Now Hiring Volunteer & Engagement Coordinator!

We are currently looking for a Volunteer & Engagement Coordinator with the following qualifications:

VOLUNTEER AND ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR

Coordinate volunteer resources to assist in the delivery of the Center's programs, events and services. This includes directly managing volunteers, and/or providing guidance, support, resources and tools to staff who supervise volunteers.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and implement goals and objectives for the new volunteer program which reflect the mission of the Audubon Center
• Assess the need for volunteers to enhance program/service delivery
• Conduct ongoing evaluation of the programs and services delivered by volunteers and implement improvements as necessary
• Organize the volunteer program/service
• Develop, administer, and review policies and procedures which guide the volunteer programs and services, and reflect the overall values of the organization
• Develop and administer forms and records to document the volunteer activities
• Identify volunteer assignments that provide meaningful work for volunteers and write the volunteer position descriptions, develop trainings in consultation with staff as appropriate

Engage Volunteers

• Promote the volunteer program to gain community support of the volunteer program and the Audubon Center
• Develop and implement effective strategies to recruit the right volunteers with the right skills
• Develop and implement an intake and interview protocol for potential volunteers to ensure the best match between the skills, qualification, and interests of the volunteers and the needs of the Center
• Implement a screening process for potential volunteers according to accepted screening standards and practices
• Train staff to work effectively and cooperatively with volunteers
• Orient volunteers to increase their understanding of the organization, its guests, its services and the role and responsibilities of volunteers
• Ensure that volunteers are given appropriate training to be successful in their positions
• Ensure that volunteer check-in procedures are followed and records of volunteer hours are maintained according to established procedures
• Ensure that volunteers receive the appropriate level of supervision
• Assist with conflict resolution among clients, staff and volunteers according to established procedures
• Establish and implement a process for evaluating the contribution of individual volunteers
• Plan and implement formal and informal volunteer recognition activities to recognize the contribution of volunteers to the organization
• Evaluate the risks associated with each volunteer position and take appropriate action to control the risks associated with the program or service
• Ensure that volunteers work in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment in accordance with all appropriate legislation and regulations
• Evaluate the contribution of each volunteer on an annual basis
• Prepare an annual report on the contribution of the volunteer program to the organization
• Administer and monitor expenditures for the volunteer program against the approved budget

Qualifications

• College certificate in Volunteer Management is an asset
• Post secondary education in social sciences, human resources, community development, or adult education is an asset

Think you have what it takes? Check out the application here or call us at (323) 221-2255!

Plant of the Month, October 2018: California Coffeeberry

California Coffeeberry
Frangula californica

California Coffeeberry is a plant we grow in our Los Nogales Native Plant Nursery. The plant is prized more for its fruit, a berry 10-15 millimeters in diameter, which turn red, then purple and finally black over the summer. It is valued by birds. This plant is beautiful and easy to grow. It tolerates a wide variety of soil types, and likes either full sun or part shade. It is moderately garden tolerant, and is OK with light summer water up to 2x per month. Coffeeberry has a dense form and is easy to prune. It makes a great and fire resistant hedge.

• Very easy to grow, moderately drought tolerant
• Height: 6-15 ft 
• Flowering season: Spring, Summer
• Berries prized by birds.  Berries are 10-15 millimeters in diameter, turn red, then purple, then black over the summer
• Makes a great and fire resistant hedge

Bird of the Month, October 2018: California Thrasher

California Thrasher
Toxostoma redivivum

Several kinds of dull gray-brown thrashers occur in the West, but this is the only one along the California coast. The bird's normal range is limited to California and a corner of Baja, but within that range it is quite common in the chaparral, even coming into brushy suburbs. It spends most of its time on the ground, walking and running with its tail often held high, stopping to dig in the dirt with its sickle-shaped bill.

Feeding Behavior
Forages mostly on the ground, using its heavy curved bill to flip leaf-litter aside and to dig in the soil.

Eggs
3-4, sometimes 2. Pale blue, evenly spotted with pale brown. Incubation is by both parents, about 14 days. Young: Both parents feed nestlings. Young leave the nest after about 12-14 days, are unable to fly well for several more days. Male may care for young from 1st brood while female begins laying 2nd clutch. 2 broods per year, perhaps sometimes 3.

Young
Both parents feed nestlings. Young leave the nest after about 12-14 days, are unable to fly well for several more days. Male may care for young from 1st brood while female begins laying 2nd clutch. 2 broods per year, perhaps sometimes 3.

Diet
Mostly insects and berries. Feeds on a wide variety of insects, including ants, wasps, bees, beetles, caterpillars, moths, and many others. Also eats some spiders and centipedes. Berries and small fruits are important in diet, and eats seeds, acorns, and other plant material. Will come to bird feeders for miscellaneous scraps.

Nesting
Pairs may remain together on territory all year. Male sings to defend nesting territory, usually from top of shrub or tree; song often includes imitations of other birds. Nest: Placed in a dense shrub or extensive thickets, less than 10' above the ground, usually 2-4' up. Nest (built by both sexes) is a bulky open cup of sticks and twigs, lined with fine grass, weeds, rootlets, strips of bark, and other soft items.

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Plogging at Debs Park!

Last Saturday, September 8th, the Audubon Center teamed up with LA Works and community members to clean up Debs Park!  Twenty-one volunteers showed up to do plogging alongside the driveway leading up to the Center and the North Gate on Griffin Avenue.  Plogging is a new Swedish fitness craze, which combines “jogging,” and the Swedish term “plocka upp,” meaning “to pick up trash”—sounds like fun, right?  Ploggers exercised and picked up trash along the 5-mile stretch of Griffin Avenue starting at the North Gate and ending at the Audubon Center at Debs Park courtyard. 

Cleaning up Debs is no easy task.  We were glad to have such an enthusiastic team of college students, families, and neighbors working together for a cleaner Debs!  Sign up for our next plogging event on November 17th today—email debspark@audubon.org for more information.  Bring your friends and your running shoes and lets make our parks a cleaner place!

Plant of the Month, August 2018: California Buckwheat

California Buckwheat

Eriogonum fasciculatum

California Buckwheat is a staple at our park and at our nursery!  It blooms creamy white leaves in the spring which turn to rusty-brown as summer fades into fall.  Buckwheat flour belongs in the same family, but making anything  of this plant would not be palatable.  Here's a recipe on how to make buckwheat flour.  

• Tough and easy to grow, even in very dry conditions 
• Height: 2' or 3' high 
• Flowering season: Spring, Summer, Fall 
• Pollinator friendly, attracts butterflies and bees
• Ants, wind and water disperse seeds
• Flowers are a combination of pink, cream, white in early flowering stage, while turning rust-brown as flowers mature