About the Role
(This position is currently filled but we will gladly consider your application for the next term or for another position. The earliest possible start date for the next member in this role is 3/12/24).
As a Distribution and Food Safety Coordinator VISTA, You will be involved in our Grow Don’t Mow, Grow Some Rows, Don’t Waste Donate, Distribution, & Equitable Land Access (ELA) programs. With the Executive Director & Farm Manager, you will streamline and expand current distribution processes and procedures to increase access to nutrient-dense produce in our community. You will contribute to expansion of Veggie Bus produce distributions, set schedules and routes with stops at clinics, apartment complexes, and produce drops at pantries. Collaborate with the city of Cedar Rapids and Linn County to identify gaps of communities with limited resources so we can better serve. Connect with and collect data from communities we serve to help pinpoint their wants and needs. have an equity centered mindset, excellent communication, & interpersonal & organizational skills.
Requirements
You should work well alongside diverse groups of people with accountability and compassion; be eager to establish and maintain positive working relationships; and have an equity centered mindset, excellent communication, and interpersonal and organizational skills.
About the Organization
Feed Iowa First (FIF) is a grass-roots community of business, faith organizations, schools, farmers, and volunteers that unite in relationship-based service to help our neighbors to ‘Combat Food Insecurity by Growing Food and Farmers’. We believe access to fresh, healthy produce can and does transform lives. Fresh, healthy food is a basic human right, and ensuring access to it is key to building vibrant communities where citizens can reach their full human potential. FIF is the main producer and provider of fresh produce to food pantries in Linn County. We distributed over 50,000lbs of nutrient-dense produce back into our community in 2021. After the 2020 Derecho, we had the unique ability to pivot and directly meet the needs of our most vulnerable Linn County residents. As a Nourish Iowa VISTA member, you will serve among a cohort of members throughout Iowa, sponsored by the Center for Energy & Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa, & will have frequent opportunities to share knowledge within this community through regular cohort-wide meetings & site visits. In addition to all standard AmeriCorps VISTA benefits, you will engage regularly with thought leaders in local food via the Cedar Valley Regional Food & Farm Network & Regional Food Systems Working Group, in addition to being invited to professional development opportunities coordinated by a VISTA Leader in your cohort.