JOIN OUR AMERICORPS TEAM
Urban Farm Team Member
POSITION OPEN!
Grow Ohio Valley Urban Farm Team Members are responsible for growing food year-round on Grow Ohio Valley’s urban farm sites, including a greenhouse, two high tunnels, a large urban garden, and an apple orchard. Farm Team Members plant, monitor, and harvest organically grown produce. They process and distribute produce to community members.
Our urban farm sites beautify the urban landscape and provide the community with welcoming spaces for education and leisure. AmeriCorps members maintain farm sites and make these spaces beautiful and useable. Members are encouraged and empowered to connect with local community gardens to provide assistance and apply what they learn on GrowOV farm sites to help community gardens thrive.
Urban Farm Team Members should expect to develop a better understanding of sustainable agriculture practices and managing production farms and gardens.
Ready to Apply? Submit an application via myAmeriCorps at this link!
Backyard Gardener AmeriCorps
POSITION OPEN!
Grow Ohio Valley’s Backyard Gardener Program provides families with the necessary supplies and instruction to successfully grow food in their at-home garden, totally free. This program supports 30-40 families each season, providing seeds, tools, fertilizer, tilling assistance, fencing, and support throughout the growing season. In return, families attend 6 required workshops, record their harvests, and maintain their garden to the best of their ability.
The Backyard Gardener AmeriCorps member will communicate directly with participants, organizing and facilitating workshops and site visits, and collecting and tracking program data.
Ready to apply? Submit an application via myAmeriCorps at this link!
WHAT IS AMERICORPS, ANYWAY?
AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs, made up of three primary branches that each take a different approach to improving lives and fostering civic engagement. Members commit their time to address critical community needs like increasing academic achievement, mentoring youth, fighting poverty, sustaining national parks, preparing for disasters, and more.
More information about AmeriCorps can be found at nationalservice.gov
AmeriCorps members serving in West Virginia qualify for free tuition at a West Virginia college or university. Learn more here.
WHAT DO AMERICORPS DO AT GROW OHIO VALLEY?
The URBAN FARM TEAM works to grow, process, and distribute fresh, local produce to the community. AmeriCorps members serving on this team will gain experience seeding, transplanting, tending, and harvesting vegetable crops using hand tools. Most work will be completed at the Grow OV urban farms, including the 14th Street Greenhouse, Farm 18, the Meadow, and the Orchard. Urban farm team members may also play a role in distributing local food to the community via our CSA and Farmacy programs.
The EDUCATION TEAM spends time sharing a passion for food and health with kids and adults in our community. Members of this team facilitate Grow OV's community education programs, with a focus on encouraging food literacy and developing resiliency in Wheeling's urban neighborhoods. These programs include farm field trips, school field days, cooking classes, home gardening classes, and more. Education team members work directly with community members to facilitate programming.
