Title: Regional Farm to School Coordinators (part-time, average 25-30 hours per week)

Location: Hybrid. Remote work and field work visiting school districts and farms, plus weekly
in-person meetings at Tolland County Extension Center in Vernon. In-person meetings will be
rotated to other County Extension Centers as needed.

Commitment: 780 hours over 6 months (avg 25-30 hours/week); The position begins ideally in
December 2024 and is for 6 months. Contracts will be renewed every 6 months based on
performance. Funding is in place for this position until early spring 2027.

UConn Extension is seeking to hire SIX Regional Farm to School Coordinators to assist
with outreach and technical assistance to school districts across the state. This work falls
within UConn Extension's ongoing farm to school activities through its Put Local On Your Tray
Program.

Program Overview: UConn Extension has been engaged by CT State Department of Education
to increase farm to school programs and activities in Connecticut school districts.

Geographic Regions - Each position will be dedicated to a geographic region of the state and will
be responsible for up to 25-30 public school district assignments. Note, there may be school
district assignments that fall outside the geographic region depending on need and balancing the
workload for all six regional coordinators. Successful candidates will ideally be based in the
region they are assigned. Over 2.5 years, the strategy is to foster productive relationships
between each regional coordinator and their assigned districts.

Responsibilities:
• Support assigned school districts in completing a Connecticut Farm to School
Assessment
• By spring 2025, provide 3 hours of technical assistance to each assigned school district
focused on utilizing local food incentives from federal and state sources to purchase local
and regionally grown food.
• Starting in fall 2025, provide more intensive technical assistance (up to 12 hours) to a
sub-set of school districts that self-identify as ready to move forward with increasing and
integrating farm to school activities in their district.
• Provide documentation on technical assistance delivery, including frequency, dates and
times of technical assistance, and follow-up needed.
• Coordinate and host monthly check-in meetings with cohort of assigned districts. Create
agendas, gather meeting minutes, maintain and submit meeting collateral to project
director.
• Coordinate farm field trips for school food directors, staff, educators and administrators.
• Conducting pre- and post-evaluation of participants to demonstrate increased knowledge
commitment and action toward increasing farm to school activities.
• Collaborating with other Regional Farm to School Coordinators to share best practices,
learnings and support each other in the work.
• Coordinate with Project Director to engage and schedule external enrichment providers to
deliver services and training events in assigned districts.
• Work with Project Director, communications staff, and external partners to strengthen the
visibility of the project for stakeholders.

Supervision: The position will report to Jiff Martin, Project Director, who directs several
outreach and education programs in the field of food systems. Other team members include
Becca Toms (Communications Coordinator) and Shannon Raider Ginsburg (Agriculture
Technical Assistance Coordinator). A Co-Director will be in place by early 2025.
Compensation - $27.00/hour. Timesheets are submitted every two weeks. This is a temporary,
project-based position without benefits. Renewal of position is based on need and performance.
Funding is currently in place until early spring 2027.

Required Qualifications:
▪ Demonstrates understanding of the opportunity to grow farm to school in Connecticut.
▪ Knowledge of state and federal policies that impact farm to school efforts, including state
incentives and grant programs.
▪ Experience working in a school setting and interacting with students, teachers,
administrators, and/or cafeteria personnel.
▪ Experience organizing events – including scheduling speakers, monitoring participant
needs, managing registrations, conducting post-evaluation, and follow up.
▪ Past work demonstrates high degree of reliability and excellent organization skills
▪ Past work demonstrates ability to work independently and as part of team
▪ Demonstrates commitment to racial equity through continuous development and
modeling inclusive behaviors and proactively managing one’s bias
▪ Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to listen, empathize, and
collaborate in teams and work toward shared goals
▪ Comfortable and proficient with most digital platforms (Zoom, Slack, Webex, Microsoft
Office Suite)
▪ Comfortable taking photos and video for communication needs
▪ Having own transportation means in order to travel across a region for in-person delivery
of technical assistance.
▪ Willing and able to travel to UConn Extension office in Vernon and other county offices
as needed.

Preferred:
▪ Bilingual Spanish a plus
▪ Bachelor's Degree in the field of nutrition, public health, education or related field
▪ Demonstrates understanding of K-12 education system and its challenges in Connecticut
▪ Experience with different types of school settings, such as large vs small districts
▪ Experience working in school cafeteria settings and/or classroom settings
▪ Familiarity with function and role of state agencies, including CT Department of
Agriculture and CT State Department of Education
▪ Experience in small scale farming (this can be demonstrated by past apprenticeships or
farm jobs, as well as growing up on a farm or coming from a farm family)
▪ Experience with program evaluation methodologies
▪ Competency with Qualtrics or other survey tools
▪ Competency with social media for purposes of a project, organization or initiative
▪ Training in photography and video production

To Apply:
Send a resume and cover letter to jiff.martin@uconn.edu by October 31st at 5:00 pm. Please
specify in your letter which region(s) of the state you would be willing to serve (Northeast,
Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, Central). In the subject line of your email, please use:
APPLICANT FOR REGIONAL FARM TO SCHOOL COORDINATOR

Our work is more innovative and responsive when our team represents a diversity of
perspectives and life experiences. People of color, people with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ+,
and members of traditionally underrepresented populations are strongly encouraged to apply.
UConn provides reasonable accommodations to employees as required by law. Applicants with
disabilities may request reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.
UConn Extension is an equal opportunity employer