Information Marketplace Webinars, Mini-Grants Available
Posted On: November 3, 2009
With farmers markets spanning a variety of geographies, sizes, ages, and organizational structures, Information Marketplace aims to answer that question, developed as a free professional development webinar series for farmers market association leaders and farmers market managers. Launched in response to proceedings from the National Farmers Market Summit (2007) and data from FMC’s State Farmers Market Association Survey Report, Information Marketplace is a partnership with the Wallace Center for Sustainable Agriculture, with six live sessions hosted between June and September.
Recordings, Presentations, and Handouts Available On-line
Missed a session? Archived recordings, along with helpful handouts and the presentations themselves (in PDF) are at www.farmersmarketcoalition.org/resources/information-marketplace. FMC encourages market managers, association leaders, and others to share these resources among their farmers market colleagues and board members. Applications will be available in August. Support for Information Marketplace is provided by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and the USDA Risk Management Agency.
—Strategic Planning in the Real World: How to Put No Staff, No Money, and Big Dreams to Work for Your Organization. Nicole de Beaufort, Fourth Sector Consulting and Karen Wagner, Oregon Farmers’ Market Association.
—Best Board Practices and Meetings that Matter: An Introduction to Nonprofit Governance. Rosanne Stead, Tides Center.
—Sowing Value, Reaping Rewards: Recruitment, Services, and Administrative Systems for Successful Membership Organizations. Brian Snyder and Michele Gauger, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture & Jeff Cole, Federation of Massachussetts Farmers Markets.
—Measuring Success: Market Record-Keeping and Evaluation. Chris Curtis, Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (Seattle, WA); Bernie Prince, FreshFarm Markets (Washington, DC); Darlene Wolnik, marketumbrella.org (New Orleans, LA)
—Food Safety First: GAPs and Food Safety Issues for Farmers Markets. Betsy Bihn, National GAPs Program Coordinator, Cornell University; Andy Sarjahani, former Virginia Tech Sustainability Coordinator; Brigitte Moran, Marin Farmers Markets.
—EBT and Nutrition Outreach: Practical Advice from Successful Programs. Diane Eggert, Farmers’ Market Federation of New York; and Mike Hurwitz, New York City Greenmarket Farmers Markets.
Mini-Grants Available to Support Market Manager and Producer Professional Development
The Farmers Market Coalition has approximately 15-18 small grants available for state and regional farmers markets associations to support winter market manager and/or producer trainings. In order to be eligible, representatives from applicant organization must a) be active FMC members as state, regional, government, or academic institutions and b) have had an organizational representative register for and participate in OR watch recordings of at least three Information Marketplace webinar sessions. Funds are available to eligible entities on a limited basis. Applications can be downloaded at www.farmersmarketcoalition.org/information-marketplace. Deadline for submission is November 15th, 2009.
