Current job openings
– Food Justice Organizer
-Climate Justice Organizer
– Agroecology/Food Sovereignty/Community Garden Coordinator
JOB OPENING – FOOD JUSTICE ORGANIZER
Part-time – 10-15 hours per week
The Farmworker Association of Florida is a member of the coalition for Food Justice at the University of Florida. The coalition includes more than 40 student, local, and national organizations and farms working on a diversity of social justice and environmental stewardship issues, including a strong campus coalition to abolish prison slavery in University of Florida’s (UF) food sourcing. The aim of the coalition is to compel UF to implement concrete terms for a more equitable food service in their next multi-year dining service contract. FWAF also worked to get the City of Gainesville and Alachua County to adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program. The GFPP transforms the way public institutions purchase food by creating a transparent and equitable food system built on five core values: local economies, nutrition, a valued workforce, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. As a member of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, the HEAL Food Alliance and the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP), FWAF has been supporting the adoption of GFPP programs around the country.
The Food Justice Organizer will be hired to:
- Foster dialogue among farmworkers and community members on food justice
- Identify worker + community concerns and solutions for building better food policy and food systems overall
- Engage with new and existing food justice coalitions to help foster growth + impact
- Ensure that the needs and concerns of farmworkers are centered, heard + addressed within the food justice campaigns FWAF is participating in
- Mobilize workers if/as potential opportunities arise to leverage procurement in expanding workplace protections
- Work closely and coordinate with FWAF’s local and national allies, especially the AJP
- This work will begin in Gainesville with the opportunity to expand to other communities.
- Desired background + skills include:
- coming from a farmworker family preferred
- having experience with grassroots work with rural communities
- having grassroots organizing experience, such as labor organizing, campaign organizing, etc.
- good written and verbal communication skills
- own transportation and good driving record
- commitment to social, environmental, economic and food justice all along the food chain
- capacity using various forms of communication technology
To apply: Please send resume with at least two references and cover letter by email to Farmworker Association of Florida at [email protected] with Food Justice Organizer Position in the subject line. You may also mail your information to Farmworker Association of Florida, 1264 Apopka Blvd., Apopka, FL 32703. For questions, please contact Neza Xiuhtechtuli, General Coordinator, at 407-886-5151. Indicate when you call what you are calling about. (Please do not send via Facebook or other social media.)
JOB OPENING – CLIMATE JUSTICE ORGANIZER
Do you want to be an agent for positive change in farmworker and rural communities in Florida? Fight for climate and environmental justice for those who have least contributed to but are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change?
To address the underlying systemic issues in agriculture that harm both farmworkers, food consumers (i.e. all of us), and our climate? The Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF) is looking for a responsible, committed, motivated, experienced and passionate leader for the position of Climate Justice Organizer.
The Farmworker Association of Florida is seeking applicants for a Climate Justice Organizer position to help support the strategic vision and implementation of our Climate, and Environmental Justice Campaign in Central Florida. Candidates who are committed to climate and environmental justice, agroecology and food sovereignty, and a Just Transition centering frontline farmworker communities to build a movement for a more just and sustainable economy are encouraged to apply.
The Climate Justice Organizer will help move this platform forward into implementation through outreach, education, campaign development and oversight, leadership development, and youth and community organizing. We are looking for a candidate who demonstrates excellent organizing, strategic, leadership, advocacy and collaborative skills, including public relations, team building, and community outreach.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
• Coordinate information, communication, relationships, and processes to advance the Climate and Environmental Justice Campaign
• Develop relationships among community members and among ally and partner organizations
• Conduct outreach, education and community member and youth organizing
• Train leaders on climate and environmental justice within the practice of agroecology and the vision of the food sovereignty movement
• Build capacity of community members’ and youth leadership to advocate and give testimony on their own behalf
• Support the development and implementation of political education curricula
• Support the development of narrative strategies and sharing of communications related to the Climate and Environmental Justice Campaign.
• Advance the efforts to support and advocate for policies for a Just Transition
Qualifications:
• Experience in grassroots or labor organizing around climate, racial, and/or economic justice Climate Justice Organizer
• Demonstrated understanding of climate, environmental justice, farmworker, immigrant, labor, other social change issues
• Well-developed critical thinking, time management, and leadership skills
• Organized, self-starter, highly motivated, ready to take initiative to grow • Ability to plan, organize, and lead community meetings
• Bilingual English/Spanish; excellent interpersonal and written/verbal communication skills in English and Spanish
• Ability to develop positive working relations with diverse ethnic and cultural communities
• A deep commitment to supporting, amplifying and following frontline leadership • Willing to work flexible hours, and to work nights and weekends when needed
• Personal transportation and good driving record; flexibility to travel in Central Florida and occasionally to other areas of the state
• Technological skills, including familiarity and expertise in working with Microsoft 365: Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, as well as Zoom, Social Media, Texting, WhatsApp, and other relevant tools.
• Significant skills in using digital organizing platforms.
We encourage women, people of color, and/or candidates with farm work experience or from a farmworker family to apply. We will provide training support to the person hired for this position.
The Farmworker Association of Florida FWAF is a 40-year-old, grassroots, non-profit, statewide, membership organization with offices in Central and South Florida. The mission of the organization is to build power among farmworkers and low-income rural communities to respond to and gain control over the social, political, economic, workplace, health and environmental justice issues that impact their lives.
Over the decades, our work for and with farmworkers and rural immigrant and people of color communities has established our reputation as a force for lifting up the voices of the marginalized people to speak truth to power. We work in collaboration with others through coalitions, alliances, networks and cooperation to strive for deep structural and institutional change and for justice. Website: http://www.floridafarmworkers.org/ How to Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli at neza(at)floridafarmworkers.org.
NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other
related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.
JOB OPENING – AGROECOLOGY/FOOD SOVEREIGNTY/COMMUNITY GARDEN PROGRAM: SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Mission: Campesinos’ Gardens members work in harmony with nature to create a just and more sustainable food system in our rural communities. We organize and connect across borders to resist against corporate control of our agricultural system and to support the social and ecological transformation our society needs. We also promote agroecology and regenerative agriculture principles as a way to mitigate the harmful effects of industrial agriculture on climate change, and to build and promote community resiliency through grassroots participation in community gardens of, by, and for our farmworker communities.
Vision: We combine traditional agricultural knowledge with organic production methods, seed sharing, and popular education methods to grow fresh and healthy food and preserve our health, culture, arts, and collective histories of resistance.
Job Description: The Agroecology / Food Sovereignty Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating FWAF’s Rebuilding Local Food Systems in Farmworker Communities project. The primary responsibilities include: Coordinating the Campesinos’ Gardens, and community gardens established by FWAF and other partners, which are run by and for primarily farmworker families. The gardens are located in Fellsmere, Homestead/Florida City, Pierson, and Apopka.
Tasks will include hands-on garden development; identifying training needs and coordinating pieces of training for the garden members, and liaison between FWAF and the local government, and other garden partners.
- Exploring options to support, improve, or establish farmers’ markets in the aforementioned target communities.
- Leading development and implementation of training programs to support farmworkers who aspire to become small farmers and/or to create a value-added product, and in conjunction with the general coordinator, grants manager, and area organizers, pursue programming that promotes those goals.
- Leading agroecology education and practices within FWAF and within the aforementioned target communities.
- Staying abreast of current local, state, national, and international food & farm justice/food & farm policy issues and climate justice issues, and providing training/education on these issues to FWAF staff and leaders (e.g. policies impacting the production and sale of locally grown produce; the effects of free trade policies on farmworker and rural communities; struggles of peasants globally), and link them to the agroecology work.
- Coordinating representation of FWAF and the Campesinos’ Gardens in various food and farm justice alliances/ networks, conferences, and other forums, locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will possess all or most of the following skills:
- Bilingual English/Spanish – required
- Organic farming skills
- Knowledge of agroecology & food sovereignty issues & principles, and the ability to teach others about these
- Keen interest in food justice, agroecology, regenerative agriculture to address climate change, food sovereignty, peasants’ rights to access land and produce food for their communities
- Experience working in a grassroots, community, or labor organizing organization
- Familiarity with popular education methodology and collective decision-making
- Proficient in Microsoft Suite
- Excellent interpersonal communication (in person and via phone, email, and other electronic communication)
- Excellent written and verbal communication and public speaking skills
- Experience with project management & evaluation, and personnel supervision
- Your own transportation
- Ability to travel to different parts of the state, and occasionally nationally or internationally for meetings
We encourage women, people of color, and/or candidates with farm work experience or from a farmworker family to apply. We will provide training support to the person hired for this position.
Salary: $40,000 + benefits
Location: The position can be located in Pierson, Apopka, Fellsmere, or Homestead/Florida City.
Deadline: Apply by November 1, 2022. How to apply: Please send a resume and cover letter to [email protected] more information, call Neza at 407-886-5151. Please do not submit your resume on Facebook or other social media.