional growth, personal development, and provide the flexibility needed to balance personal and professional commitments.

The Windy City Harvest (WCH) Youth Farm Coordinator oversees daily farm operations and supports the delivery of educational programming at sites including:

• North Lawndale Youth Farm, ensuring the successful implementation of WCH's agricultural initiatives. Building on Windy City Harvest's Youth Farm model first established in 2003 and later expanded to Chicago-the North Lawndale Youth Farm operates on a quarter‑acre site on the city's West Side in partnership with Neighbor Space. It currently serves up to 20 youth participants, with produce sold through the Farm on Ogden market.
• Washington Park Youth Farm, WCH's largest urban farm location. Established in 2009 with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Washington Park site is located on Chicago Park District property and serves up to 25 youth from neighborhood high schools each growing season. The site features a large hoophouse to extend the growing season, a productive orchard, and is close to Dyett High School.

The Youth Farm Coordinator manages sustainable vegetable production, supervises and mentors youth participants and volunteers, and upholds high standards for productivity, food safety, and program outcomes while providing hands‑on, experiential learning opportunities that promote urban agriculture, workforce development, and community access to fresh food.

In this role you will be responsible for the following:

• Create and implement crop plan for sustainable vegetable production, using succession planting, integrated pest management, and season extension.
• Meet production goal of annual crop plan.
• Forecast weekly harvest availability, maintain and provide accountability measures for weekly harvest.
• Harvest and process vegetables in compliance with Good Agricultural Practices and Food Safety…