Mission, Vision, and Values
The Nashville Food Project brings people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food, with the goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger in our city. At The Nashville Food Project, we embrace a vision of vibrant community food security in which everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system. This mission and vision are guided by core organizational values, including hospitality, stewardship, interdependence, learning, justice, and transformation.
Organizational Background
The Nashville Food Project (TNFP) was born from the idea that good food is a matter of basic dignity. Since its start in 2007, TNFP has served thousands of Nashvillians facing food insecurity. In 2011, TNFP was incorporated as an independent nonprofit, shifting the focus of its meals program toward a collaborative partnership model and launching an urban agriculture program. Today, TNFP continues to connect people to nourishing food and to each other through vibrant urban agriculture projects, made-from-scratch meals, and food shared with local partners working to disrupt cycles of poverty.
Position Summary
The Community Orchard Coordinator (COC) supports the launch and integration of orchards into TNFP’s existing community agriculture programs in partnership with The Giving Grove. Reporting to the Director of Agriculture Operations (DAO) and the Director of Community Agriculture (DCA), the COC is responsible for identifying prospective orchard sites, coordinating orchard installation with partners, managing demonstration orchards and food forests, recruiting and training volunteer orchard stewards, coordinating community workdays, facilitating public workshops and events, and conducting outreach to raise awareness about programmatic activities and opportunities.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
Horticulture Management
- Serve as the primary caretaker of TNFP’s demonstration orchard and food forest
- Assist with the research and evaluation of recommended plant specimens
- Develop and facilitate a horticulture curriculum to equip orchard volunteers, site stewards, and participants with the skills to grow fruit and nut trees, berries, and perennial vegetables
- Conduct workshops on a range of issues related to managing orchards in urban contexts
- Coordinate and manage orchard installations, assisting with the actual installations
- Create a plan to care for and maintain existing orchards under TNFP’s stewardship
- Collaborate with partner sites to develop orchard management plans
- Assist with creating and implementing a harvesting and distribution strategy and schedule
- Make public presentations on orchards and food forests to reach out to new and existing growers and prospective site partners
- Coordinate the procurement of resources needed to establish and maintain orchards
- Participate in horticultural and orchard care trainings to stay informed of best practices
Community Outreach
- Assist with identifying potential community orchard sites, prioritizing CJEST neighborhoods
- Assist with evaluating and selecting partner applications for community orchard sites
- Lead outreach to neighborhood associations, congregations, municipalities, nonprofits and other entities to identify prospective sites for future community orchards
- Attend community meetings to deepen relationships with various community stakeholders
- Develop partnerships with other tree canopy and food security focused organizations
- Support the development of newsletters and social media posts to raise awareness about and engagement with community orchards
- Develop multilingual program materials and coordinate language interpretation as necessary
- Manage and promote a community calendar of orchard events across sites
- Coordinate and conduct orchard tours with prospective partners and other interested parties
Volunteerism & Community Leadership
- Recruit and train a network of orchard volunteers and stewards for each site
- Coordinate and help facilitate volunteer workdays at all community orchard sites
- Mentor orchard stewards and volunteers with regular on-site, hands-on training around best practices of cultivation, pruning, thinning, harvest, and distribution
- Maintain regular contact with volunteers and stewards
- Support orchard sites with the transition of new stewardship or volunteer leaders
Administrative
- Manage the community orchard impact tracking processes and protocol
- Attend quarterly Giving Grove Network affiliate meetings
- Attend annual Giving Grove conference
- Assist in developing and monitoring annual budgets and work plans
- Support site maintenance across all TNFP community agriculture sites on an as needed basis, including but not limited to mowing and weed eating
