CAFF JOB: WILDFIRE RESILIENCE SPECIALIST - Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Title: Wildfire Resilience Specialist

Location: Remote (CA based) and/or out of the Davis CAFF office

FTE: 1.0 FTE

Salary: $55,000-63,000 annually

FLSA: Non-exempt

Reports To: Farmer Services Director

Bilingual Pay Differential: Eligible Position

CAFF is a California-based membership organization that includes family farmers and other community members passionate about local food, farming, and the environment. As a farmer-serving organization, we recognize the historic and lasting inequities in the California food and farming system. We believe farmers of color, and other historically oppressed people, should have the opportunity to create and participate in a food and agriculture system that aligns with their needs, values, identities, knowledge systems, and communities. We commit to advancing racial, gender, and environmental justice in our larger systems, as well as in our own workplace. Currently our programming is focused in four areas: Farm to Market, Policy & Advocacy, Farmer Services, and Ecological Farming. To learn more about CAFF, our history, and our core values, visit https://caff.org/about.

Position Summary

The Wildfire Resilience Specialist will play a key role on our Farmer Services team by leading wildfire resilience technical assistance efforts with small farmers. The Wildfire Resilience Specialist will keep project related data up to date in Dropbox and Salesforce, monitor project timelines to plan for any adjustments, communicate with subcontractors, and complete various project tasks. A successful candidate will be highly detail oriented, have technical knowledge on small farm production, expertise in (and/or the ability to quickly develop expertise in) wildfire prevention and recovery best practices, and be a clear communicator. The Wildfire Resilience Specialist contributes to organizational and team project strategy. They implement CAFF’s Racial Equity goals and practices throughout their work. This is a new position and project at CAFF and will require the Specialist to play a key role in securing future funding for the position.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Essential responsibilities include, but are not limited to:


75%	Provide Wildfire Technical Assistance to Farmers Record podcast episodes with farmers, share raw audio with podcast producer, work with producer to create final episodes Promote Wildfire Emergency Fund opportunity for growers, organize review committee, lead decision making process on what farmers will be awarded, coordinate with CAFF Accountant to make sure payments are distributed Lead CAFF internal wildfire cross-team with the Farmer Services Program Manager and a representative from Ecological Farming (EF) team Co-develop wildfire preparedness and response resources with EF Organize and conduct some review of research on wildfire preparedness best practices Stay up to date on WSARE wildfire project activities and areas for overlap with general CAFF wildfire activities Update CAFF website with fire preparedness and recovery resources Map out wildfire stakeholder map in CA to determine how CAFF can best facilitate the network Identify other organizations that work in the wildfire space and spend time staying up to date on their efforts and possible opportunities for collaboration. Facilitate statewide wildfire advisory committee Host three field days at farms where farmers can see first-hand wildfire prevention practices and learn about implementing them at their farm Host three town halls (in-person and/or virtual) to gather stories from affected farmers. Create a video highlighting a farmer’s story of their disaster and recovery Consult with CAFF Policy Team and partners around wildfire policy opportunities that benefit farmers Provide 1-on-1 technical assistance to farmers on wildfire preparedness and/or recovery via phone, email, and in-person
15%	Fundraising and Grant Management Collect monthly invoices from long term contractors and submit them to Expensify. Conducts meetings with contractors and tracks project progress. Communicate with subcontractors proactively and clearly. Develop new relationships with possible project collaborators. Draft new subcontract agreements. Provide data needed for progress reports and may write reports to be reviewed by Farmer Services Director prior to submission. May lead writing a proposal and have annual development targets. Review budgets to actuals for projects and monitor spending down on grants with oversight by Farmer Services Director. Conduct evaluation activities such as following up with growers that received emergency fund awards to learn about the impact that had for them. Provide input into grant writing by suggesting programmatic activities, timeline, and workplan information. Suggest possible subcontractors and may get letters of support from them. Suggest new funding sources to the Farmer Services Director if they learn about new opportunities. Maintain tracking for each grant and complete tracking activities when programmatic activities happen (e.g. if a field day is hosted after the field day a Salesforce campaign is created, data added to campaign). Prospect additional fundraising opportunities for 2023, including new private foundations or public philanthropic resources, and cultivating ongoing relationship with Red Cross
10%	CAFF General Responsibilities Participate in weekly CAFF staff meetings and annual retreats Participate and contribute to racial equity action planning discussions Represent CAFF by participating in community activities and events as necessary Participate in other administrative tasks as needed Contributes to Farmers Services team annual program area team strategy We know it’s impossible to convey every single task for a particular job in one job description. Our hope is that as we work together, and your role evolves over time, we can adjust your job description accordingly.

Qualifications

Educational and Work Experience

High school diploma, Associates, or Bachelor’s Degree
Small-scale diverse and/or organic farming experience
Knowledge of the wildfire prevention and recovery resources/practices and how it applies to small farmers
Teaching audiences about complex topics

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The ability to analyze data and information and develop systems as needed
Strong written and oral communication skills in English
Flexibility to work independently, with minimal supervision, as well as collaborate with others in a team setting
Flexibility to work on a variety of projects, simultaneously
Ability to speak publicly and teach to various audiences
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel
Proficiency with collaborative working platforms such as Salesforce, Action Network, Wordpress, Dropbox, and Google Drive
Ability to use Asana project management software (training provided)
Bilingual, bicultural skills in Spanish considered a plus

Physical Abilities

Ability to sit for long periods of time working at a computer.
Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
Requires a full range of physical mobility, such as bending, stooping, lifting, turning, carrying objects, and grasping.
Ability to drive long distances (4+ hours) to visit farmers and conduct trainings.

This position is currently funded through 11/30/2022. We aim for the position to continue to be a full time funded position at CAFF for the foreseeable future as wildfire resilience will likely remain a high priority topic for small farmers. At this point we can not guarantee employment past 11/30/2022. The person that fills this position will be expected to play an active role in future fundraising.

Benefits

CAFF offers and covers 100% health and dental coverage for full time employees (categorized at 80% FTE and up), generous vacation (120 hours/year) and paid time off (two personal days in addition to vacation), and 401K. CAFF observes 11 holidays a year plus a week of paid time off in between Christmas and New Years. Employees are also provided a $50/month work from home stipend as well as a $30/month cell phone stipend. In addition, each employee is provided an annual $500 budget to use on professional development.

CAFF’s policy is that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation.

To apply: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information of three references with the subject line “Wildfire Resilience Specialist” to kali@caff.org. Priority will be given to applications received by December 3rd although we will accept applications as long as this job is posted here. We aim to start first round interviews the week of December 6th.