like lightning bolts, in Gretchen Rubin’s vocabulary – a major change made very suddenly as a consequence of reading a book, a conversation with a friend, a health scare, etc. – and others simmer.
 
Coming to the decision not to post unpaid internships or apprenticeships on GFJ was a lightning bolt at the end of a years-long simmer.

In years past, we’ve moved from including ‘volunteer’ as an open-ended option for job posts…to shifting ‘volunteer’ to one-off events only and requiring non-monetary compensation (room and board, goods and services, or college credit) for all internships…to removing ‘volunteer’ opportunities entirely and tightening our restrictions on non-monetary compensation…to finally making a stand in favor of paid positions that raise the equity for all laborers, particularly BIPOC who have been held back or exploited by low-paid or enslaved labor for the past four hundred years.
 
As we came to that decision, we realized there was another question mark: Americorps jobs. We have had an increasing number of posts from organizations that participate in Americorps service membership over the years (so much so that multiple job seekers have written in to share that these jobs need to be labeled clearly, so as to minimize the frustration and wasted time of reading through a detailed post only to discover, at the very bottom, that the compensation is a very low stipend + living allowance). And as we stated in a recent newsletter, the VISTA positions - the most common type of Americorps role posted with us - pay an $1,800 stipend* for one year of service. *It’s important to note, as we failed to do in earlier newsletters, that this stipend is offered on top of a living stipend that varies depending on the location of service, and that members can also opt for a larger education award, in lieu of the stipend, though there are restrictions on that option based on citizenship status.
 
So what exactly is an Americorps position? The topic warrants a whole book on the subject, but in order to give you the gist, President Kennedy envisioned the VISTA (standing for Volunteers in Service to America) as a stateside Peace Corps. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Americorps, you might want to check out this timeline, or reading through their informative website with its extensive list of FAQs. To learn more about the variety of programs they offer, including NCC, VISTA, and State and National programs, visit this page.
 
Why are we so focused on this? A major aspect of our work at GFJ is, first and foremost, to define what a good food job is. In addition to having something to do with food (very directly or very indirectly, and everywhere in between) and a contribution to conserving or sustaining Planet Earth, a good food job provides a livable wage. If we as a business are advocating for livable wages for all, can we support Americorps service membership with the same integrity?
 
Sixty-four emails from former service members and six weeks of deliberation later, the answer is no, we cannot.

For the record, after ten years and almost 520 weeks of asking questions in this newsletter, we have never received such a high caliber of responses. We needed time to reflect on the volume and - more importantly - the intricacy of each story. In almost every case, the author did not have just one thing to say about Americorps: good or bad, positive or negative, beneficial or harmful. The stories were rife with conflicting information: Many service members felt that their individual lives and career trajectories had been immeasurably changed for the better. Many of those same service members recognized the need for, among other things, increased and more equitable pay, increased and more equitable access to the opportunities, and greater representation of racial diversity within the organizations they worked with, not just within the communities they were serving.
 
Does the Americorps service member experience reflect the problems of a country built on the system of racism and the profits of unpaid labor? It seems so. So why does the decision of our small company make a difference in changing any of those enormous problems? Because when we create a model for something – in this case, what a good food job is and can be – we create opportunity for change.
 
We hope you will stick with us this week, and next, as we share more details about how we arrived at this shift in the culture of our business operations.


In remembrance of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 

Dor + Tay

photo by Alexa Romano