Staff Positions
Thank you for your inquiry about employment opportunities with The Youth Farm Project.

We are currently looking for a Fresh Snack Project Manager, a seasonal Harvest Box and Market Manager, and Summer Crew leaders (teens). Please look at the Job Descriptions below and let us know if you are a good fit.

Position Title: Fresh Snack Program Manager
Reports To: Youth Farm Project Leadership and Advisory Board
Hours per week: 18 hrs./week average. 
Hourly Rate: $16.50
Position Start date: Aug. 1st, 2020 - Dependent on funding
Center for Transformative Action (CTA) does provide paid time off including sick, personal, vacation, and holiday pay.  People of color encouraged to apply. 
Summary:
The Fresh Snack Program (FSP) provides free, raw fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to all students at 6 Ithaca City School District (ICSD) elementary schools multiple times per week. The fresh snack ingredients are held to a high standard of nutrition, with an emphasis on local and organic. The program currently operates food ordering and preparation through partnerships with Headwater Food Hub and theIthaca City School District Child Nutrition program. The operation of the FSP relies on many partnerships with administrators and staff of the Ithaca City School District, school principals, teachers, parents, and liaisons. The FSP also provides nutrition education to students in various ways.
Job Description:
The Fresh Snack Program Manager is responsible for overseeing the successful operations of a complex and multidimensional  program. The FSP Manager is also responsible for maintaining and expanding relationships, planning, budget, assessment, and record keeping and fundraising, both through drives, events, and grant writing. Some tasks may be allocated to interns and work study students, with the oversight of the FSP Manager who is responsible for them. Relationships include those with CTA, YFP, ICSD, Headwater Food Hub, various funders,, and the Ithaca area community with whom we work. Community relationships may include Southside Community Center, Cornell University, Ithaca College, and many others - especially in the food justice area. The FSP Manager must positively represent the Fresh Snack Program, and work to strengthen it in a sustainable way. This person is the face of the FSP, and also for YFP through this role. 
About Youth Farm Project:
The Youth Farm Project’s (YFP) mission is to empower youth across diverse social and economic backgrounds to be integral participants in building equitable local food communities.

In this way, YFP is dedicated to healing our food system through an anti-racist lens as well as bringing together youth to explore environmental and social injustice within the food system.  

We believe that through critical thinking and openly learning about these issues, we can begin the healing of our food system, the earth, and ourselves. By developing leadership and communication skills with young people and having them participate in all aspects of food production and farming - from planting to harvesting and distributing, we can increase our unity and hope for positive change in our community.  
Position Title: Market and Harvest Manager
Reports To: Lead Farmer/Educator    
Hours per week: 15 hrs/week average.    Hourly Rate: $15.50 per hour 
This is a seasonal position.  The start date is on or near July 15th and ends November 15th, 2020. People of color encouraged to apply. ​
Summary Job Description:  The Market and Harvest Manager is responsible for coordination and distribution of YFP produce. This can include farm work such as harvesting, washing and packing vegetables. 
The Harvest Box program is a food distribution model which serves low and moderate income and marginalized communities around Tompkins County with affordable, community-chosen produce at locations accessible to customers.
About the Harvest Box Program:
Our Harvest Box program is a low ­cost weekly farm share provided primarily to seniors in the City of Ithaca by the Youth Farm Project and Rocky Acres Community Farm. The produce distribution is supported by the economic power of the community and based on the principle that everyone should have access to healthy, affordable food of their choosing, and have the ability to make decisions on how that food is produced and where it is accessed. 
The Harvest Box works to remove physical, cultural, and financial barriers to healthy food by providing produce to customers at a cost that is accessible to the consumer. The Harvest Box is distributed in communities that are traditionally underserved or where individuals may lack the mobility or transportation to reach markets.
The program includes fruit, vegetables and eggs locally produced without synthetic chemicals, harvested freshly, and in the quantities desired. 

Ongoing duties and responsibilities:

  • Maintaining ongoing communications and relationships with a growing member base
  • Coordination with community partners and site-specific liaisons to ensure smooth operation and distribution of weekly harvest to customers
  • Weekly timely distribution of our harvest list to partners and members
  • Create a season-long budget and produce plan to ensure consistent and steady deliveries within budget
  • Create warm and informative weekly newsletters for members
  • Weekly recording, collecting, and depositing of funds from member shares
  • Interface with various federal, state and county programs for food access, ie, SNAP/EBT setup, maintain and comply with those systems 
  • Distributing marketing materials to potential and existing customers
  • Mentoring teen employees on the job site, helping them develop customer service skills, relationship building skills, sales and recording skills and marketing skills
  • Managing the pickup and distribution of shares directly to consumers and sites
  • Communicating with local producers and procuring produce as necessary to meet the demand of our membership
  • Collaborating with YFP’s Farmers in order to ensure efficient and timely distribution of produce to membership
  • Harvest produce as needed
  • Coordinate efforts with staff and attend weekly staff meetings
  • Be the face of YFP while at distribution sites
  • Ensure the continued success of the program and alignment with Youth Farm’s mission and vision
The ideal candidate will: 
  • Have experience with Excel and Google Docs, in order to maintain detailed weekly record keeping of income and expenses
  • Be familiar with social media and Square for sales and marketing
  • Have the ability to load/unload heavy boxes of vegetables, lift ~50 lbs. 
  • Have a clean drivers license, solid driving experience 
  • Ability to drive a truck with a trailer, including backing up and parking in the city
  • Have experience working with teens in a mentoring role, and enjoy teenagers 
  • Enjoy being with elderly folks
  • Have competency in problem solving
  • Be a strong communicator, and be able to gracefully work with different age groups, government agencies, and more
  • Have a good working knowledge of a wide variety of vegetable crops, and love growing and eating vegetables, and be excited to share that with others. 

  • Be passionate about YFP’s mission, and the Harvest Box mission in particular 

Please send a resume and cover letter to: youthfarmproject@gmail.com attn: Project Coordinator

​
Youth Farm Project is a project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA), a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational organization chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York. The successful applicant will be an employee of CTA.
CTA is an equal opportunity employer. Employees are hired on the basis of their merit, ability, experience and training without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, familial status, marital status, age, mental or physical disability, size, religious affiliation, genetic make-up, sexual and other reproductive health decisions, or past participation in the discrimination complaint process.