Ending Hunger Corps Preble Street VISTA Portland ME

Preble Street is developing a sustainable, comprehensive, and collaborative approach dedicated to ending hunger in Maine. We are looking for a passionate, adaptable, and entrepreneurial person to facilitate collaborative efforts to combat food insecurity. Founded in 1975, the mission of Preble Street is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems. The Preble Street Food Security Hub Collaborations VISTA will be based in South Portland at our new Food Security Hub (FSH). The FSH will function as an industrial kitchen, food processing center, educational/vocational site, office space, and conference center dedicated to discussions surrounding ending hunger. The FSH launched in December 2021 and is anticipated to be fully operational in 2023. This VISTA position can play a key role in the evolution of our efforts to decrease food insecurity in our community, create strong and effective community partnerships, and bolster local agriculture and environmental sustainability. This individual will: ¿ Learn about all aspects of Preble Street¿s food programs ¿ Engage with a broad range of partners to identify solutions to reduce food insecurity in the greater Portland area ¿ Help to identify sites in the community where food is needed and may be distributed, and work at those sites to establish regular distributions ¿ Share recommendations to improve the efficiency of food distribution. This position is part of Ending Hunger Corps, a 25-member cohort model VISTA program sponsored by Maine's Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Forestry (DACF): https://www.maine.gov/dacf/about/commissioners/endhunger/