Final CAT Blog!

Weekly Update

1) DATE:

4/17/17

2) MEETING TIME

6-8pm

3) LOCATION:

Kalkin Hall

4) CAT MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bari + Tate

5) CAT MEMBER ROLES (W suggests switching these roles for each meeting):

A) FACILITATOR (1 person) - "steers" conversation and runs meeting → Bari

B) NOTE KEEPER/PUBLISHER (1 person) - records and publishes notes at CAT blog → Tate

C) TIME KEEPER (1 person) - sets meeting length of time and watches clock → Bari

D) AGENDA CREATOR (1 person) - writes out and shares agenda with CAT just prior to meeting → Tate

6) CAT WORK UPDATE:

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date? (use previous minutes)

• Initial Interview with Kim
• Discussed possible projects
• Established 2 deliverables
• Reached out to our other four contacts for interviews - have only heard back from one person so far - but are going to continue to reach out
• Created our excellence checklist
• Heard back from all of our follow up interviews
• Planned out who is working on what for communications asset mapping report
• Completed our communications asset report
• Sent Kim Deliverable #2 and Budget Proposals
• Heard back from Kim and established Deliverable #2: Internship Position + Infographic

B) What immediate and long-term CAT tasks lie ahead for the week, and who will execute?

• Refine internship goals and management of it
• Design and create infographic

C) What was the most CHALLENGING element re: the past week's CAT work?

• Not hearing back from our main contact
• Having to redesign our second deliverable

D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?

• Hearing back from Kim! (finally)

E) What is your CAT doing really well right now?

• Communication among team members
• Working together
• Establishing common goals for the project
• Assigning roles
• Preparing for our projects due date

F) What is your CAT needing to work on right now?

• Finalizing our ideas
• Communication with CAT partner (NOFA)

NOFA 4/10 meeting

1) DATE:

4/10/17

2) MEETING TIME

(beginning and ending): 6:30-7:00

3) LOCATION:

Kalkin Hall

4) CAT MEMBERS PRESENT: (include CAT group selfie)

Shea, Niki, Tate, Bari

5) CAT MEMBER ROLES (W suggests switching these roles for each meeting):

A) FACILITATOR (1 person) - "steers" conversation and runs meeting → Niki

B) NOTE KEEPER/PUBLISHER (1 person) - records and publishes notes at CAT blog → Tate

C) TIME KEEPER (1 person) - sets meeting length of time and watches clock → Shea

D) AGENDA CREATOR (1 person) - writes out and shares agenda with CAT just prior to meeting → Bari

6) CAT WORK UPDATE:

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date? (use previous minutes)

• Initial Interview with Kim
• Discussed possible projects
• Established 2 deliverables
• Reached out to our other four contacts for interviews - have only heard back from one person so far - but are going to continue to reach out
• Created our excellence checklist
• Heard back from all of our follow up interviews
• Planned out who is working on what for communications asset mapping report
• Completed our communications asset report

B) What immediate and long-term CAT tasks lie ahead for the week, and who will execute?

• For the week ahead well all need to continue working on and finalize our communications asset report
• Bari will be tackling NOFA's website and Instagram, Niki is taking on their Facebook and newsletter, Shea is working on their brochures and blog, and Tate is breaking down their advertisements and yearly reports
• We are waiting to hear back from Kim, and then will on to create NOFA's internship listing-- we emailed her again this morning in hopes to hear back from her ASAP.

C) What was the most CHALLENGING element re: the past week's CAT work?

• Hearing back from the members of NOFA who we reached out to for more interviews - but by the end of last week we have all heard back now, yay!
• Having a clear, concise dialogue

• Combining our skills and ideas with their goals
• Not hearing back from our main contact

D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?

• Hearing back from all of the people on the NOFA team that we reached out to for interviews
• Deciding on who is doing what for the communications asset report
• Finalizing our second deliverable

E) What is your CAT doing really well right now?

• Communication among team members
• Working together
• Establishing common goals for the project
• Assigning roles
• Preparing for our projects due date

F) What is your CAT needing to work on right now?

• Cleaning up and finalizing our communications asset report
• Create our final internship listing

Deliverable #2 + Budget

We would like to create an internship position to help NOFA address the issues that we established in our Communications Asset Report. Please see the position description below:

Internship: NOFA VT’s Communications Intern

Description: NOFA is seeking a summer intern to manage our social media accounts, create new and compelling content for the purpose of increasing NOFA membership and reaching a new audience. Our intern will also be in charge of writing cover stories  

Hours per week: 5-10 hours/week

Timeframe: June-September

Responsibilities

• Create content for social media that inspires viewers to become more involved in the organization
• Upload blog stories (i.e. cover stories on NOFA members)
• Reaching a new audience to increase membership and interest in organization
• Photograph farms and farmers to tell their stories on other media platforms (in addition to blog)
• Write e-blasts to encourage existing NOFA members to share photos/content of what they are doing over the summer

Qualifications

• Public Communication major with interest in food systems preferred
• Excellent writing and editing skills

Compensation

• Hourly wage
• College credit
• Travel costs(?)

Budget:

• Printing posters (that we will design) to advertise position
• Get ads in The Cynic + Seven Days

2/27 Meeting

1) DATE:

2/27/17

2) MEETING TIME

(beginning and ending): 6:15-7:15 or so

3) LOCATION:

Kalkin Hall

4) CAT MEMBERS PRESENT: (include CAT group selfie)

Shea, Niki, Tate, Bari

5) CAT MEMBER ROLES (W suggests switching these roles for each meeting):

A) FACILITATOR (1 person) - "steers" conversation and runs meeting → Niki

B) NOTE KEEPER/PUBLISHER (1 person) - records and publishes notes at CAT blog → Tate

C) TIME KEEPER (1 person) - sets meeting length of time and watches clock → Shea

D) AGENDA CREATOR (1 person) - writes out and shares agenda with CAT just prior to meeting → Bari

6) CAT WORK UPDATE:

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date? (use previous minutes)

• Initial Interview with Kim
• Discussed possible projects
• Established 2 deliverables
• Reached out to our other four contacts for interviews - have only heard back from one person so far - but are going to continue to reach out
• Created our excellence checklist
• Heard back from all of our follow up interviews
• Planned out who is working on what for communications asset mapping report

B) What immediate and long-term CAT tasks lie ahead for the week, and who will execute?

• For the week ahead well all need to continue working on and finalize our communications asset report
• Bari will be tackling NOFA's website and Instagram, Niki is taking on their Facebook and newsletter, Shea is working on their brochures and blog, and Tate is breaking down their advertisements and yearly reports

C) What was the most CHALLENGING element re: the past week's CAT work?

• Hearing back from the members of NOFA who we reached out to for more interviews - but by the end of last week we have all heard back now, yay!
• Having a clear, concise dialogue

• Combining our skills and ideas with their goals

D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?

• Hearing back from all of the people on the NOFA team that we reached out to for interviews
• Deciding on who is doing what for the communications asset report

E) What is your CAT doing really well right now?

• Communication among team members
• Working together
• Establishing common goals for the project
• Assigning roles
• Preparing for our projects due date

F) What is your CAT needing to work on right now?

• Cleaning up and finalizing our communications asset report

Bari's Interview with Enid Wonnacott

- I’ve been doing some research on NOFA, looking at all your different programs and events the organization holds. NFOA covers such a broad range of topics within the Vermont farming and organic food community that I almost became overwhelmed with the amount that your organization covers, could you explain in more simple terms what NOFA does and how you operate?

NOFA works on 3 main activities:

 1)  To increase the demand for organic food (through our work on marketing, farm to school,  certification and food access)

2) To increase the supply of organic food (through our Beginning Farmer programs and technical assistance) 

3) To educate and advocate for local, organic food (through our workshops, conferences and policy work).

- You have been with NOFA since 1987, what are the biggest changes you seen within the organization and where would like to see NOFA go in the next decade or so? What are your broader goals for the organization in the years to come?

The biggest changes I have seen are the shift in consumer perception of organic from something that is full of bugs and grown by hippies (the 80’s) - to elitist and inaccessible (90’s) - to the best thing since sliced bread (early 2000’s) - to usurped by “local”.  People care more about the source of the food than they did when I started this work but they equate “local” with “healthy”.  

Some significant goals moving forward include:

• Increasing the engagement of our membership.  I want everyone to feel as if they are part of this movement, not just farmers, and that their voice and actions matter.  Most consumers are complacent - and we want individuals to become much more engaged in the future of our food supply.  Ideally, more people will want to become members because we are change makers - and they will join us in that pursuit.  
• Increasing the viability of organic farmers.  We are working on this now through cost of production research, production efficiencies, business planning etc…  No farms = No food.  We need farms that are financially viable - partly this is due to farmers needing to be much better business managers, but this is also due to consumers needing to pay the true cost of food.
• As an Executive Director, one of my goals for the organization also has to do with a highly functioning board of directors.  The board is in transition, and I see that an important focus of my work in the next several years is to strengthen the board.

- We met with Kim recently and she had mentioned to us that membership has been at a bit of a stand still for about 10 years now, in your opinion why do you think that is?

I think it has to do with the fact that consumers are generally satisfied with “local”, and that they equate local with healthy, as indicated above.  For most of NOFA’s existence (since 1971), we were the only show in town for individuals who cared about healthy farms and food - we were instrumental in organizing farmers markets, supporting CSAs and providing education about an “alternative” food system to conventional ag.  Now the food scene is so much more muddled with organic food in Walmart, Costco, and major supermarkets.  It is not an underdog movement anymore.  People don’t “join” because they don’t need to - it is everywhere they look.  And perhaps, we have not taken credit for the success of this food movement transition and we need to ask them to stand with us.

- What are the benefits of being a member of NOFA for farmers and more specifically non-farmers?

The biggest benefit of membership for farmers are discounts on educational events, access to farmer mentorship, bulk order discount on organic farming supplies, access to low-interest loans and grants, and a lot of opportunity for peer to peer learning. Certified organic farmers gain access to markets and increased value of their product due to the Vermont Organic Farmers brand.  Non-farmers have discounts on educational events as well, along with discounts on gardening supplies (the bulk order), and limited income Vermonters gain access to direct markets through our food security programs (e.g. Farm Share, EBT at Farmers Markets).  All consumers (including farmers) benefit from all of the market development we have done - farm to school, farm to institution, farm stand, farmers markets, CSAs.  Additionally, we hear that people want to be part of a healthy food movement.  NOFA gives people hope and something to believe in.  So, whereas that is not a financial asset to membership, it is a significant non-economic benefit.  

- As public communications students my group members and I have many ideas regarding telling NOFA’s story and ideally increasing membership of both farmers and non-farmers. Is there a specific type of communications strategy you believes works best for NOFA or one that you would like us to use to increase you membership?

I think short testimonials are powerful - photos of a person(s) our work has impacted and a quote.  I think longer stories (for CSA member newsletters and food coop newsletters) about our work would also be valuable - those are target audiences for us to build our membership and I think a lot of people don’t know the scope of our work.

- How do you feel about using different forms of social media (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, blogging, etc.) to communicate with a wider audience? Do you think one would be more successful than the others and why?

I think instagram and short videos embedded in Instagram are important for reaching millennials, as is FB and blogs.  But I also think that op eds in newspapers or a regular column in print or radio would be great outreach for a different (older) audience.