Feb

Mobile Market Coordinator

About Us: Urban Roots is a Saint Paul organization whose mission is to cultivate and empower youth through nature, healthy food, and community. Urban Roots focuses its programs on the East Side of Saint Paul, MN and our vision is a world where all communities have unlimited access to nature and healthy food. We place the tools of personal and community development in the hands of young people and families.

Urban Roots, formerly the Community Design Center of Minnesota, was incorporated in 1969. Over the past 50 years, Urban Roots has provided a range of community development services in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and southern Minnesota, including architecture, urban planning, economic development, and organizational development—with a common thread of empowerment, engagement, and innovation. Since 1996, we’ve operated our food and environmental programs on the East Side of Saint Paul, engaging thousands of under-resourced youth in education, training, and work projects that provide service to the community, develop young leaders, and improve health and the environment. We offer three programs to engage and support youth in paid internships—Market Garden, Cook Fresh, and Conservation.

Position Summary:

The Mobile Market Coordinator works closely with the Market Garden team to help ensure Urban Roots’ Mobile Market programming is mitigating food waste and providing opportunities for East Saint Paul community members to access fresh, local produce. This includes leading our weekly mobile market pop-up, weekly Mill City Farmers Market booth, participating in community events, delivering produce to mutual aid sites and creating standard operating procedures for mobile market roll-out. The Mobile Market Coordinator will collaborate with partners in order to identify and distribute food that is at risk of going to waste.

This position is for 18 hours/ week from January-May. Then during the growing season, (June-December) the position will increase to 36 hours/week.

Essential Functions:

Lead the weekly Mobile Market Pop-Up on the East Side of St. Paul where community members can access fresh produce.
Lead the weekly Mill City Farmers Market shifts with Urban Roots youth interns.
Work with Urban Roots youth interns to distribute food to community members at our weekly Pop-Up. Involve and empower youth in mobile market shifts.
Run additional pop-ups at events put on by organizational partners on the East side.
Provide opportunities for community members to access Urban Roots produce through SNAP/EBT and Market Bucks. This includes recordkeeping and bookkeeping regarding these payment options.
Explore new partnerships around food waste mitigation and community food distribution.
Drive the Mobile Market refrigerated transit van.
Research and record best practices in the form of Standard Operating Procedures.
Coordinate Mobile Market participation at additional Urban Roots events.
Deliver produce to wholesale partners when needed.
Occasional hands on garden shifts, participation in the broader Market Garden Program.

Preffered Qualifications:

2 years of experience working with farmers markets or food delivery and customer service.
Event planning experience.
Knowledge of youth development best practices.
Eagerness to work toward addressing food insecurity.
Experience facilitating and an understanding of SNAP/EBT programs.
Self-motivated, team-oriented, creative and organized.
Experience working with community partners in collaborative efforts and programs.
Enjoys working outside.
Valid driver’s license with a clean driving record.
CPR/First Aid Certification or willingness to obtain certification.
Supervisory experience.
Availability to work early mornings and weekends during the growing season.

Compensation: $17.05/hour

To apply: Please submit a cover letter, resume and three professional references to Skyler Hawkins at shawkins@urbanrootsmn.org. Please include “Mobile Market Coordinator” in the subject line. No phone calls please.

People shop at the nonprofit Urban Roots mobile farmers market at Rivoli Bluffs Farm and Restoration Site in St. PaulÕs Payne/Phalen neighborhood on Saturday, July 10, 2021. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Urban Roots is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to build a staff reflective of our values of equity and inclusion with regard to race, culture, ethnicity, class religion, physical ability, age, gender identity and sexual orientation. Urban Roots is committed to fostering the leadership of BIPOC individuals (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others living in marginalized communities.