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Thursday, April 26, 2018

FoodCorps Michigan Program Coordinator position is open!

FoodCorps Michigan Program Coordinator

 

Apply for this Position

 

Who We Are:

FoodCorps believes every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn.  In underserved communities across the country, our AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons, partner with farmers and food service workers to create nutritious and delicious school meals, and collaborate with communities to ensure a long-term culture of health.  Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps pursues systemic strategies that will benefit all of our nation’s 100,000 schools.

 

What We’re Looking For:

FoodCorps seeks a motivated and passionate individual to lead, coach, and support a cohort of 15+ FoodCorps service members and FoodCorps programming in Michigan under the direction of the Michigan Program Director. The Program Coordinator will play a critical role in the delivery of high quality, high fidelity programming statewide by assisting with the training and ongoing coaching to service members, the selection and management of service sites, and the day-to-day program administration tasks. They will have experience leading young teams and be excited to support new, pre-professional leaders. This newly created position will help to establish the FoodCorps Michigan field office and will help to guide the program in Michigan through many changes. The ability to learn, adapt, and work through ambiguity will be important in this role!  Successful candidates will be mission-driven with a passion for national service.

This full time position will be based in the FoodCorps Michigan field office and will require frequent in-state and occasional out of state travel.

 

Who You Are:

You are passionate about FoodCorps’ mission, and excited about the prospect of coaching and supporting emerging leaders to implement high quality programs in schools across the state. You have a commitment to diversity and inclusion with a desire to work for health equity and social and racial justice. You are a creative problem-solver with demonstrated leadership ability who is adept at coaching and supporting diverse individuals, both in person and remotely. You are thoughtful and compassionate, with the ability to handle technical, personal, and interpersonal challenges—professionally and with care. You approach challenges with a solutions-oriented perspective. You have impeccable attention to detail and thrive in a deadline driven environment. You thoroughly complete tasks assigned to you and are able to seamlessly manage multiple projects at the same time. You are known for your enthusiasm as well as your “no task too small” attitude, which is necessary for our fast-growing, creative, entrepreneurial organization. You are comfortable with ambiguity and eager to collaborate with FoodCorps as we build a high impact service program nation-wide.

 

Primary Responsibilities:

  • Service Member Training, Management, and Support
    • Building and leading a statewide cohort and network of service members
    • Serving as the first point of contact in the state field office for the service member cohort, providing technical assistance with service activities, offering advice on personal challenges, and coaching to achieve programmatic quality and fidelity
    • Developing strong relationships with site supervisors and school contacts to ensure service members receive appropriate direction and support at the site and school levels
    • Collaborating with the Program Director to plan state orientation and monthly formal or informal trainings and gatherings for service members during the program year. They will identify and fill gaps in training to ensure members thrive in their service.
    • Supporting the implementation of strong local recruitment strategies and practices, and managing the service member selection process in partnership with the Program Director and service sites.
  • Program Management and Administration
    • Conducting a minimum of 2 in-person site visits with each service member in the state to observe programming, deliver feedback, support improvements, and celebrate successes
    • Ensuring that FoodCorps, service members, service sites, and schools are meeting FoodCorps and AmeriCorps compliance requirements
    • Using data related to program quality, compliance, and satisfaction to drive communication and programmatic adjustments
    • Acting as the liaison between FoodCorps and service members in the state, facilitating information-sharing between these parties, including communicating key program requirements to service members and communicating requests from service members to FoodCorps
    • Supporting the Program Director with the cultivation of new service site partnerships, and evaluating the alignment of existing sites.
    • Providing the Program Director and national team with current data and input regarding best practices based on knowledge gained through the observation of program activities and impact.
    • Supporting the planning and implementation of site visits with potential donors Michigan and beyond
    • Support the planning and delivery of training for service site supervisors. 
    • Identify and plan opportunities for engaging local FoodCorps alumni throughout the year where appropriate.
    • Providing additional administrative and operational support as needed and requested by the Program Director.
  • Organizational Support  
    • Supporting FoodCorps program implementation through research and evaluation, professional development, recruitment, and fundraising and policy initiatives as needed and requested
    • Participating in the development and implementation of national training events
    • Helping to develop and identify effective initiatives and examples of exemplary partnerships in the state for replication elsewhere
    • Acting as an outstanding public spokesperson and representative on behalf of FoodCorps through earned media and social media outreach, special events, recruitment efforts, and other opportunities

 

Skills of the Ideal Candidate:

  • A self-starter, with ability to collaborate and build strong rapport with team members both in-person and remotely
  • Previous experience leading and coaching groups of volunteers
  • Experience managing ongoing deliverables and project deadlines
  • Skilled at developing and managing relationships across varied stakeholders, including service members, service site partners, and school administrators
  • Ability to plan and facilitate high quality trainings and other professional learning experiences
  • Ability to take direction, manage up, and manage horizontally
  • Effective verbal and written communication skills, with strong interpersonal acumen
  • Comfort and competence in working with people from a diversity of backgrounds
  • Comfort using online and social media platforms for communication, organization, and collaboration
  • Knowledge of FoodCorps or other national service programs and/or familiarity with school or district contexts, and/or farm to school, garden, or nutrition education programming is preferred

 

How to Apply:

Applications will be accepted until our ideal candidate is identified. To be considered, submit your résumé, cover letter and salary requirements through our hiring site at http://foodcorps.hiringthing.com/ .

FoodCorps pays salaries that are competitive with nonprofits of our budget size and geographic location, and offers generous vacation and medical benefits, 401(k) matching, professional development funds and a sabbatical policy. This position is a Coordinator-level role with an annual salary range beginning at $31,000.00/yr.

People of color, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.  FoodCorps is committed to a diverse workplace, and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities. FoodCorps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions. FoodCorps provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law. Applicants with disabilities may request reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.

 

Location: Detroit, MI 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

FW: Building Healthy Communities Mini-Grant

Dear Michigan Farm to School Network:

Please see the mini-grant RFA through Building Healthy Communities forwarded from MDE (see attachment and link below).

 

If schools apply through this grant and select "Smarter Lunchrooms" they get $1000.  The lessons are taught in a classroom by a teacher (5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th grade +).

Students create a intervention to increase fruit and veg selection/consumption and decrease food waste. Students measure food waste pre and post and report out to the community their findings.

Here is the full RFA http://buildinghealthycommunities.arewehealthy.com/documents/BHC_SUFSW_C5_RFA_FINAL.pdf

 

Best,

Meagan

 

 

Meagan K. Shedd, PhD
Assistant Professor, Farm to Early Care and K-12 Education
Center for Regional Food Systems | Michigan State University
Department of Community Sustainability | College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
480 Wilson Rd, Room 309 | Natural Resources Building | East Lansing, MI 48824-1039
517.432.4525 |
mshedd@anr.msu.edu

www.foodsystems.msu.edu | www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, April 13, 2018

3+ OPENINGS on Farm to School Team in Traverse City: DEADLINE APRIL 19

Are you passionate about healthy food, farms, and kids? The Traverse Bay Intermediate School District is hiring a two part-time Farm to School Support Staff members and 1-2 full-time AmeriCorps VISTA Service Members to advance farm to school initiatives and activities across elementary schools in northwest lower Michigan. The position is based in Traverse City, Michigan.


These positions are aimed at helping local schools teach the importance of eating healthy foods and living a healthy lifestyle. The goal is to support and encourage teachers by providing them with classroom tools that use cooking, gardening, nutrition, and farming as a lens through which to have a deeper and richer learning experience. It's a great job for those that love food, kids, education, local farming, and community enrichment.


Projects that the support staff and VISTAs will help coordinate may include cooking demonstrations in partnership with local chefs, coordinating pop-up farmer's markets, and facilitating school garden development. The VISTA will also be in charge of maintaining and updating a resource website as needed with new content and material. There will be many opportunities to brainstorm and initiate other projects that demonstrate the value of farm to school to community stakeholders.


Strong applicants should be great communicators, and able to work well both collaboratively and independently with varying amounts of given structure. Applicants should have an interest in education, local food, and/or creating an equitable community of health.


Applications for the TBAISD Farm to School Support Staff Position can be accessed here.

VISTA position can be accessed here.

The deadline to apply is April 19, 2018.


If you have any questions, please contact Ranae McCauley (ranae@unitedwaynwmi.org), Steve Urbanski, (surbanski@tbaisd.org), or Meghan McDermott (meghan@groundworkcenter.org).




--
Meghan McDermott | Food & Farming Program Director


T   @grndwk

 148 E Front St, Suite 301  |  Traverse City, MI 49684

The Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is a Traverse City based non-profit. Our work is member-funded and community-driven. Protect what you love. Become a member of Groundwork today.

Supporting Partner for National Farm to School Network
Service Site Supervisor for FoodCorps. Read more about our program on the FoodCorps Northern Michigan Blog!
Healthful Food for All Task Force Leader for Northwest Michigan Food & Farming Network
Groundwork Center Fellowship Program Founder
Join us at localdifference.org & Farm to School Northwest Michigan & farmtoschool.tbaisd.org
MIFARMTOSCHOOL is a listserv that links farm-to-school stakeholders and practitioners in Michigan, from school food service directors and school administrators to growers and distributors. Content posted to MIFARMTOSCHOOL does not necessarily reflect the views of Michigan State University or the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.