Tree House Books is searching for a half-time community literacy organizer
Michael Brix
Community Book Distributor
Tree House Books (THB) is a Giving Library and Literacy Center headquartered in North Philadelphia. Founded in 2005, we provide free books to children and families, and Out of School Time (OST) programs that increase literacy skills, and promote a lifelong love of reading and writing.
Our programs serve the community. We reach children from their earliest moments, through high school, and their adults too. Tree House Books has its roots in the belief that literacy - in its many forms - is fundamental to academic success, career readiness, and, most importantly, personal empowerment.
Position Description:
THB is looking for a Community Book Distributor (CBD) to run and implement two of our Access to Books programs, Barbershop Books, and our Traveling Tree House, Book Mobile. The Community Book Distributor will work directly under the Access to Books Director as part of our Access to Books team. These two programs are aimed at getting books into more people’s homes and doing so outside of our primary Giving Library. The CBD will be out in the community making this happen using these two programs.
The Traveling Tree House (TTH) is a brand new program that will be launching in April. It brings our Giving Library experience on the road to different sites around the city, but mainly in North Philadelphia. The van will be filled with books for all ages and community members can walk through and choose books for free. There will be a weekly schedule of TTH stops along with one-off and rotating Saturday events. The Community Book Distributor will be responsible for driving the van, accompanied by volunteers, to the sites and running the show once there. They will need to check out books using our database, keep accurate records, maintain relationships with site leaders, keep the Access to Books Director updated, and the van stocked with appropriate books.
Barbershop Books is a program launched this year in partnership with the New York based organization Barbershop Books. This program places children’s books in Barbershops and provides materials to the Barbers that train them on how to promote literacy and books to their clients. Children who come in for haircuts will read the books while they’re in the chair and take the books home to keep for their own home libraries. The Community Book Distributor will act as a liaison between the barbers and Barbershop Books the organization. They will need to have strong relationships with the barbers and frequent communication to ensure each barbershop is stocked with what they need and bring them more books when necessary. CBD will also work to recruit more barbershops to grow the program. Accurate records must be maintained.
Requirements:
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- Drivers license
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- Clean driving record
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- Comfortable driving a large van
- Flexible schedule
Skills:
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- Passionate about community, equity, and literacy
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- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships with those we are serving
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- Computer literacy
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- Highly organized and detail oriented
- Strong communication skills
Time Commitment:
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- This is a half time position, 20 hr/week
- There will be some set hours along with some room for flexibility - Saturday availability required
Compensation:
- $20,000 / year (Approx $19/hour for 20 hours a week)