Urban Farmer & Corporate Volunteer Coordinator, Melbourne, VIC
Overview
Corporate Volunteer Coordinator and Oakhill Community Farmer. Part time - 0.7 FTE.
Oakhill Food Justice Farm run by Sustain Australia.
Naarm/Melbourne.
The role
This position would suit someone with a keen passion for market gardening and building community, with a proactive attitude and willingness to collaborate for a fairer food system.
This successful candidate in this role will work with the Operations Manager and the Urban Farm Network Coordinator, as well as independent urban farmers and community volunteers across the Network sites to ensure the smooth running of the Corporate Volunteer Program and Oakhill Food Justice Farm.
The Corporate Volunteer Coordinator and Community Urban Farmer will support the ongoing development of Sustain’s Urban Farm Food Justice and Training Network. This Network comprises the three sites for which Sustain is responsible, namely the Oakhill Food Justice Farm in Preston, the Melbourne Food Hub urban farm site in Alphington, and the Bundoora Park farm site (to be established)
Responsibilities
1. Corporate volunteering and education programs business development and coordination (0.4 FTE)
Regular monitoring of and timely responses to inquiries received from corporate volunteering or schools.
Confirmation of bookings and liaison with the Urban Farm Network Coordinator and independent urban farmers to ensure availability at the site/s requested.
A focus on acquiring and retaining ongoing customers and increasing sales revenue.
End-to-end management of corporate volunteer or school experience including:
Liaison with clients leading up to, during and after the corporate volunteering bookings
Up-to-date maintenance of our Corporate Volunteer Tracking in Airtable
Scheduling urban farmers for experiences and ensuring they have the necessary information and training to facilitate the session safely and to a consistently high standard.
Organising catering.
Fostering relationships with organisations or schools to encourage workplace giving and/or future bookings.
Facilitating urban farming corporate volunteer or education sessions.
Maintaining workplace giving platforms and working with platform representatives to increase Sustain’s profile.
Note: the key focus of this role is developing and growing the Corporate Volunteering program. However, during the winter, customer interest will naturally decline. During these downtimes, the focus may change to encompass education programs, workplace giving or assisting with grant applications or grant management.
2. Oakhill Food Justice Farm site management volunteer coordination and supervision and community activation (0.3 FTE)
● Day-to-day management of Oakhill operations including facilitating tasks to be done by volunteers (such as planting, harvesting, irrigation, pest control, composting, site maintenance and development).
● Work with the Urban Farm Network Co-ordinator to develop planting schedule, community volunteer shift rosters, regular task schedules, processes and procedures to increase community engagement, efficiencies on the farm and ensure the farm is a safe place for staff and visitors.
● Support the implementation of projects and grant deliverables at Oakhill. This may include delegated activities to lead aspects of projects.
● Manage and supervise community volunteers on two to three weekly volunteer shifts (depending on corporate volunteering demand) ensuring productivity and active engagement.
● Actively encourage and support community participation on the farm outside of assigned volunteer shift.
● Support volunteers to achieve their objectives, develop a sense of shared ownership of the space and have an enjoyable, participatory and meaningful experience whilst on site.
● Manage the recruitment, induction and other administration of volunteers.
● Ensure that all visitors and volunteers have adequate training and are familiar with sustainable and regenerative edible gardening principles and values, as well as hygiene and OHS standards.
● Actively provide an open learning exchange for volunteers, corporate volunteers and visitors.
● Work with the Urban Farm Network Co-ordinator to plan and organise community events.
● Develop and/or deliver (or help facilitate) education, training or community activities for a range of audiences and participants at Oakhill.
● Support and develop existing partnerships and networks with local community and businesses, including for the further development of the now-established resource and compost hub.
● Engage in relevant data capture and recording for monitoring and evaluation, and impact measurement purposes.
More details including selection criteria at https://sustain.org.au/get-involved/job-vacancies
Applications close 25th January 2024. To apply please send your CV and a cover letter showing how you meet the selection criteria to nick.rose@sustain.org.au