Island Fellow

The Island Institute seeks qualified candidates for an Island Fellowship, a two-year placement in one of Maine’s coastal or15 year-round island communities.

Join the Island Institute for a unique 24-month professional experience embedded in some of Maine’s most beautiful places. The Island Fellows Program places college and master’s degree graduates in Maine’s coastal and year-round island communities to live and work for two years. These 24-month fellowship positions provide a unique opportunity for recent graduates to apply their skills and gain real-life, place-based experience helping to build sustainability within communities whose way of life and identity face many challenges and unique opportunities. Island Fellows work directly with a host organization within the community on a high priority project identified by the community, while also contributing their own interests and passions to the community they live in. The fellowship experience is designed to support the development of essential career skills. The cohort of fellows take part in a variety of professional experiences designed to build communication, project management, facilitation, and grant writing.

The Island Fellows Program provides support for these communities by:

• Strengthening local capacity for the local management and planning of historical, natural, economic, and information resources
• Providing technical assistance in implementing local research, planning, education, and communication projects

Successful candidates will be community focused, self-motivated, self-aware, and committed to the Institute’s mission and values. Applicants must be able to carefully allocate their time and organizational resources while working across multiple projects.

Requirements

• A recent undergraduate or graduate degree (within five years of graduation)
• The ability and willingness to travel to off-site locations, including by boat.
• Ability to work in the USA
• Ability to reside full time in the community where the fellowship is located

Desired Qualifications:

• Demonstrated interests or abilities in community development or related fields.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills; able to speak about the work in an articulate, professional, and compelling manner (one-on-one and with groups)
• The ability to understand island and rural communities and how change happens locally.
• The ability to listen in communities and in partnerships to inform, develop, and implement responsive programming.
• Interest in shaping experiences for community members that inspire them to act and solve problems.
• Comfort with technology, including information technology systems such as Office 365 applications.
• Ability to work without direct supervision.
• Enthusiasm for living and working in small, rural communities.

Essential Functions:

• Work within a community nonprofit, municipal, or educational organization for 24 months.
• Connect and integrate into a community and apply this understanding to an identified project. 
• Apply project management skills to move projects forward in a way that promotes community engagement and creates sustainability at the end of the fellowship.

Other Program Requirements:

• The fellowship is a full time job; Island Fellows cannot hold additional employment.
• Due to the nature of the program, some fellowships will require Fellows to have a car/license.

Benefits:

• In-community housing, utilities, and internet provided.
• $12.15/hour wage; 35-hour work week
• Paid vacation, holidays, and personal time off
• Professional development through retreats and workshops and Island Institute events
• Professional development funds
• Health insurance
• Laptop purchase program
• Networking with other like-minded professionals and organizations
• Island Institute membership

 Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: the employee is required to sit, enter data using computer keyboard and mouse, stand, walk, bend over occasionally, and move about the office space as well as between building floors. There is no requirement to lift and/or move weights of more than 15 pounds. The employee will be expected to travel on occasion by boat and ferry to various island and remote coastal locations. There will be times when working long hours on evenings and weekends will be required.
• Travel: Must be comfortable traveling for extended periods of time by any mode of transportation in cross-cultural contexts.
• Work environment: The noise level in the work environment is usually minimal.

 The Island Fellowship position is a two-year placement. After the first year, Fellows will participate in work planning to determine the direction of the second year. Fellows are paid an hourly wage and are provided on-island housing, including utilities for no charge. Fellows are also eligible for health insurance and have access to professional development funds.  

Please find further information and the application here: 

http://www.islandinstitute.org/island-fellows

 The application window closes March 31, 2021. Only online applications are accepted.

Based in Rockland, Maine, the Island Institute is a nonprofit organization and an equal opportunity "at-will" employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities based upon an individual's ability and qualifications. We do not discriminate against people on the basis of race, citizenship, ancestry, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, mental or physical disability.

For more information about the Island Institute and our work along the Maine coast, please visit www.islandinstitute.org.