Fresh Express Mobile Market VISTA - Tacoma Farmers Market
Description:
Tacoma Farmers Market (TFM) creates vibrant marketplaces where local farms and small businesses connect directly with the community. With four traditional farmers markets and the newly launched Fresh Express Mobile Farmers Market, TFM works to ensure that all residents, regardless of income, will have reliable access to fresh, healthy food, and celebrate its place in our community. In 2019, TFM worked with 110 businesses to serve 135,000 shoppers from 73 zip codes at four markets. $1.3 million passed through our markets, including $50,000 in SNAP EBT and SNAP EBT matching funds and $25,000 from the Women and Infant Children (WIC) and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (SFMNP). The COVID-19 pandemic slowed use of our traditional markets but spurred the creation of the Fresh Express to bring the farmers market to those who need it most. In this position TFM partners with Harvest Against Hunger, a program incubator and catalyst utilizing a team of AmeriCorps VISTA who build sustainable community food security programs. These range from gleaning projects, to regional food security assessments, to expanding community-run gardens and food bank farms. VISTAs serve with their projects for a year, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, addressing challenges related to supply chain management, like the transportation and distribution of gleaned produce, and create systems to collect data and evaluate programs. Harvest Against Hunger projects also aim to involve the larger community in addressing food insecurity.
| Member Duties : The pilot year of the Fresh Express helped TFM develop a local food access solution and we now need support to transition from a free service funded by COVID-19 relief CARES Act funds to a self-sustaining program. A Harvest VISTA project will complement this transition by building volunteer capacity to assist with running the Fresh Express, engaging SNAP EBT recipients to shop at the Fresh Express and double their buying power with our 1:1 SNAP matching program, and strengthening relationships with community partners to respond appropriately to issues of poverty and food insecurity throughout neighborhoods where our sites are located. The Harvest VISTA will be developing and implementing strategies for our volunteer program, low-income community member engagement, and program sustainability. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Program Benefits : Choice of Education Award or End of Service Stipend , Health Coverage* , Relocation Allowance , Childcare assistance if eligible , Living Allowance , Training . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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*For details about AmeriCorps VISTA healthcare benefits, please visit http://www.vistacampus.gov/healthcare
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| Service Areas : Community Outreach , Hunger , Environment . |
| Skills : Team Work , Recruitment , Communications , Community Organization , Fund raising/Grant Writing , Education , Teaching/Tutoring . |
- If you’re a people person, enjoy developing new systems, and are an enthusiastic collaborator who is passionate about putting your skills to work toward building a more just, sustainable food system, this is the role for you.
- Apply online here using the Americorps website by March 19th (do not apply directly to Tacoma Farmers Market)