Youth & Families Program Coordinator

Part-time contract position
Up to 1,200 hours/year, $30-$40/hour, depending on experience

Intermountain Yearly Meeting (IMYM) seeks a Youth & Families Program Coordinator to strengthen belonging, connection, and spiritual life among children, teens, young adults, and families throughout our regional Quaker community. 

IMYM includes Quaker Meetings and Worship Groups across the Four Corners states, as well as El Paso, Texas, and communities in Wyoming. The Coordinator works year-round with local Quaker communities and plays a central coordinating role in youth and family participation at IMYM's Annual Gathering.

How to Apply

Please read the full job description below before applying.

The application requests your résumé, letter of intent, and three references with their contact information.

We have intentionally kept the application simple so that we can learn about your experience, your sense of leading toward this work, and the gifts and ideas you might bring to it.

Priority application deadline: November 1st, with applications accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Note about résumé and qualifications:

Please upload a current résumé describing your relevant professional, volunteer, educational, and community experience. 

Experience with Quaker communities is valued, but applicants do not need to be Quakers themselves. Relevant experience may also come from youth or family ministry, education, spiritual formation, community organizing, camp or retreat leadership, nonprofit work, or related fields.

Letter of Intent:

Please upload a letter of intent telling us about your interest in serving as IMYM’s Youth & Families Program Coordinator.

We invite you to address:

• What draws or leads you toward this work? 
• What experiences, gifts, or perspectives would you bring to the position? 
• What is your vision for strengthening the belonging and spiritual nurture of children, youth, young adults, and families within IMYM? 
• What possibilities would you be particularly interested in exploring if you were in this role?

We are not looking for a fully developed program plan. We hope instead to understand your sense of leading, your approach to this work, and the direction you might imagine taking it.

Suggested length: Approximately 1–2 pages.

What You’ll Do

The Coordinator will, in partnership with the Youth & Families Support and Advisory Committee:

• Build IMYM’s capacity to include and nurture younger Friends and families, helping local Quaker communities become more welcoming, responsive, and intergenerational.

• Support local Meetings and Worship Groups with resources, consultation, training, and ideas related to spiritual nurture, community life, mentoring, physical spaces, and intergenerational participation.

• Build connections across IMYM through gatherings, online opportunities, parent support, youth and young adult activities, collaboration with Mountain Friends Camp, and communication across a large geographic region.

• Coordinate and support teams serving each age group at the Annual Gathering, rather than directly leading all programs.

• Recruit and populate those teams, including volunteers and CYM and JYF age-group leaders, and provide orientation, communication, and ongoing support.

• Support child and youth safety, including background checks, safety policies, volunteer preparation, and appropriate recordkeeping.

• Collaborate with IMYM committees and leaders on planning, budgeting, communication, and evaluation.

• Although many year-round duties will be performed remotely, in-person attendance at the Annual Gathering in Durango, Colorado is required. In-person attendance at a Gathering Committee meeting on a winter holiday weekend (typically the Friday through Sunday of MLK or Presidents’ Day weekend) may be required.

• Long-distance travel to monthly and regional meetings in the Four Corners region may be required.

Specific priorities will be developed collaboratively with the Youth & Families Support and Advisory Committee and the IMYM Coordinating Committee. The Coordinator is administratively supervised by the Coordinating Committee.

Annual Gathering

IMYM’s Annual Gathering is currently held at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, from the Wednesday before Father’s Day through Father’s Day weekend. In-person attendance is required for this position, with additional setup time immediately beforehand.

The Coordinator recruits and coordinates the teams responsible for several age-based communities:

• Children’s Yearly Meeting (CYM): generally kindergarten through 5th grade, led by an adult CYM Coordinator.

• Junior Young Friends (JYF): beginning with young people entering 6th grade, led by an adult JYF Coordinator.

• Senior Young Friends (SYF): beginning with young people entering 10th grade and continuing through college. SYF is largely youth-led; adult chaperones, mentors, and advocates are selected by the SYF community and are known as Friendly Adult Presences.

• Young Adults: a Quaker community designation that in IMYM generally includes adults ages 20–45

A Gathering Committee meeting to plan the gathering is held the Friday through Sunday of a holiday winter weekend, typically MLK or Presidents’ Day, at a Monthly Meeting in the Four Corners region. In-person attendance may be required.

We’re Looking for Someone Who

Has experience working with children, teens, young adults, and/or families; can recruit and support volunteers; can coordinate complex events and teams; communicates warmly and clearly; works collaboratively; and can build trusting relationships across geographically dispersed communities. 

Experience with Quaker communities is strongly preferred, but applicants do not need to be Quakers themselves. We welcome highly qualified candidates with experience in youth ministry, spiritual formation, education, community organizing, camp or retreat leadership, or related fields who are comfortable working within Quaker practices and values.

A college degree or equivalent experience is desired. We especially welcome applicants who approach work with young people and families as a form of ministry, vocation, or spiritual nurture. 

A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional or intensive volunteer experience is desired. 

Prior familiarity with IMYM, participation in IMYM youth programs, or participation in Mountain Friends Camp is a plus. Familiarity with or participation in Quaker programs outside IMYM is also a plus.

How We’ll Know the Work Is Making a Difference

Success will be reflected not only in participation, but in IMYM’s growing capacity to include younger Friends and families: stronger relationships across the region; local Meetings better equipped to nurture young people; more genuinely intergenerational worship and community life.

Compensation: $30–$40/hour, depending on experience, for up to 1,200 hours annually, plus travel and work-related expenses. Hours will vary throughout the year.

Approximate percentage of time spent on various aspects of the position:

• 40% Annual Gathering

• 30% Connection with Monthly Meetings

• 30% Connecting with youth and families