Job description

Position Description:

The Manager of Food Systems Development is responsible for promoting urban agriculture and fostering the growth of local food economies. This position will be charged with formulating plans, policies and tools to encourage the expansion of local food systems, implementing strategies and initiatives that develop food systems and increase Denver’s capacity to produce, process and procure food locally and to maximize economic development opportunities associated with food systems. Ideal applicants will be well-versed in the mechanics and policy implications of the food system, including how food is produced, processed, distributed, marketed, and sold.

This manager will utilize a food system perspective to:

• Coordinate initiatives to expand local capacity to produce, process and distribute food, with a short-term emphasis on developing food hubs to support the local food industry, using the institutional purchasing power of the City and County of Denver and other institutional partners to create a growing and reliable market for Colorado food producers and processors, and expanding affordable food access throughout Denver, especially in Denver’s underserved areas.
• Formulate and implement economic development strategies that foster the growth of local food economies.
• Lead strategic planning and relationship building across various agencies (internal to the City) and sectors, stakeholder groups in the region (external to the City).
• Continue to build and maintain an inventory of food system assets (producers, growers, ranchers, distributors, retailers, researchers, health promoters, educators, hunger and equity advocates).
• Create a shared vision for a locally-focused food system, and work to communicate this with Denver residents and interested stakeholders.
• Create objectives aligned with Denver’s economic development, sustainability and health goals and develop measurable ways of tracking the advancement of the food system alignment and achievement of outcomes.

Job Responsibilities:

• Act as a convener and facilitator to help strengthen the connections needed to build a solid foundation for a “healthier” and sustainable food system.
• Coordinate immediate initiatives related to food hubs, institutional purchasing and equitable access to healthy, affordable food in Denver.
• Formulate and implement economic development strategies that promote food system development such as job training programs, business incentives, local procurement efforts, supply and distribution channels, or expansion of healthy food retail outlets.
• Work with regional entities to develop a unified food vision and plan for the greater Denver region, with the objective of assisting those entities to develop a strategic “road map” for the region’s food system including goals and metrics that can be measured.
• Establish a baseline of where Denver is with relation to the amount of food that is produced or processed in Denver and the amount of food purchased in Denver that is produced or processed in Colorado, with an emphasis on basic food products that are needed to meet the central nutritional needs of the population. Then develop appropriate metrics that will be measured over time demonstrating progress towards stated goals and objectives.
• Build and maintain an inventory of food system assets (producers, growers, ranchers, processors, distributors, retailers, researchers, health promoters, educators, hunger and equity advocates).
• Work with existing efforts to promote and help coordinate a City-wide or regional local and healthy food institutional purchasing policy for municipalities, hospitals, higher education, and other large food purchasers.
• Staff the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council, and work with the Council to develop workable policy advisories to improve the sustainability of Denver’s food system. Assist with efforts that would advance proactive and favorable federal, state and local policy related to sourcing, increasing capacity for food processing and storage, and offering incentives for production and sales of local food.
• Identify the priority infrastructure necessary for promoting food access and advancing Denver’s food system (year-round farmers’ markets, food hubs, production facilities, etc) and assist with securing the essential partnerships and personnel to launch these efforts.
• Collaborate with existing efforts to add acreage to local food production, including land owned by the City/County of Denver and city parks, at schools, on vacant land, in greenhouses, on rooftops, in community gardens, and advance recommendations towards infrastructure and favorable zoning that remove barriers towards local food production.
• Collaborate with stakeholders that promote the connectivity of neighborhoods, add to a more healthy eating and active living environment, and add opportunities for walking or biking to grocery retail.

Qualifications:

Experience Requirement:

Three years of professional or technical level experience organizing the administrative aspects of a program(s) or training program participants and/or volunteers.

Experience must include the following special qualifications:

• Must have a minimum of two years experience in one or more elements of the food system (i.e. production, processing, distribution, marketing, and sale of food, and disposition of food waste)

Compensation

this position is: salaried

Application instructions

Deadline

February 17, 2015