The FAO Schwarz Fellow at The Food Trust
Philadelphia, PA
About the Fellowship Position
The FAO Schwarz Fellow will enhance the connections between school-age students and their local food systems for their direct service work, and will generate a series of success stories to be used for mass communications platforms, including promotional campaigns and cross-sector partnerships for their project work.
The Fellowship program provides opportunities for new college graduates interested in social impact careers to be part of organizations that are deeply committed to social justice and equity. Through a combination of direct service and leadership challenges, professional development and mentoring, Fellows gain first-hand experience leading change and learn how effective nonprofits create lasting and measurable progress.
Direct Service
The Fellow will play a key role in enhancing the connections between school-age students and their local food systems, while increasing exposure to and knowledge about nutritious foods. The Fellow will center youth voices throughout the development and implementation of Farm to School (FTS) initiatives to foster empowerment and increased student engagement.
The Fellow will:
- Provide direct nutrition education to school-age elementary and middle school students.
- Facilitate in-person and virtual cooking workshops with students and their families.
- Lead the implementation of special FTS initiatives in schools.
- Support youth in taking on leadership roles.
- Train teachers to integrate nutrition education into their daily lesson plans.
Special Project
The Fellow will use their direct service experiences to generate a series of success stories highlighting the work accomplished with youth and school champions. This content will be shared on the Pennsylvania Farm to School Network’s (PFSN) mass communication platforms to conduct promotional campaigns, engage multi-sector partners, and create a publication to increase FTS implementation and to inform statewide advocacy efforts.
The Fellow will:
- Generate a series of success stories resulting from youth-led, place-based projects and manage content creation for the PFSN’s newsletter, social media and website.
- Support and then lead a 30-day promotional campaign during National Farm to School Month and a “Call to Action”.
- Collaborate on the publication of a collection of success stories to increase FTS implementation and inform policy makers.
- Collaborate with TFT’s Policy Strategic Working Group on statewide FTS initiatives.
LOCATION Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
WEB thefoodtrust.org
FOUNDED 1992
STAFF 65
How to Apply
Applicants must be college seniors at accredited four-year colleges or universities at the time of application and be eligible to work in the United States for the duration of the two-year Fellowship.
The deadline to apply is February 5, 2024 at 9:00 pm ET. Host organizations will select applicants for interviews and make their decisions by the end of April 2024. Fellowships begin in the summer of 2024.
Learn more about The Food Trust by visiting their website.
A Closer Look
About The Food Trust
The Food Trust (TFT) was established in 1992 to develop a stable food supply in underserved communities, educate youth and families about healthy eating, and improve the connection between urban and agricultural communities. TFT makes the greatest impact through our holistic, layered approach of access, affordability, education and advocacy. Core programs include operating a network of over 15 farmers markets/ farm stands across Philadelphia; implementing fruit and vegetable incentive programs, like Food Bucks, Food Bucks Rx and Heart Bucks; making corner stores healthier places to shop through the Healthy Corner Store Initiative; providing nutrition education to children and adults at schools and community sites; managing and supporting the implementation of healthy food financing initiatives that support healthy food retail projects in high-need communities; and advocating for policy change at the local, state and national levels. TFT gears its programs primarily to underserved residents and serves more than 800,000 people annually.
TFT is growing its community engagement efforts to ensure programming is informed by and responsive to the communities it serves, including the hiring of a dedicated Community Engagement Manager and Community Outreach Associates, who live in communities where TFT works. In part a response to COVID-related restrictions, TFT launched its Online Learning Hub, a one-stop shop for children, adults and teachers to access online videos and resources about healthy eating, cooking and physical activity. The Cooking Beyond the Classroom virtual cooking workshop series allows us to reach families at home.
Impact
Our Impact
The Food Trust measures the success of its programs in terms of the following outcomes:
+ Improvements in communities’ access to affordable, healthy foods;
+ Increases in knowledge and intention to make healthy choices among at-risk youth and adults;
+ Positive behavior changes in healthy eating habits among children and adults.
The Food Trust engages a wide variety of stakeholders in its evaluation of program impact, including program participants, caregivers, teachers, farmers, and store owners. The tools we use include questionnaires (including pre-/post-intervention surveys), focus groups, interviews, and social network analysis.
A recent evaluation of The Food Trust team’s virtual family cooking workshops involving K-2nd grade students and their caregivers found that:
+ 51% of caregivers increased the number of fruits and vegetables they served to their children weekly.
+ 56% of children who participated increased their overall willingness to try new fruits & vegetables.
+ 50% of caregivers reported preparing more meals together with their children.
+ 49% of caregivers reported being more interested in involving their children in meal preparation.
The Food Trust also tracks outputs for individual programs and the entire organization. For example,
+ In FY22, The Food Trust’s farmers markets served 400,000 customers at 15 markets and pop-up stands.
+ At these markets, sales included over $131,000 in SNAP sales and $78,000 in Food Bucks redemptions.
+ The Food Trust provided nutrition education to 5,000 individuals at 110 community sites in low-income communities.
+ More than 14,000 students at 47 schools and 26 ECE sites received nutrition and agricultural education.
+ Forty-six corner stores in Camden and Philadelphia offered The Food Trust’s Heart Smarts nutrition education and incentives,
Currently, The Food Trust is partnering with six healthcare providers across 45 clinical sites to offer produce prescriptions.
As part of its 2022-2027 strategic plan, The Food Trust will place further emphasis on ensuring strong, evidence-based programs through comprehensive evaluation and developing additional shared measures across programs.
Policies
COVID POLICY
It is our priority to keep our employees and their families healthy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we will abide by governmental guidelines as we strive to balance public health concerns with the needs of our business.
The Food Trust’s comprehensive COVID-19 policy is provided to staff upon hire.
NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
It is The Food Trust’s policy to afford you a hospitable, cooperative, and non-coercive environment in which to work. Any form of discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or by any other basis protected under applicable law will not be tolerated in the workplace.
Compensation
Fellows who start their Fellowship during the summer of 2024 will receive total compensation of approximately $90,000 plus benefits over the two-year Fellowship.
+ $42,000 in year one (includes $2,000 start of Fellowship bonus)
+ $48,000 in year two (includes $3,000 end of Fellowship bonus)
+ Health insurance coverage (100%—approximate value $12,000/year)*
+ Monthly subway pass (approximate value $1,200/year)
+ Professional development & leadership training
* Fellows are responsible for co-pays and expenses not covered by insurance.
Typical Work Schedule
Monday through Friday. There may be some weekend commitments such as school health fairs. In these occurrences, the Fellow will adjust their schedule accordingly so that they do not work more than 40 hours during those weeks. TFT currently practices a hybrid schedule, which requires office-based staff to be present in the office two days per week, with Wednesday being a mandatory core day. As community-based staff, the Fellow will provide direct service in the community approximately 18-20 hours per week and another 18-20 hours focused on their special projects supporting the PFSN.