Hearty Roots Outdoor Campus Stewardship VISTA
Position Summary
Position details
Make a difference with a youth development organization in Mid-Coast Maine! Opportunities for skill development include timber framing, trail design and woodland management during days spent outdoors.
The mission of Hearty Roots is to get kids off the grid and into their hearts.
Hearty Roots was founded in 2017 by Haley Bezon, a guidance counselor who saw how mental health support for youth wasn’t meeting kids where they were. A deep believer in the power of the natural world to provide the perfect backdrop for mindful social-emotional skill-building and restoration, Haley began to develop programming to serve the kids of Lincoln County, Maine, including summer camps and year-round in-school and afterschool one-on-one counseling by licensed therapists.
In 2025 alone, Hearty Roots has already served more than 600 kids and offered no-questions-asked scholarship support to over 50% of their families. Maine has the highest rate of youth mental health with 1 in 4 having at least one mental health diagnosis, so the need is great and Hearty Roots is rising to the challenge of caring for Lincoln County’s kids.
Our 115-acre Campus for Mindful Adventure comprises 110 acres of pristine wilderness: ancient Hemlocks, dramatic erratics, streams and a huge beaver pond; five acres across the road has extensive frontage on beautiful Biscay Pond and features an open-air pavilion and dock. 2026 will see the ongoing development of the campus on the “wood side”, including a gear barn, some rustic cabins and tent platforms. Trail-building and maintenance are ongoing, and we hope to install some ADA trails to accommodate our Sunbeam campers (kids with neurological or physiological differences).
Join us as an AmeriCorps VISTA and help us to support and build the capacity of the campus that provides the template for our programs so that we can best serve the youth who attend programming on campus! You can help us make this happen by researching design and implementation strategies for new trails, helping us plan our infrastructure improvement, and by improving our volunteer management program in order to best support the campus development and growth.
Benefits
- Bi-Weekly Living Allowance of $957.46/Biweekly
- Relocation Allowance of $750 plus $.40 per mile (for those moving more than 50 miles)
- Health Benefits
- Childcare Reimbursement if Eligible
- Student Loan Forbearance for eligible federal loans (interest paid by AmeriCorps)
- Training and Professional Development
- Life Navigator (on-staff licensed counselor for members)
- Choice of Segal AmeriCorps Education Award ($7,395) or an end-of-term bonus ($1,800) upon term completion
- Non-Competitive Eligibility for federal employment for one-year post-term
- Extensive Training
- Gas gift cards to offset cost of commuting
- Cellphone Stipend
*Individuals are limited to two full Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards in their lifetime
Already have a MyAmeriCorps account and want to apply for this specific role? You can find that listing on MyAmeriCorps here.
The positive impact VISTA members offer their local communities is remarkable and continues to build year after year. Descriptions of all Goodwill AmeriCorps Positions can be found at: goodwillnne.org/jobs/americorps/positions/.
Organization
Hearty Roots
Breman, MEGoodwill VISTA Partnership
The Goodwill VISTA Partnership works to reduce poverty in communities across Maine and New Hampshire through indirect service, such as creating and running programs, fundraising and grant writing, communications work, increasing social media presence, recruiting volunteers, as well as assisting with community assessments, among other projects. Focus areas of partner agencies include public health, food security, environmental justice, educational support, youth development, housing, and more!