Green Leaders

Do you want to help boost Miami’s resilience? Do you want to get paid to learn about native plants? Apply to become a Green Leader Horticulture Apprentice on The Underline!

Miami is at the epicenter of climate change and we must be prepared to adapt. The Underline is a 10-mile linear park with a mission to address these needs. Transforming the underutilized space beneath the Miami Metrorail, The Underline is planting 120-acres of native gardens to create a 10-mile ecological corridor and park for Miami’s humans, birds, and pollinators.

With The Underline expanding its footprint from the Miami River to Dadeland South over the next three years, now is the time to get involved with our transformational linear park. Through The Underline’s immersive apprenticeship experience, students will learn the value of green infrastructure such as trees, bioswales and native plants. Along the way, the successful candidates will learn life skills that will help grow and protect these valuable resources. 

As a Horticulture Apprentice, students will work on The Underline for 12 weeks, from May through August, as part of a skilled workforce using cutting edge practices to grow, maintain and assess native vegetation. The summer will be devoted to real world experience where students are paid to contribute to The Underline’s native plant network. Immersed in our linear park, you learn first-hand the species of our native plants and their impacts on pollinators and the environment.  Five selected Miami Dade College students will help analyze the health of existing plants and develop proposals for future plantings. Using emerging climate tech, they will assess the impacts of our trees and native plants on our air quality, temperature, water and soil quality. 

Apprenticeship Details:

• This is a part-time (20hrs/week) paid position ($17/hour).
• The scheduled workday is from  7 AM-12 PM,  every Monday-Thursday (and some Saturdays). 
• The apprenticeship begins May 19 and runs through August 8.
• Due to the structure of the apprenticeship, attendance for the full 12 weeks is required. 

Over the 12-week period, students will work as a team to care for The Underline’s gardens on a daily basis. Students will work alongside our professional horticulture staff and learn what it takes to create and maintain a public garden and how to care for our native plants so they provide the greatest ecological benefits. Weekly lectures and field visits will give students the opportunity to visit some of Miami’s most prominent public gardens, visit historical natural areas to learn about our native habitats, and get to meet professionals in the fields of landscape architecture, climate technology, urban planning, biology, parks & recreation and horticulture.

Interested in working with us? Click here to complete the application. 

Feel free to reach out to our Horticulturist with any questions or concerns. Email: asha.bertsch@theunderline.org