Company description The Regional Environmental Council, Inc. (REC) is a grassroots, nonprofit, environmental and food justice organization with a 45 year history of working for environmental sustainability and social justice in Worcester, Massachusetts - New England’s 2nd largest city. Our programs include community & school gardens, farmers’ markets, youth development & employment, urban agriculture, and neighborhood cleanups. Currently we are also leading an effort to develop a regional food hub that will provide job training and placement, commercial kitchen business incubation, and marketing, distribution, and processing of healthy food from area farms. Job description The Regional Environmental Council, Inc. (REC), a grassroots, nonprofit, environmental and food justice organization with a 45-year history working for environmental sustainability and social justice in Central Massachusetts is seeking a full time (40+ hr/week) Farmers Market Coordinator to manage the operational and strategic aspects of the REC Community Farmers Markets Program. Established in 2008, the REC Community Farmers Markets exist to make healthy, local food accessible and affordable in neighborhoods and communities where obstacles to healthy food access are present. The program currently includes two mission-driven farmers’ markets and a Mobile Farmers Market (reaching 15 weekly locations) running mid-June through the end of October. The Mobile Market also currently serves 4-8 weekly sites from November through May. We anticipate growing the “off season” schedule incrementally in the future. The Coordinator is responsible for planning and managing weekly operations of all markets (including placing weekly wholesale orders, managing inventory, processing invoices, etc.), developing and implementing community outreach and marketing strategies, and supervising all farmers’ market staff, interns, and volunteers. The Coordinator is responsible for managing relationships with partner agencies, vendors, farmers’, etc., and is responsible for tracking and timely reporting of all financial and program outcome data. We are seeking candidates with a strong understanding of and commitment to the social justice mission of the program, cultural competency to meet the needs of our diverse client base and vendors/farmers, and the organizational skills needed to achieve the goals of the program in an effective and professional manner. Prior experience with farmers’ market/mobile market management, healthy food marketing, farming, and/or healthy food access/food justice advocacy is desirable.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key responsibilities include oversight of operations and sales, staff supervision and management, marketing and communications, customer service, vendor and external relations management, financial tracking and reporting, and administration.

 

Human Resources Management

• Manage all farmers’ market staff, interns, and volunteers, including supervision and evaluation, training and team building.
• Ensure adequate and qualified staff and volunteers effectively carry out program activities.
• Provide ongoing training for all farmers’ market staff to ensure excellent customer service and efficient/effective market management.
• Recruit, manage and train interns and volunteers.

 

Vendor & External Relations Management

• Manage vendor relationships, including recruitment, problem solving, conflict resolution, quality control, and ensuring compliance with REC Community Farmers Market policies.
• Actively engage in fundraising and sponsorship cultivation in partnership with development staff; work with development staff to steward relationships with existing sponsors and to cultivate new sponsors.
• Work with development staff to provide accurate and timely reporting to funders.
• Manage Mobile Market stop host and community partners relationships.
• Participate in appropriate professional networks, conferences and professional development opportunities as determined with Director of Programs (e.g., MA Farmers Market Federation, Central MA Grown, etc.)

 

Operations & Administration

• Responsible for ensuring effective day-to-day operations and administration of REC Community Farmers Markets program.
• Maintain and improve systems for tracking vendor and market sales; create and submit weekly reports.
• Source local produce and maintain inventory for Mobile Market.
• Track and maintain compliance with regulations and permitting for all operations.
• Develop and implement systems to increase market profitability and decrease food waste attached to specific annual revenue goals.
• Manage collection, reporting and analysis of program and sales data according to timelines and metrics established by the REC Management Team.
• Ensure effective use of market point of sale software (farmers register) and tracking tools by all staff.
• Mange relevant financial/accounts payable systems and work with Financial Services Team and Management to ensure these systems operate effectively.
• Manage program budget and participate in the creation of annual program budget in collaboration with Management.
• Support the development of the markets as a platform for local farm produce and value added products, and social entrepreneurship.
• Develop and manage new initiatives to grow and strengthen the REC Community Farmers Markets program (e.g., develop and pilot customer pre-order system, establish new mobile market sites, etc.)
• Work in collaboration with REC Program Staff and Management to engage in cross-program initiatives where appropriate.

 

Marketing & Promotion

• Create and disseminate social media content, web and email based content, and marketing materials (flyers, posters, banners, advertisements, etc.) in collaboration with REC Development staff.
• Promote and represent farmers’ markets on local media (e.g., cable access tv, community radio, print publications, etc.)
• Organize and publicize special events and community activities at markets; coordinate Mobile Market participation in external community events as appropriate.
• Develop and share Mobile Market and Community Farmers Market best practices with a Food Justice lens through conferences, coalitions, and public forums.

Other duties as assigned.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

The position requires the following skills and experience:

• Self-motivated, detail oriented, highly organized and reliable
• Ability to manage multiple tasks with competing deadlines
• Comfortable working alone and in teams
• Supervision/management experience required
• Farmers market and/or food retail/marketing experience desirable
• Volunteer management experience desirable
• Basic accounting/bookkeeping experience a plus
• Comfort with online collaboration tools, e.g., shared calendars, email, shared folders/files (Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Apps), and utilizing web-based database and project management software
• Excellent people and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Previous experience working with people with diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Spanish or Vietnamese language ability a plus
• Interest in and commitment to social justice/food justice/environmental justice
• Availability to work occasional evenings and weekends

Compensation this position is : salaried Application instructions DeadlineOctober 25, 2017