Farm Program Coordinator Position in Arkansas

Apple Seeds Farm Program Coordinator: AmeriCorps Vista position, Arkansas

40hours/week

Apple Seeds, a Fayetteville-based non-profit providing garden-based education, seeks an entrepreneurial and enthusiastic full-time Farm Program Coordinator on the Apple Seeds Teaching Farm. The Teaching Farm will host school garden workshops, field trips, and summer camps to educate and excite students about eating fresh healthy food. The Farm Program Coordinator will work with the Program Director and Farm Manager to facilitate project activities and help build sustainable organizational capacity for Apple Seeds.  This position offers the right person ample opportunities to be involved in a leadership role as the program grows. This is an opportunity to be a part of a new endeavor and provide a unique service in a supportive community. This person must be a self-starter who is excited to help grow this social-entrepreneurial non-profit.

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Key Responsibilities:

• Recruit and build volunteer network
• Train volunteers to work in gardens
• Recruit and Train Interns to lead Plant-to-Plate field trips
• Coordinate and organize infrastructure for Plant-to-Plate field trips
• Conduct Outreach by speaking in schools and leading garden tours
• Create infrastructure to expand school farmers markets to new schools
• Develop and maintain Database
• Develop network for sourcing materials for farm

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of organic farming or school garden projects highly desirable.
• Works well with many personality types
• Self-motivated, hard worker, able to work and meet goals independently
• Experience in school garden education is highly desirable
  • Teaching experience or experience working with primary and middle school aged children
  • Excellent time-management skills
  • Strong oral communication skills
  • Enjoys being around children and has a friendly demeanor
  • Able to organize, lead, and instruct all types of people with varying levels of gardening experience

Hours: Full time – 40hours/week

Start Date: April 7, 2014

Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)

This is a “Volunteers in Service to America” (VISTA) position, funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service for up to three years.  In return for each year of full-time service, the person filling this position will receive a modest living allowance (approx. $878 per month), health-care benefits, child-care assistance, and a $5,550 Education Award or $1,200 post-service stipend.

To qualify for a VISTA position, candidates must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. National, or lawful permanent resident, and at least 18 years of age.  Candidates must be available to serve full-time for at least one year, and cannot hold another job or take educational courses while serving.  The VISTA application process also requires a criminal history background check to ensure community members with whom we work are protected.

For more information about the VISTA program, visit www.americorps.gov

Interested farm assistants should email a letter of interest, resume, and references to mary@appleseedsnwa.org.  Please no calls.

Supervision and Work Space:

Since Apple Seeds has no office space to date, the Farm Program Coordinator will be expected to provide their own basic office equipment of phone and a computer with email capabilities. The Farm Program Coordinator will be supervised by the Program Director and Farm Manager. We expect the program coordinator to be self-motivated and able to work unsupervised on a daily basis.

About Apple Seeds

Apple Seeds is a non-profit that has been serving Northwest Arkansas for nearly ten years. Apple Seeds provides a variety of programs, including gardening clubs, healthy cooking classes, field trips to farms and farmers markets, and school garden farmers markets. Apple Seeds’ mission is to inspire healthy living through garden-based education. Thanks in large part to its Farm to School partnership with the Fayetteville Public Schools Apple Seeds will have reached nearly 6,000 students by the end of 2013. For more information visit www.appleseedsnwa.org