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.