Title: Education & Outreach Specialist

Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Reports to: Program Director

Type: Part-time (approximately 20 hours a week), a mix of remote and in the CVW offices in Virginia Beach, some weekend days may be required.

CVW’s Mission: Clean Virginia Waterways’ mission is to enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education, and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom. CVW, a leader in preventing marine debris from land-based sources, was founded in 1995, and is affiliated with the Ocean Conservancy and funded in part with a grant from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program. CVW is currently a fiscally sponsored program of United Charitable, a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization.

CVW’s projects include: implementation of the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan; hosting the Virginia Marine Debris Summit; Keep It Beachy Clean Litter Prevention Program; Virginia’s balloon litter monitoring project; plastic pollution research and advocacy for prevention; organizing the International Coastal Cleanup in Virginia.

Overview: The CVW Education & Outreach Specialist will work closely with the Program Director and other staff and interns to advance our mission through programs and activities. This is a key position which plans, coordinates, and assures implementation of education-based strategies included in the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan to advance CVW’s mission. The position will be responsible for managing educational programs, outreach events and volunteer engagement.

Responsibilities:

Education and Outreach

• Work with other CVW staff to plan and coordinate all aspects of workshops, webinars, and summits
• Work with partners, industry and volunteers to assist with education and outreach regarding Virginia’s balloon release ban, polystyrene ban in restaurants, $.05 single-use plastic bag fee.
• Create educator kits using current materials from NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, Ocean Conservancy, Keep It Beachy Clean and others. Educator kits will be made available for download on the CVW website with presentations and materials for all grade levels.
• Create a marine debris speakers’ network for groups of all ages. Create presentations, build a volunteer network of informal educators throughout Virginia, conduct trainings and manage outreach and educational opportunities.
• Expand the Keep It Beachy Clean program throughout Hampton Roads and Virginia’s Eastern Shore using partners and volunteers. Create and update KIBC educational materials. Manage beach toy recycling program. Secure sponsorships for KIBC program.
• Assist with implementation of Mid-Atlantic reusable water bottle campaign.
• Manage CVW’s new annual “A Day Without Single-Use Plastics” Video Contest for Virginia’s High School students
• Work with interested groups to organize litter cleanups: distribute supplies when needed, assist with planning and logistics, help with data collection using data cards or Clean Swell app
• Work independently with little supervision and with diverse clientele. Must be a motivated self-starter with strong interpersonal skills.

Other duties

• Update CVW website and other social media
• Assist with hosting the 2025 Virginia Marine Debris Summit
• Assist with fundraising, including grant seeking and administration
• Assist with International Coastal Cleanup

Position Preferences

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• 3 to 5 years of experience in environmental education (formal or informal).
• Demonstrated success in project management
• Demonstrated knowledge of environmental issues, especially marine debris and plastic pollution prevention
• Have a track record of collaboration and working effectively across teams
• General communication and public speaking skills
• Must be flexible to work occasional weekend events

Technical Skills

• Website design and maintenance (we use Squarespace and Weebly)
• Microsoft office especially Word and Excel
• Canva
• Google Workspace
• Graphic Design skills are a plus

If you have a mix of these skills, we encourage you to apply.

The hourly wage for this position is $20 to $30 per hour based on previous experience.

This position is funded by a grant and is only guaranteed through September 2025.