Northern IL Young Farmers Coalition Seeks Leaders
Self-nomination for leadership and committee positions open through March 19
Recipe Going to the Dogs?
Most online advertisers love ads. But sometimes the ad’s juxtaposition with surrounding copy is out of whack. Sometimes it's just weird. Sometimes it creates an outcry, even when not done purposely, that it's in bad taste (such as a car ad attached to a story about a deadly wreck).
And sometimes it's just hilarious.
Sunday’s daily e-newsletter from New York Times Cooking was a rundown of what to eat each day this week. The entry for Monday had a paragraph describing the recipe, an ad, and then the recipe itself.
Unfortunately, as you can see above, the ad — with the tag line “My dog loves this stuff” — didn't exactly send the message that the editors were intending.
I laughed without stop for several minutes after reading this.
Apply for Northern IL Young Farmers Leadership
With the average age of farmers in the United States around 60 years old, our food future needs an infusion of younger talent. In our region, the Northern Illinois Young Farmers Coalition (NIYFC) is an organization working to help young and beginning farmers get established, navigate big challenges such as land access, and thrive to grow our local food community.
Now NIYFC has openings for two leaders and three committee members. This is a self-nomination process, and those chosen will receive a stipend. The copy below from the organization spells out the positions and the process and includes links to the nomination application forms.
Please read and apply if you are interested in helping this young non-profit organization grow.
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We have exciting news to share — we're looking for 2 leaders and 3 committee members to help us take the Northern Illinois chapter into its next stage!
These are all stipend positions with funding we’ve received from from Food:Land:Opportunity, Localizing the Chicago Foodshed.
Up until this year, all of the work for NIYF has been from energized people donating their time, resources, and love for the farming community of northern Illinois. We are so excited that this year we'll be able to compensate our leaders and feel it is a vital step in sustaining our work and supporting our team. We hope that this opens the door and makes it a little bit more feasible for farmers to participate in agrarian organizing.
We strongly encourage applications from people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women, LGBTQIA+ people, or those who are members of other marginalized communities.
Brief Overview:
Leadership-
Organize - Our aim is to create engaged farmer citizens and to build a coalition throughout northern Illinois that is empowered to turn the resources they have into the change they need.
Sustain - Our strength is in our ability to maintain a foundation where immediate and long term work can be accomplished. Preventing burnout through supporting one another is key to the long haul.
Dream - What does the agrarian community of northern Illinois need? Where can we make deep lasting change? Why are we doing this? Asking the big questions and leaning into our radical imagination is the fertile ground our chapter is planted in.
Find the full position description here!
Committee-
Positions: education, policy, and social
Collaborate - Cooperation and communication amongst leaders, members, organizations, and one another is a vital part of what we do because "everything worthwhile is done with others." (Moussa Kaba)
Facilitate - Events are where our chapter gathers to learn, relax, and rejuvenate in community. Our goal is to create spaces that are welcoming and accessible, where hard questions can be asked, and people leave feeling connected.
Dream - Can we throw an affordable farm dinner with swimming, camping, and fiddle music? How do we get people to attend a Farm Bill event? What is the most effective way to teach about land access? Let the imagination fly and get scheming.
Find the full position description here!
The process:
If you are interested in either a leadership or committee position you can nominate yourself by filling out the designated Google form below. (Only self-nominations are accepted, but we encourage you to spread the word and motivate any interested friends, fellow farmers, or local food advocates to apply.)
Nomination forms will be open from February 13 - March 19.
Our leadership team will compile all of the submissions into a form and share it with our membership for open voting.
Voting forms will be open from March 26 - March 31.
The elected team will be notified April 2. Visioning and planning for NIYF 2023 will begin shortly thereafter!
If you have any questions on this process, you can contact Jeanne Janson at jansonjeanne1@gmail.com or send a text to 314-471-2461.
Nomination forms:
We will be hosting a virtual information session to answer any questions about the roles and responsibilities of each position and talk further about our chapter — why we formed, our values, and where we hope we're going — on March 9. If you would like to learn more or hear from our current leadership team, keep an eye out for a registration link to that event.