Join Us and Make a Difference

Great News: the world is catching on to our message that school gardens can nourish us and strengthen our communities! The Obamas put food gardens in the spotlight on the White House lawn, and now more than ever parents and teachers are asking Urban Sprouts for support and advice.

The movement is growing because this year, in times of recession and food crisis, the need for school and home gardens is greater than ever.

Today, just like the Obamas, we have SO much work to do. Local schools and families rely on their strong partnerships with us as other programs are cut. Schools all over California and the West want to learn our methods as they start new school gardens.

That's why we're inviting YOU to join us! Why support Urban Sprouts? Read here how your gift to us will go directly to bring school gardens to more young people, families and schools.

Or click here to GIVE YOUR GIFT TODAY, OF $35, $50, OR $100!

Thank you so much!

School has been in session for only about two months but already so much has been happening in our gardens.

At ISA the high school seminar got the daunting opportunity to install a drip irrigation system for our garden. This project took a lot of team work and problem solving skills in order to piece together and bury our water pipes. The whole project could not have been done without the help of our dedicated volunteers Casey and Carter. This week we’ll also be saying goodbye to Ms. Stones, our favorite sub, who has been working with us since the beginning of the school year.

At MLK we’ve been working on soil, starting seeds and most recently: worm anatomy! We also had our first Garden Work Party at MLK. We worked on making our garden more accessible, creating a better outdoor classroom seating area and putting together tables for our greenhouse.

Composting at Ida B. Wells

Students at Ida B. Wells are beginning to see themselves as part of the nutrient cycle. Rather than throwing out all food wastes, we're taking discarded scraps from the school's cooking class and returning them back to the earth in the form of compost.



Last month, Mr. Hannon's class, our volunteers, and Urban Sprouts intern, Kevin, pitched in to build compost bins at Ida B. Wells. Instead of buying all new materials for the bins, we decided to recycle wooden pallets, which are usually tossed out after only one use.




We sat down to cut up compost materials the following week to speed up the decomposition process. We have yet to reach the 3' x 3' x 3' volume needed to really get our pile going, but we're slowly adding yard waste from our garden and organic food scraps from the Ida B. Wells kitchen. In the end, we hope to harvest compost to enrich our soil and help our garden flourish!

Urban Sprouts Grows Up

We've reached a milestone! Urban Sprouts has just finished a three-year funding cycle with the Network for a Healthy California's Local Food and Nutrition Education channel. Phew!

We've grown and matured so much during these three years - from a mostly-volunteer staff of one, to a strong team of five serving 7 schools and over 700 youth every year. We've learned that valuing our school partners and cultivating youth leadership help us to do our best. We've worked to grow and expand while staying true to our vision, of quality and consistent programs, but tailored to the needs of unique communities.

Please see for yourself! Lisa Chen on our Advisory Board and Adriani Leon on our staff created this presentation with me and we presented it in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. Take a look!

Urban Sprouts 3-Year Retrospective

View more presentations from Abby Jaramillo.

AND you MUST read this colorful, graphic and fun short handout that summarizes who we are and what we've done in our five years of school gardening! Created by Lisa Chen.

Public Policy Institute of California

A HUGE thank you to the fabulous volunteers from the Public Policy Institute of California!! This past week 6 PPIC women spent a rather warm afternoon with us, prepping the International Studies Academy garden for it's first day of classes. Armed with shovels, rakes, and a pickaxe they transformed a huge unused area of the garden into a fantastic new growing space. We are so excited to have these additional beds for our students to utilize. This is the second time we have hosted volunteers from the PPIC and we hope they are able to come back soon.

If you are interested in bringing your group or organization out to the garden please contact us at helpout@urbansprouts.org

Fall Newsletter Hot off the Presses!

Read our Fall 2009 News by clicking here!

In this issue:

• New school family Farmers-in-Residence grow their own food
  
• Meet new staff Wendy, Adriani & Ami
• Learn to make Potato Towers from Wendy
  
• Get Adriani's Portobello mushroom burger recipe
• Read up on Ami's new site, Log Cabin Ranch
• All our generous donors & volunteers
• Photos & more!
  

Front Page News:
Urban Gardens to Feed School Families!

Urban Sprouts’ youth learn to love growing and eating healthy foods and begin to demand them in meals at school and at home. So what do you do if there IS NO affordable fresh produce for sale near your home?

This fall, twelve ‘Farmers-in-Residence,’ families from Urban Sprouts partner schools, will grow their own fresh, organic and healthy food right on school grounds . . .

Keep on reading here!

Support Urban Sprouts

Please join us for an evening of great food for a great cause.

Frjtz Fries in Hayes Valley has generously offered to host a fundraising night for our gardens on October 4th. From 4pm to 9pm a portion of all sales will be donated to Urban Sprouts.
Bring your friends, families, co-workers, all are welcome!

October 4th 2009
Frjtz Fries
581 Hayes Street (at Laguna)
4:00pm-9:00pm
Hope to see you there!

For more information please click here

Job Opening: Operations Manager

Position: Operations Manager
Classification: Part Time – 15 to 20 hours a week
Location: Hayes Valley, San Francisco, California
Reports To: Executive Director



The Organization
By cultivating school gardens in San Francisco’s under-served neighborhoods, Urban Sprouts partners with youth and their families to build eco-literacy, equity, wellness, and community. Our gardens help students become more engaged in school and connect with food, the environment and each other.

Summary
Urban Sprouts seeks an Operations Manger to assist the Executive Director in the areas of general administration, finance, and some development support. These responsibilities will be complemented by our fiscal sponsor’s accounting and administrative staff. For this reason, an advanced level of experience in bookkeeping is not necessary; a fast-learner with 3-5 years of experience in an administrative or financial role in a nonprofit organization is sought.

Responsibilities:
• Administer staff expense reimbursement in accordance with program budgets
• Maintain effective systems for documentation and filing of financial records
• Track all income and expenses in QuickBooks. Reconcile with fiscal sponsor’s books on a monthly basis
• Prepare quarterly reports for board and staff
• Complete invoicing for local and state government contracts
• Oversee budget for each program and school site
• Work with Executive Director to develop annual budget
• Manage fundraising and donations processes (processing donations, sending thank yous, pledge reminders and maintain Salesforce database)
• Assist in planning of Fundraising events and other fundraising activities as needed
• Other special projects as they arise
• Manage general public inquires to Urban Sprouts via phone and email

Requirements:
• At least 3-5 years experience in an administrative or financial role in a nonprofit organization
• Bachelor’s degree
• Knowledge of QuickBooks and Salesforce or similar accounting and contact management database
• Interest in issues related to youth, urban gardening, local food, social justice, urban schools, and the environment
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Strong computer skills, organizational and project management skills must be demonstrated
• Strong skills in interpersonal communication, collaboration, and emotional intelligence
• Ability to work independently, flexible, detail-oriented, strives for excellence, creative thinker

This position involves coordination with staff and outside parties such as funders, and requires strong communication skills and the ability to work independently and learn quickly. A successful candidate will be highly detail oriented. We are a small non-profit, so the ability to be flexible and pick up occasional tasks outside of the core job description is important.

This is a part-time position working 15-20 hours per week, $47,000-52,000 FTE, depending on experience, and includes health and vacation/sick benefits.

To Apply:
Please send a resume, cover letter and contact information for three references, via email to Abby Jaramillo, Executive Director, at abby AT urbansprouts DOT org.

Position open until filled; date of original listing 11/10/09. No phone calls please.