Building Community through Urban Gardening

PLEASE NOTE: Although this posting may display a longer availability window on Handshake due to system requirements, applications for this internship must be submitted by June 12th.

Description: 
We are looking for a fellow to assist us with an upcoming urban agriculture project at Joe Taylor Park. This will be a collaborative project between us and Baxter Community Center, and we’ll be putting in 9 raised beds, planting an 8-10 tree fruit orchard, and doing a communal herb garden. There is a significant community component to the project, and we’d like assistance from a fellow with data collection, community engagement, and event planning.  As the placement will be September-December, it would involve helping to plan a fall harvest event at the park and looking at outputs and outcomes from the 1st season and helping with data analysis and evaluation to prepare for year two. It could involve working with the newly established advisory council for the project and analyzing their feedback into a project plan for year two. 

Importance to Public Health: 
The need addressed is access to healthy food, as a requirement of having one of the raised beds is donating a portion to a free produce stand at Baxter.  The herb garden and fruit trees will be for communal use, and we hope to implement classes throughout the summer and fall with said herbs. This need was identified through the city, who recognized this as a disadvantaged neighborhood with low food access.  This ties into the Kent County Food System Plan, where several of the action items refer to a safe space to grow food in our neighborhoods. 

Project Deliverables:

• Data reports on year 1 of the growing season
• Educational materials for classes
• Communication around successes of the first year (both digital and physical copy)
• Engagement plan with advisory council
  
  Minimum Qualifications: 
• Students applying for this internship must be enrolled in a Bachelor’s-level or higher degree program.
• Experience with Canva and the Microsoft Suite of programs