596 Acres is a growing, innovative nonprofit that makes use of vacant land, helping organizers turn it into productive community gardens and urban farms.
They are currently seeking applicants for three new positions, as described below:
“596 Acres is proud to announce three Organizing Fellow positions for Spring 2013, one each for the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
To apply, please send a cover letter and your resume to organizers@596acres.org by 11:59pm on Sunday, March 31, 2013. Include a short story about a challenge you have encountered organizing within your community in the body of your letter. Please use the subject “Bronx Organizing Fellow” / “Brooklyn Organizing Fellow” / “Manhattan Organizing Fellow” for your email.
Positions will run April 15 – August 15, 2013; fellows will receive a stipend of $500 per month ($2000 for the entire fellowship) and will be asked to commit at least 40 hours per month.
Fellowship Duties and Responsibilities
- Respond to inquiries about vacant lots in your borough and help communities structure their land access campaigns using 596 Acres resources, as well as OASIS, Acris and other databases.
- Keep accurate notes about communities’ experiences with government entities.
- Communicate with organizers in your borough by phone, email and in person.
- Conduct popular education “Land Use Visioning Sessions” when requested in your borough.
- Develop and maintain dialogue and relationships with community leaders, political entities, governmental agencies in order to create more garden spaces.
- Co-develop and organize database of community leaders and stakeholders for multiple sites.
- Assist in turning maps and broadsheets into signs that can be posted on vacant lots.
- Manage volunteers for sign posting.
- Act as a direct liaison, when necessary, with city agencies and community boards.
- Check email at least every other day.
- Meet twice a month with other fellows and facilitators to discuss
- ongoing organizing efforts
- strategies for approaching communities &
- to problem solve city agency interactions.
Recommended Qualifications
- General knowledge of community gardens, their history and city and state governmental structures that directly affect them.
- Understanding politics of land access, politics around vacancy, land usage, and development in the borough where you will be working.
- Ability to operate well in a collective-type organizational and decision-making structure.
- Ability to speak Spanish, and present comfortably in both Spanish and English.
- General knowledge of borough geography and neighborhoods/community boards.
- Knowledge of OASIS, ACRIS and other city databases, maps and research tools
- Understanding of gardening basics, and familiarity with resources available to gardeners
- Experience in grassroots community organizing and/or founding, running, or working in a community garden are all a plus!
- Available most weekends during fellowship.”