Food Growing Education Specialist – Washington DC

Specialist maintains, executes, and develops educational programming for the Capital Area Food Bank’s Urban Demonstration Garden. The Urban Demonstration Garden is an on-site, half-acre, hands-on educational space that helps build knowledge around wellness, nutrition, and food growing for the food bank’s partners, clients, and the general public. The garden and adjacent Urban Food Studio are used in tandem to show how to grow food in an urban setting, highlighting low-cost gardening techniques. The Food Growing Education Specialist is responsible for managing all food-growing activities, including the gardening education curriculum, garden maintenance and planning, the garden volunteer program, and any associated grants. The Specialist serves as the primary organizational representative for food growing internally and externally, but has opportunities to contribute more broadly to the food bank as a member of the Nutrition Education Department.

Education and Awareness Building

– Regularly schedule and execute food experiences in the Urban Demonstration
Garden including tour of CAFB facilities, garden activity, healthy snack
preparation, and/or facilitated discussion.
– Provide hands on food experiences in the Urban Demonstration Garden to
targeted community groups. Participating groups include donors, partner
organizations, clients, and community members.
– Identify opportunities to educate internal CAFB staff and broader public
about food growing activities and provide support as needed to partner
organizations that cultivate on-site gardens.
– Initiate and maintain relationships with other food-growers and urban
agriculture organizations.
– Participate in city-wide and regional food-growing events and present at
internal and external summits and conferences.
– Maintain internal buy-in and enthusiasm for food growing by communicating
progress and identifying hands-on opportunities for Nutrition Education –
Department and food bank staff as a whole.

Garden Planning and Maintenance

– Ensure regular schedule for planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, and
distribution.
– Maintain, repair, or replace existing garden facilities including raised
beds, greenhouse, sheds, compost bins, rainwater cistern and pump, drip
irrigation, container garden, and pollinator garden.
– Propagate vegetable and flower seedlings as needed for the garden and
distribution to partners.
– Solicit seed donations for partner distribution.
– Manage an apiary (with the assistance of experienced volunteer beekeepers).
– In coordination with leadership, build and maintain a food growing program
budget. This includes researching items to purchase, making and recording
purchases.
– Provide technical support to partner organizations cultivating gardens off
site.

Management

– Oversee groups of up to 15 volunteers for Harvest for Health in pre-
determined garden activities, provide orientation to the space, its purpose
and relationship to other CAFB functions.
– Identify and maintain relationships with skilled volunteers to provide
support with specialized programming or maintenance activities.
– Oversee garden fellows and/or interns in a garden maintenance and
educational activities

Minimum Requirements

– Minimum of three years’ experience growing organic fruits and vegetables or
two-year professional experience managing a large urban farm or garden.
– Experience constructing garden facilities, including raised beds and drip
irrigation.
– Experience with succession planting, pest management, and healthy soil
management.
– Experience teaching and creating educational materials.
– Project management experience, including budgeting and volunteer management,
preferred.
– Excellent interpersonal communication and leadership skills – ability to
interact with partners, clients, volunteers, and donors of all ages, from all
walks of life.
– Ability to work independently while also engaging in collaborative, team-
based work.
– Highly adaptable and creative.
– Excellent time management and organizational skills, ability to prioritize
and set boundaries.
– Driver’s license.
– Familiarity with Microsoft Word programs.

Contact:  Hillary Quarles, Capital Area Food Bank at
hquarles@capitalareafoodbank.org