Shift Meals BIPOC Grow Team Fellowships (2021)
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
This June, ShiftMeals will be hosting a BIPOC-led community garden in partnership with Candace Taylor (our lovely Farm Mentor) at Conscious Homestead in Winooski, Vermont!
The BIPOC GrowTeam is made by and for self-identified BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) Vermonters to engage with Afro-Indigenous practices and ways of growing food for themselves and their communities.
BIPOC GrowTeam Fellows will participate in art, social and educational programming, field trips, workshops, and foster community with other BIPOC-Vermonters and leaders in food and land stewardship work while growing food together!
Our garden kicks off with a 4-week fellowship program, running from June 7th - July 2nd, providing an opportunity for BIPOC to receive compensation for their leadership in building community, food, and land sovereignty.
After the 4-week program, GrowTeam Fellows can continue to nurture their relationship with the Earth and cultivate food through the rest of the season in a collective volunteer capacity with an accessible commitment of 5 hrs/week along with additional GrowTeam Members who join within this capacity (up to 25 participants).
Included Benefits:
- $2,400 stipend ($1,200 after week 2, and $1,200 after week 4)
- Free homestead-grown produce + seeds
- Free farming immersion programming, art + educational workshops, and field trips (i.e., Susu CommUNITY Farm)
- Free daily meals provided by Vermont Everyone Eats
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Included Programming:
- Daily/weekly group-led yoga, meditation, and storytelling
- Daily/weekly 'Pop History' around BIPOC food + land stewardship work
- Daily/weekly community food prep + cooking
- Daily/weekly collective art projects
- Education around growing + harvesting food, composting, chicken care, medicinal tinctures, food preservation, developing Community Care Shares, and more
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To apply:
Please create a 'body of work' that illustrates your interest in this program, your passion for food + land stewardship work, and why you'd benefit from participating in the BIPOC GrowTeam program. For example, submit a written letter of intent, an art/dance/musical/poetry piece, a recorded video of yourself, or whichever way (medium) that you best express yourself. Also, you're welcome to submit a resume, but it's not required.
We can only accept ten people at this time, but we encourage folx to engage with us past the 4-week fellowship and through the rest of the growing season in a collective volunteer capacity.
Applications are due: Sunday, May 9th, 2021 @ Midnight (EST)! *If you will need an extension please let us know in advance.*
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Once we receive applications from people, we will call/email you back for an 'informal' interview (more like a 'get to know you and us' conversation) between our BIPOC GrowTeam Manager, BIPOC GrowTeam Art Coordinator, and Farm Mentor.
You may submit applications to our GrowTeam Manager, Zymora Cleopatra Davinchi, at [email protected], and/or our BIPOC GrowTeam Art Coordinator, Jaya Touma Kajatt-Shoatz, at [email protected].
Thank you, and we look forward to getting to know you all!
With love + gratitude,
Jaya, Zymora, Harmony and Candace
(2021 BIPOC Grow Team Crew)
