Montezuma School to Farm Project

The Montezuma School to Farm Project unites our local agricultural heritage with our growing future by engaging students at the crossroads of sustainable agriculture, resource conservation, health, and economics through educational experiences in outdoor garden classes, on field trips, and in summer farm camps.

Since 2009, the Montezuma School to Farm Project (MSTFP), a program of the Mancos Conservation District in southwestern Colorado, has focused on providing integrated, hands-on, school garden classes in Montezuma County. It began with a farm field trip for 40 Mancos students initiated by an AmeriCorps member in 2009. In the six years since those barn doors first opened to local kids, the program has grown to incorporate four school garden programs, professional School Garden Coordinators, expanded farm field trips summer farm camps, a 2 acre School Production Area, and a cutting edge curriculum for more than 1600 students on a weekly basis.

Montezuma School to Farm Project (MSTFP) serves in three communities - Dolores, Mancos and Cortez, and is home to Mesa Verde National Park and a wealth of micro zones and high altitude growing climates within the county - from high desert and red rock canyons to the San Juan Mountain Range. The county prides itself on its' "no-frills, just hard work" ethic along with its strong agricultural heritage. The students come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Montezuma County has a large Native American population (Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, and Puebloan Tribes) as well as a strong Hispanic population.

The school garden programs serve more than 3000 students in the area through experiential education programs that teach integrated school garden classes, farm field trips and summer farm camps. MSTFP AmeriCorps members will have the opportunity to serve as experiential education instructors and key developers in these outdoor school garden classrooms, supporting each program through teaching classes, school garden maintenance and expansion projects, and program development.

AmeriCorps members are key contributors to the success and creative development of the programs. We look for passionate, intelligent, creative team players that are self-motivated, have a background in experiential education and are interested in the local food movement and the vital importance of connecting kids to the the source of their food for the betterment of themselves, their communities, and the larger world.

This position is an AmeriCorps position and receives a living stipend of $1,044/month before taxes, medical insurance, FICA, unemployment insurance, workman's comp insurance, and an education award of $2,887 upon successful completion of six months of service. All federal loans can be put into forbearance during the service term and the Corporation for National and Community Service will pay any accrued interest on said loans upon successful completion of the service term. We are looking for someone who can start in early January and stay through July 31st, 2017