Volunteer Responsibilities at African Burial Ground

Information Desk Volunteer - This volunteer is responsible for manning the African Burial Ground Information desk and may additionally work simultaneously at the African Burial Ground Visitor Center Bookstore if he/she is willing to go through the bonding procedure. He/she serves as a vital communication node at our site and has the job of greeting visitors and orienting them to our site, answering phone calls and directing phone calls to their appropriate extension, taking messages, making announcements, and answering visitor queries. Essential qualities for this job include but are not limited to excellent customer service skills, an ability to informally communicate the story of the African Burial Ground, and an ability to multitask. This job is not well-suited to drop-in volunteers and is best filled by someone willing to work regularly pre-scheduled shifts.

Community Events Volunteer - Our national park owes its origin due to systematic public engagement and education. Consequently, it is incumbent on The African Burial Ground National Monument to maintain an active public educational profile, and one component of this is to have a sustained presence at community events that are compatible with our site's mission. Consequently, the community events volunteers are responsible for identifying community events that the African Burial Ground should be represented at, communicating these events to African Burial Ground National Monument staff for official approval, and then staffing information tables at these events on behalf of the African Burial Ground National Monument both with staff accompaniment and on their own direction. This volunteer job is ideal for someone who enjoys attending community events, has excellent customer service experience, and who is connected to community networks so that he/she can provide potential events to AFBG staff.

Interpretive Volunteer - The African Burial Ground National Monument serves as a place for public education and commemoration of early African New York. Interpretive volunteers further this mission by augmenting our ranger staff and performing public programming on an ad hoc basis. This programming will be as much or as little work as the interpretive volunteer feels capable of performing and can include but is not limited to: A)Museum guide, providing information or asking questions that enhance the visitor experience. B)Memorial tours, taking visitors around the memorial and teaching them the story of the AFBG while also providing commentary on the significance and themes of the memorial. This volunteer can also staff the memorial in conjunction with a ranger on busy days, enhancing and improving the visitor experience. C) Provide walking tours.