Volunteer with us! To get involved, the first step is to submit your completed Volunteer Application. Volunteers are crucial to the success of our programs, and we have lots of ways for you to be a part of what we have going on. All volunteers must complete a one-on-one interview with the Program Director and agree to a background check.
Descriptions of Volunteer Positions:
Classroom Mentor: helping make class happen
Open Darkroom Mentor: mentoring and managing the darkroom’s free time
Gallery Guru: help hang shows all over town
Darkroom Fixer-Upper: testing, cleaning and fixing enlargers
eBay Expert: running our eBay store
Intern: administrative support in office
Auction Volunteer: next auction is on April 27, 2013
Right now we need these kinds of volunteers the most:
Classroom Mentors
Each of our classes are supported by 2-3 mentors who help the teacher to guide class, keep students on track, share their knowledge and be a friendly and supportive part of the classroom community.
Qualifications & Schedule:
Film photography mentors need to be completely comfortable working in a darkroom and with Black & White film processing.
Digital photography mentors need to be completely comfortable working with the manual shutter and aperture settings of digital cameras and be comfortable/proficient in Adobe Lightroom.
Our afterschool classes are held on Mondays & Wednesday or Tuesdays & Thursdays from 3:30-6:30pm. Fall Quarter runs from 9/28/12-12/7/12.
Open Darkroom Mentors
Each Monday and Tuesday during the quarter are facility is open for free use by current & former students. Open Darkroom mentors work on a small team to answer questions about printing and darkroom use, and occasionally about using Lightroom and Photoshop too.
Qualifications & Schedule:
Open Darkroom Mentors need to be very familiar and comfortable in the darkroom. This Fall Quarter, positions are available for Monday and/or Tuesday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm, 10/8 – 11/19.
eBay Expert
Youth in Focus maintains an eBay store where we sell donated equipment to raise funds to buy the exact equipment/supplies that we need in class. As our eBay Expert, you’ll be going through donated equipment, testing it for functionality, listing items for auction, and packing items securely for safe shipping. Ideally, you are internet-savvy, already a bit familiar with using eBay, and enjoy geeking out about cool old camera gear.
Qualifications & Schedule:
Our eBay Experts are familiar and comfortable with camera gear of all kinds: cameras, lenses, flashes, filters, etc, especially manual SLR cameras and lenses. Ideally, you would also be an inquisitive, careful researcher, who can investigate about camera gear online. Basic writing skills necessary. The schedule is flexible — you can come make a schedule of your choosing that fits into Monday-Friday and 10am-2pm. Once a week? Great. Five times a week? Great. It’s up to you!
All volunteer positions require an interview, orientation, and a background check. Our available volunteer opportunities change frequently, so please check back often. Questions? Contact our Program Director at (206) 407-2124.
