A million thanks from East New York Farms! for signing the Petition to Bring Back Composting to NYC.  

Because of your support, City Council Members Arroyo, Yassky, and Felder have expressed interest in holding a public hearing on Fall Leaf Collection this autumn. Let's keep the energy going and make this hearing happen!

Here's how to stay involved:

1.  Sign our petition

If you haven't signed yet, it's not too late, and your voice is more important than ever:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/bring-back-composting-to-nyc.html

2.  Compost to Council Shout-Outs!

In order for a public hearing to take place, we, as constituents, need to contact our Council Members for support. 

One phone call from each of us will literally make all the difference for our gardens and communities.

While unfamiliar for most of us, calling your representative is truly easy, empowering, and effective. 

And it takes only 3 minutes: One to find your Council Member, one to read the script below, and one to make the call.

Find your Council Member:  http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml

Feel free to use the following sample script:

·         Hello, my name is ______________ and I am a constituent.

·         I live at/in ___________ (give street address or neighborhood so they know you are a constituent).

·         I'm calling to urge Council Member _______ to support a public hearing on Fall Leaf Collection 

 and Compost Givebacks, which have been major assets to the communities and green spaces of New York

City.  Why Plant a Million Trees and trash those leaves, when we can harness this local resource and divert organic matter from out-of-state landfills?  We have the means to do better, so please don't leave this issue on the curb. 

If you’re calling after hours you can leave a message (and yes, that counts too) to state the above, 

but also include your phone number.

3. Visit a Compost to Council Shout-Out Booth!

We're hitting the streets with Compost to Council Shout Outs! beginning this Thursday at the Green Brooklyn Green City symposium at Borough Hall! There will be call-in booths at various community events throughout the city in the next few months.  If you know of an event or space that could use a Compost to Council Shout-Out, or if you'd like to volunteer, please email Beth, our compost intern, at compost@eastnewyorkfarms.org.

With love and leaves from a million trees,

The Compost Crew

East New York Farms!

718-649-7979

Dear Community Gardeners and Friends,

Composting in NYC as we know it is no more! Leaf collection and Give Back Days have been canceled and the whole NYC Compost Project has taken a huge budgetary hit (they have basically been asked to stretch their already reduced 2009 budget through the 2010 fiscal year with no guarantee of renewed funding!!).  However, we are resolved to demonstrate that compost is no small thing in a city chock full of community gardens and green spaces.  Let’s tell City Council and the Department of Sanitation that it is essential for keeping our gardens healthy and productive, and our communities beautiful!  And let’s do it now before the NYC Compost Project is lost for good.

How?
We need thousands of signatures of concerned gardeners, friends and residents, so the city can see, without question, how important compost is to our gardens and communities. We believe with a modest effort on the part of many, we will be able to encourage the City to fund composting in NYC again.

Want more info?
Check out the attachment for the “Compost in NYC Fact Sheet”

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

o Sign the Online Petition
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/bring-back-composting-to-nyc.html

o Spread the Word: Email family and friends the link to the online petition and encourage them to sign; place the link on your personal blog or on your community garden’s blog or website.

o Collect Names:  Collect signatures of fellow gardeners; if you have an upcoming garden event or market have interested attendees sign; bring a petition along to other upcoming spring gardening events!  (Please email Tina at the address at the bottom to receive an attachment of the petition.)

o Write Letters Right to the Source:  Write a letter as a garden, an individual or a group of individuals to send to Council and the Department of Sanitation.

And most importantly…

o Keep Composting!!

East New York Farms! thanks you all for your continued commitment to the proliferation of green spaces and to the collective effort of getting compost back onto the city’s agenda.

With appreciation,

The Team at East New York Farms!

East New York Farms!
United Community Center
613 New Lots Ave.,
Brooklyn, NY 11207
(718) 649-7979
www.eastnewyorkfarms.org

Questions, suggestions or concerns?  Please contact Tina von Roedern, ENYF Compost Intern at freedumpeanuts@yahoo.com

This Friday's Bill Moyer's Journal (Nov 28) included a great conversation with Michael Pollan about food systems and the way we eat. It also featured the East New York Farmers Market, our new urban farm, Hands and Heart Garden, and market gardeners James and Jeanette Ware. The link is here, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch2.html.  The segment about East New York Farms! starts in the second minute of Part II, and continues til about 8min30sec. Watch til the end for some footage of our team of youth leaders harvest for the market!

On Tuesday October 21, 2008, we had the honor of accepting the Citizen’s Committee for the Children of New York City’s Samuel P. Peabody Award for Community Activism. We were presented with this award for our work through the East New York Farms! Project “to assure and expand access to healthy and sustainable food for East New York children and families.” 

CCC Awards 1

This award is so meaningful to us because it is truly a shared accomplishment

– the sum of the amazing efforts of more than 50 local gardeners, 100 young leaders, 5 regional farmers, and 100,000 customers. We began in the mid-90’s with an interesting idea – for youth and adults to work together to capitalize on the food-producing potential of community gardens to meet our community’s needs for fresh food, safe public spaces, economic development, and youth empowerment. Ten years later, we have transformed this idea into a viable strategy for working collectively to improve our own health, environment, and local economy.

Our partner organization, the East New York Food Coop, is hiring a general manager. Please respond directly to them with any applications or questions.

Posted: April 11, 2008                                                        

 POSITION AVAILABLE - General Manager

EAST NEW YORK FOOD CO-OP, 419 New Lots Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11207

Please contact: Salima Jones-Daley, 646-281-8001, enyfpc@yahoo.com

The East New York Food Co-op (ENYFC) is a cooperative cooperation owned and run by its members for the purpose of having access to top quality organic, local, and wholesome food products at maximum savings and affordability. The ENYFC opened its doors in November 2006.

• Summary: Manage the day-to-day operations of the ENY Food Co-op by performing the following personally or through the supervision of staff & volunteer committees to maximize customer satisfaction, sales, and store cleanliness. The ENYFC is a business as well as a community –based project. Additional consideration will be given to those with community organizing experience. This position reports to the ENYFC Board of Directors. This is a Full-time position.
• Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
• Manage and motivate staff & volunteer committees, 
• Plan, forecast, report on sales, costs and business performance,
• Manage selling and customer service activities and staff competence in these areas, so as to optimize and sustain sales performance, profitability and customer satisfaction.
• Monitor compliance of staff & volunteer members with established security, sales, safety, and record keeping procedures and practices.
• Answer guest’s complaints or inquiries.
• Lock and secure store.
• Operate the cash register, compute the bill and issue a receipt to customers.
• Deliver and verify deposits to the bank.
• Manage costs and overheads, and all factors affecting the sustainable performance of the Food Co-op.
• Liaise with and utilize support from suppliers, merchandisers and other partners as required.
• Manage, maintain and report as necessary all merchandise and non-merchandise stock.
• Manage upkeep and condition of all equipment, fixtures of shop premises.
• Manage health and safety, security, and emergency systems, capabilities and staff and customer awareness, according to company policy and relevant law.
• Seek and continuously develop knowledge and information about competitor activity, pricing and tactics, and communicate this to relevant departments in the Company.
• Attend general meetings and contribute to cooperative company strategy and policy-making as required.
• Develop personal skills and capability through on-going training, as provided by the ENY Food Co-op or elsewhere subject to Company approval.
• Qualifications and Requirements: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: In retail management, finance, and marketing.
• Driver’s License a plus
• Spanish fluency a plus.
• EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE: Minimum two year certificate from college or technical school, or two years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to guests and staff members. Ability to communicate with customers/members.
• MATHEMATICAL SKILLS: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute ratios and percentages.
• REASONING ABILITY: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
• PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a staff member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the staff member is regularly required to stand and talk or hear. The staff member frequently is required to walk. The staff member is occasionally required to sit; use hands to handle objects or tools; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The staff member must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

Job opening - Urban Agriculture Coordinator, East New York Farms! Project

Responsibilities:

• Recruit and train new and experienced gardeners from East New York and surrounding communities in urban production for market (primarily vegetable production, possibility of chicken raising and bee-keeping)
• Lead and coordinate trainings for gardeners, as well as provide individual technical assistance
• Organize local gardeners and develop their capacity to support each other, sell at the farmers market, and oversee a micro-loan fund
• Provide group development assistance to 20-30 members of new 1/2 acre urban farm, and assist them in further developing the farm
• Supervise and support Urban Farm Manager in cultivating and maintaining a half-acre urban farm
• Co-supervise and train teens (ages 13-16) to grow vegetables, serve other neighborhood gardeners, and help run the farmers’ market
• Assist with designing and leading lessons to build skills and help youth understand the social context of their work
• Track and assist with reporting activities to funders
• Support farmers’ market operations
• Support outreach/promotion efforts of project

Qualifications:

• At least one full season of growing experience, primarily in small fruit and vegetable production
• Experience facilitating trainings for both youth and adults
• Experience working with diverse communities and individuals
• Responsible and able to work independently
• Drivers’ license a must
• Ability to work weekends (work week is Tuesday – Saturday from March through November) and occasional evenings
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Spanish language skills a plus

This is a full-time position with full benefits

Position will start part-time February 1, 2008 (for training) and become full-time March 1, 2008.

Please send resume and cover letter by December 14, 2007 to:

Sarita Daftary

East New York Farms! Project Director

info@eastnewyorkfarms.org

The mission of the East New York Farms! Project is to organize youth and adult residents to address food issues in their community by promoting local and regional sustainable agriculture and community-led economic development.