New Internship and Volunteer Opportunities

Author: Jenn Kucharczyk

Posted: August 12, 2014

Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Opportunities / Volunteer. Job and Writing Opportunities

Are you a food policy fan?  Do you get excited over the idea of transforming Ontario’s food systems?  Are you looking for an internship that will put you on the food map in Ontario?  Look no further!  Sustain Ontario is seeking new part-time interns and volunteers and we want you to join us!

We’re looking for talented, energetic individuals who want to grow their professional portfolio and network by dedicating their time and creativity to various tasks such as policy research, working group facilitation, fundraising development, and/or design support.

We offer great practical work experience, a huge network of contacts along with flexible hours and work you can sink your teeth into.  We love self-starters who can take initiative but who are also collaborative in their approach. Apply by September 3rd by sending your resume and a cover letter stating your interest to opportunities@sustainontario.ca.

Please note that internships must be connected to a work placement or for school credit. We’ve included information about more flexible volunteer opportunities at the bottom of the post!

Interviews: September 8th – 12th

Orientation: TBD for week of September 15th

End Date: December 12th, 2014

Preference is given to applicants who can work from our Toronto office although there is some flexibility for off-site hours. Interviews will take place in-person or via Skype or phone in the second week of September. Resumes and cover letters can be directed to opportunities@sustainontario.ca with the title of your preferred internship in the subject line.

Student Roles

Here’s an example of some of our current priority areas where student interns can make an impact:

Membership and Annual Report Development

Sustain Ontario relies on its members to thrive and develop our policy stances, network structure and get things done. We are still in the early stages of our membership strategy development and implementation and could use some strategic help in conducting outreach and communications to our members. We are looking for a student keen on strategic development and graphic design (an asset) to help us build our membership strategy, governance documents, design an annual policy survey and an annual report for our alliance. This role is ideal for an individual who is enthusiastic about organizational development, networks, governance, design and strategic planning. We’re also looking for someone who is enterprising and loves designing good communications tools if possible.

Peer Learning Circle Support

We are currently hosting four peer learning circles/working groups that are based on a series of 6 meetings with Sustain Ontario members and allies. The purpose of these groups is to share best practices from their communities and to learn from each other, but they also have an underlying policy element in that each of them have key policy areas that they could influence. The four peer learning circle themes are:

• Municipal/Regional food policy councils (see below)
• School Food
• Regional “Buy Local” groups
• Food Access

Each of the peer learning circles has a dedicated facilitator and a rough workplan, but need support to aggregate and share resources, conduct research, build webpages, take detailed minutes and develop policy briefs. We are looking for students interested in collaborative policy, research and possibly website layout and design to support these groups.

Municipal/Regional Food Policy Network and Municipal Elections

October 27^th is the date for the municipal elections in Ontario and Sustain Ontario is working with our Municipal Food Policy Network to create tools and resources for community groups to educate their municipal councillor and mayoral candidates as well as the public about healthy food and farming systems and how they can best support them. In addition to the municipal elections, we continue to grow our capacity to provide resources and expertise for food policy groups across the province. In addition, we are working with three municipalities to increase their local food purchases within public institutions. We are looking for a student to assist with this important strategic direction. Ideally, the student has some interest in planning and municipal affairs as well as a keen interest in food and farming issues. Interest in research and communications is key.

Ontario-wide Video Production

For the creative types, we are engaged in creating a short video to describe the Ontario Food Systems challenges and opportunities. We are at the early stages of designing and writing this up, but if you are keen on video production and creative projects, we are looking for someone to help us guide a collaborative and resource-limited video design with our partners Powerline Films. The role of the student would be to help create and research the overarching storyline and story board, ensure research facts and figures are documented, reaching out to partner and/or member organizations to workshop the video and potential to create a communications plan, complete with trailers etc.

Other areas that we are currently working in that interested applicants could support:

• Pollinators and pesticides: We are working on an alliance stance on neonicotinoids and pollinators. We will likely be doing some work to aggregate resources and education materials and potentially convene some stakeholders
• Food Skills: Help support an on-going survey of best practices.
• Food Literacy: Support a research study of what the Local Food Act can do with respect to food literacy.
• Advocating for Universal Student Nutrition Programs
• Community Composting
• Local Food Procurement in Municipalities

Preference is given to applicants who can work from our Toronto office although there is some flexibility for off-site hours. Interviews will take place in-person or via Skype or phone in the second week of September.

Resumes and cover letters can be directed to opportunities@sustainontario.ca with the title of your preferred internship in the subject line. Writing samples and links to projects are welcome!

Skills & Qualities

We’re excited to hear from enthusiastic individuals that demonstrate a mix of these skills and qualities:

• Highly motivated self-starter who works well both independently and collaboratively
• Takes initiative in pursuing skill-building and knowledge-sharing opportunities
• Has an awareness and interest in a variety of initiatives and communities working on food and farming systems in Ontario
• Communicates in a professional and timely manner in both verbal and written forms, and for a variety of audiences
• Can synthesize and communicate complex information in an organized and meaningful way
• Manages time effectively, follows through on tasks, and shows a spirit of adaptability when there are changes in priorities
• Experience with WordPress, Google Apps, Campaign Monitor, social media, and/or Adobe Creative Suite (or the enthusiasm to learn!)
• Access to a laptop computer (not necessary, but an asset!)

Volunteering

We are also recruiting part-time volunteers on a rolling basis for special projects such as community event support and occasional writing assignments for our popular blog. Ideal candidates are able to dedicate time during regular business hours for at least 10 weeks. Individuals should get in touch to express their interest along with a resume.

Preference is given to applicants who can work from our Toronto office although there is some flexibility for off-site hours. Interviews will take place in-person or via Skype or phone. Resumes and cover letters can be directed to opportunities@sustainontario.ca with “Volunteer” in the subject line.

Please note that volunteers are offered transit tokens for all travel to and from the office.