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Friday, April 27, 2012
Fundraiser for Center for Family Life May 30
ROC USA on NH Public Radio
Listen to this wonderful 7-minute piece on Resident Owned Communities and the work of Paul Bradley and ROC USA to bring stability -- and dignity -- to tens of thousands of homeowners who rent their land. CDI is so proud to be a part of this! We have helped convert 5 parks to community cooperative ownership, and are working on two more, bringing to hundreds of residents a measure of control over their destiny.
http://www.nhpr.org/post/concord-nonprofit-banking-trailer-parks
http://www.nhpr.org/post/concord-nonprofit-banking-trailer-parks
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Job: Oke fair trade banana company--logistics and sales
Here is a link to the posting on the Equal Exchange website: http://www.equalexchange.coop/
Banana Logistics and Sales - Oke USA
Oke USA is a Fair Trade fruit company importing bananas to the North American market under the Equal Exchange brand. We invite you to join us. Together we can create a more just food system and a healthier planet.
Oke USA is a Fair Trade fruit company importing bananas to the North American market under the Equal Exchange brand. We invite you to join us. Together we can create a more just food system and a healthier planet.
To Apply:
E-mail (preferred) or mail a cover letter, resume and brief answers to the application questions below to: info@okeusa.com
Job Description:
Employment Status: Full time regular position (~45-50 hours / week)
Salary: Dependent on experience
Benefits: 100% individual health insurance premium coverage and significant portion of dependent coverage, vacation, holidays and sick days
Reports to: Oke USA Vice President
Location: Equal Exchange Office, West Bridgewater, MA
Employment Status: Full time regular position (~45-50 hours / week)
Salary: Dependent on experience
Benefits: 100% individual health insurance premium coverage and significant portion of dependent coverage, vacation, holidays and sick days
Reports to: Oke USA Vice President
Location: Equal Exchange Office, West Bridgewater, MA
Qualifications:
Required
Ability to manage complex logistics
Problem solver
Team player
Ability to work independently
Time management skills
Ability to relocate to Boston area
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally
Ability to work under high stress in a fast paced environment
Attention to detail alongside the ability to think big picture
Commitment to making a difference and passion for issues related to sustainable agriculture and food systems!
Ability to manage complex logistics
Problem solver
Team player
Ability to work independently
Time management skills
Ability to relocate to Boston area
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally
Ability to work under high stress in a fast paced environment
Attention to detail alongside the ability to think big picture
Commitment to making a difference and passion for issues related to sustainable agriculture and food systems!
Preferred
2 or more years in produce
Experience with perishable commodity logistics
Experience with Latin American producer groups
Spanish fluency / proficiency highly preferred
2 or more years in produce
Experience with perishable commodity logistics
Experience with Latin American producer groups
Spanish fluency / proficiency highly preferred
Responsibilities:
Logistics: producer relations support, fruit procurement, ocean transportation, quality control, customs, U.S. transport.
Sales: Weekly servicing and replenishment to ripeners and distributors, account management, pricing and financial analysis, retail promotions, store visits and outreach nationally, in concert with and in support of Equal Exchange brand, new sales to ripeners and distributors
Marketing and education: Grassroots Marketing to build store and consumer awareness of brand through demos, social media, print, store staff trainings, educational lectures and consumer campaigns
Team: Work with the Oke team to manage new sales, supply chain development and critical thinking around building alternative fair trade supply chains
Logistics: producer relations support, fruit procurement, ocean transportation, quality control, customs, U.S. transport.
Sales: Weekly servicing and replenishment to ripeners and distributors, account management, pricing and financial analysis, retail promotions, store visits and outreach nationally, in concert with and in support of Equal Exchange brand, new sales to ripeners and distributors
Marketing and education: Grassroots Marketing to build store and consumer awareness of brand through demos, social media, print, store staff trainings, educational lectures and consumer campaigns
Team: Work with the Oke team to manage new sales, supply chain development and critical thinking around building alternative fair trade supply chains
To Apply:
E-mail (preferred) or mail a cover letter, resume and brief answers to the application questions below to: info@okeusa.com
Oke USA
50 United Drive
West Bridgewater, MA 02379
50 United Drive
West Bridgewater, MA 02379
Questions:
Please speak to the unique importance of importing fair trade bananas.
The
top five banana companies (Dole, Chiquita, Noboa, Fyffes, Fresh Del
Monte) account for more than 80% of world banana market. Oke USA
operates at a minute scale in comparison. What are the some of the
challenges associated with this difference in scale and how would you
approach those challenges?
Oke
USA must compete with other produce companies on the most conventional
terms while also carrying out our fair trade mission. What do you bring
to a company with this challenge?
Friday, April 20, 2012
Job: Brooklyn Yoga Cooperative is looking for additional worker-owners
Here is the post with more info: http://www.idealist.org/view/
Yoga Instructor / Yoga Teacher / Yoga Studio Owner
Posted on: March 26, 2012
Posted by: Brooklyn Yoga Cooperative
Job: Kitchen Manager post at CoFED training
CoFED Northeast is hiring!
About the Organization:CoFED - the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive - is a national cooperative network and training program committed to empowering students to create ethically-sourced, cooperatively-run food enterprises on college campuses. Our mission is to cultivate a more sustainable, community-oriented culture through college campuses. We hold retreats throughout the year to train students and incubate projects. From May 31st-June 6th, 2012, students will attend a week-long Spring incubation event in Wassaic New York on a small permaculture farm for hands-on training, workshop, and guidance in starting up, maintaining and expanding food coops on their campuses.
Kitchen Manager
Applications due by April 30th
Position: Kitchen ManagerSupervisor: Regional Organizer
Supervises: Student kitchen volunteers
Contract Length: May 31st – June 6th, 2012
Compensation: $500 stipend. Indoor camping accommodations + meals provided. Access to training workshops and speakers (a $150 value). For the right candidate, CoFED can consider a partial travel stipend.
Expected Hours: An average of 8 hours/day, spread out in 2-3 hour shifts for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Position Description: CoFED is looking for a Kitchen Manager for its 6 day Summer Incubation. We are seeking students or professionals who want to gain skills and experience working as a leader in a high volume, but small kitchen. The Kitchen Manager will also gain exposure to cooperative business development, organic farming and food justice.
The ideal kitchen manager is interested in sustainable food movements and/or cooperative theory and is looking to gain experience working with farm fresh food, managing a kitchen staff and preparing high volume, casual meals in an easygoing environment. The ideal candidate has experience cooking vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and other allergy-sensitive meals. This kitchen manager will be comfortable creatively adapting to two small kitchens, and will enjoy working cooperatively with student and farmer assistants to address challenges. The ideal candidate will have experience in high output situations and will be comfortable and successful in a minimalist, outdoorsy, educational environment! The experience will be especially helpful for students looking to gain more leadership experience in the kitchen!
Duties include:
- Daily menu planning and development, planning and executing (with help!) 3 meals per day for roughly 65 people. Ingredients are provided.
- Responsible for working with student and farmer volunteers to keep kitchen organized and clean
- Provides professional and cooperative leadership and direction to kitchen volunteers.
- Availability during entire incubation retreat from May 31st-June 5th
- Interest in sustainable food movements, cooperative movements and/or sustainable and alternative business
- Experience in menu-planning for large groups, especially using healthy, sustainable ingredients
- Experience working in a kitchen, preferably a high-yield kitchen
- Excellent communication skills
- Comfortable working independently, and comfortable working cooperatively with others.
To apply, please send a cover letter describing your relevant kitchen experience, qualifications, goals, and expectations along with your current resume. Send to kira@cofed.org and cc christine@cofed.org.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Free NCBA Webinar 4/12 on Starting a Purchasing Cooperative
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Part I - Steps to Starting a Successful Purchasing Cooperative Purchasing cooperatives have become an essential tool for many Purchasing cooperatives helps members improve their competitiveness, and leverage their combined purchasing volumes into savings and efficiencies. In this four-part educational track, co-op developers will learn the strategies and the development process for starting a purchasing cooperative. Part I: Introduction to Purchasing Cooperatives
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Monday, April 9, 2012
2 Job Openings at CDI: Housing Program Organizers
The Cooperative Development Institute is hiring for two part-time positions: housing program organizers in Maine and in Southeast New England. See job description below.
Cooperative Development Institute (www.cdi.coop) is seeking a new hire to join its New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC) Program (www.cdi.coop/manufacturedhousing.html). The main work of the program is to assist the residents in the nearly 1200 manufactured home parks in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine to purchase their communities and manage them as resident-owned cooperatives. The program is part of the highly successful ROC USA Network (www.rocusa.org).
These two positions will focus primarily on providing technical assistance to manufactured housing communities throughout Maine and Southeast New England. The successful candidate will be enthusiastic, a good communicator, a self-starter, ready to learn, able to travel and work on some evenings and weekends. The housing program work is currently part-time (20 hrs/week), but is hoped to become full time within a year. A new hire may also have the option of supplementing this part-time work by taking on fee-for-service cooperative development projects that the Cooperative Development Institute is working on outside of the NEROC program.
See job description below. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume with references to info@cdi.coop. This position will remain open until filled.
Job Title: Housing Program Organizer (Part Time).
Reports to: Executive Director, Housing Program Manager
Base Salary Compensation: $18-22/hour in Maine, $20-25/hour in Mass., plus benefits (some paid time off and some reimbursement of health insurance) (Salaried/Exempt)
Part-time Position: 20 hours/week
Approximate Start Date: May 2012
Position Overview: Aids the Housing Program Manager in organizing manufactured home park residents to form cooperatives to purchase and manage their communities; provides training and assistance to existing resident-owned manufactured home communities, both individually and in groups; helps members understand their roles and responsibilities in order to more effectively manage their resident owned community; fosters a sense of empowerment and community spirit.
Essential Job Functions:
- Assists Housing Program Manager with community organizing; includes door-to-door canvassing, community meetings and presentations, mailings, and incorporation assistance.
- Provides organizational and administrative assistance to the Housing Program Manager to ensure that the various elements of the Housing Program are running smoothly; includes meeting facilitation, fundraising assistance, and fulfilling reporting requirements.
- Provides direct support and organizational training to cooperative board members, committees and residents.
- In each developing co-op,
- trains committee and facilitates the production of Bylaws.
- trains committee and facilitates the production of Community Rules.
- trains committee and facilitates the approval of membership committee policies and procedures.
- Contributes to the development and implementation of workshops for board and community members on range of topics including: board and members’ roles and responsibilities, working in teams, infrastructure and planning for the future, community building, motivating volunteers, corporate finances and communication.
- Coordinates support for and monitors progress of resident-owned communities, as assigned by the Program Manager, including monthly review of cooperative minutes and budget reports.
- Assists both established and developing resident-owned communities with all aspects of their financial and loan compliance responsibilities.
- As needed, assists struggling cooperatives to assess their organizational health, identify problems, and develop goals and a plan of action.
- Other tasks and special projects, as assigned by the Program Manager.
Organizational Expectations:
- Responsible for conducting all activities within the prescribed policy and budgetary guidelines as set by the Board and administered by the Executive Director.
- Functions as a participant in CDI’s Cooperative Development Team, sharing information effectively to assist others in doing CDI’s work. Builds positive and strong relationships with other CDI staff.
- Demonstrates personal responsibility in job performance.
- Responsible for role modeling professional standard of behavior. Takes this role within the organization, is consistently respectful and professional with staff and clients.
- May be required to perform additional, related duties or functions of lesser or greater responsibility as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.
Minimum Requirements
- 3 to 5 years of cooperative business experience, including project management experience in for-profit, non-profit community or economic development organizations.
- Experience with group facilitation, coaching a group through an autonomous decision-making process, and coping with conflict situations.
Knowledge Skills/Abilities
- Advanced degree in related field welcomed, minimum of Bachelors degree or equivalent.
- Strong knowledge of fiscal management, strategic planning and general business practices.
- Strong knowledge of and commitment to cooperatives and cooperative development.
- Well-developed partnership, process development and integration and planning skills.
- Experience with cooperative governance structures and working with boards of directors preferred.
- Familiarity with public policy process and development.
- Excellent communication skills, including public speaking, consensus-building and facilitation skills.
- Proactive and team-oriented leadership required.
- Ability to think critically and solve problems creatively with small and large groups.
- Demonstrated experience working effectively on a team.
- Demonstrated success in community building and organizing.
- Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
- Computer literacy required.
- Ability to work with diverse groups of residents as well as town and state officials, attorneys, engineers, and other professionals.
- Working understanding of budgeting, real estate and financing.
- Available evenings and occasional weekends.
- Ability to travel.
Characteristics
- Well spoken and articulate.
- Calm demeanor; able to perform under pressure during difficult interpersonal conflict.
- Plans ahead, able to complete tasks and meet tight deadlines.
- Able to understand and manage multiple complex tasks.
- Works collaboratively, self-motivated, flexible, enthusiastic.
In accordance with Federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the base of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (voice and TDD).
Help Complete Worker Co-op Documentary!
Please support the completion of the documentary film about worker cooperatives, “Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work.”
Longtime documentary filmmakers Moving Image Productions are using Kickstarter to raise funds to finish their film “Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work”. This grassroots, independent project will only be funded if at least $30,000 is pledged by the end of April. That’s 24 days left to go! Please consider even a small gesture of support.
USFWC staff and members have actively participated in this film, which chronicles worker cooperatives in the United States, and the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain. Check out a preview of the film here.
Thank you!
For more information:
Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
To contact the filmmakers directly:
Melissa Young, producer
Moving Images
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