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Stewards VISTA: Plant It Forward - Fund & Dev Y3

Plant It Forward provides resettled refugees to become urban and local farmers in the greater Houston area with access to land, capital, technical assistance and markets. So far, we have relied on direct purchase of produce from farmers and selling it downstream to retail and wholesale customers under our “Enterprise” program. But this is not financially sustainable, and creates dependency on farmers to rely on us to sell their produce. We want to revamp our Enterprise program to become an “Opportunity Creation” lab for our farmers through the following: Training both farmers and a cohort of “Market Assistants” to help the farmers to sell more produce at farmers markets throughout Houston/Galveston through better displays, data capture and salesmanship, connect with midstream and downstream food processors and consumer packaged good companies to create partnerships with our farmers to use their produce into new, novel products, organize cooking classes and other high-end, high margin experiences and events to generate more income for farmers and selectively look for restaurants, Food Access organizations and other wholesale channels and train farmers to service those clients. This is a great opportunity for a VISTA volunteer to learn about, design, deploy and scale new business models and products in produce & food marketing, and re-design a $400,000/year business/sales operation from the ground up.

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Member Duties : ¿ Developing training resources for both farmers and a cohort of “Market Assistants” to help the farmers to sell more produce at farmers markets throughout Houston/Galveston through better displays, data capture and salesmanship ¿ Connect with farmers market operators throughout the Houston/Galveston area and keep a calendar of relevant markets and events ¿ Create partnerships with our farmers to use their produce into new, novel products ¿ Organize chef-led cooking classes and other high-end, high margin experiences and events to generate more income for farmers ¿ Develop grant writing resources around Food Access programs and grant opportunities, under tutelage of Development Associate ¿ Create marketing & PR campaign around the benefits of farm fresh produce for healthy eating, environmental sustainability and enhanced lifestyle ¿ Develop a data collection framework to capture leads & sales created through our work on behalf of farmers

Program Benefits : Choice of Education Award or End of Service Stipend , Stipend , Training , Childcare assistance if eligible , Health Coverage* , Relocation Allowance , Living Allowance , Education award upon successful completion of service .


*For details about AmeriCorps VISTA healthcare benefits, please visit https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/vista/benefits.

Terms : None

Service Areas : Environment , Entrepreneur/Business , Health , Hunger , Community and Economic Development , Community Outreach .

Skills : Business/Entrepreneur , Non-Profit Management , Fund raising/Grant Writing , Public Speaking , Writing/Editing , Communications .



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SUMMARY

Program Type:

AmeriCorps VISTA

Program

Stewards VISTA: Plant It Forward - Fund & Dev Y3

Program Start/End Date

01/13/2025 - 01/12/2026

Work Schedule

Full Time

Education level

College graduate

Age Requirement

Minimum: 18 Maximum: None

Program Locations

TEXAS Houston/Galveston

Languages

English

Accepting Applications

From 10/18/2024 To 01/01/2025

Contact

Addie Gilkerson

330 Harper Park Dr

Beckley WV 25801

3045331211

agilkerson@conservationlegacy.org

Listing ID

124745


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