Final Meeting

Meeting 4/17

Meeting Minutes: Vermont Community Garden Network

Date: 4/17/17

Meeting Time: 6:00-7:00

Present: Cori, Lilly, Dan, Jasmine 

Roles:

A) FACILITATOR - Dan

B) NOTE KEEPER- Cori

C) TIME KEEPER- Lilly

D) AGENDA CREATOR- Jasmine

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date?

Extra Interview

Met with Jess (X5)

Made budget

Asset Report

Sent out requests for profiles

Have some social media posted
Have started posting for Day in the Dirt on social media

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

Everyone will keep writing profiles and drafts for their social media posts
Day in the Dirt coordination/ logistics
How to purchase print out photos

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

figuring out google hangouts! 

D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?
Seeing our posts go up on social media!And figuring out a new way to organize all our posts

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

Working together/communication with Jess

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

Logistics for day of
Budget timing 

Meeting Minutes 4/10

Meeting Minutes: Vermont Community Garden Network

Date: 4/3/17

Meeting Time: 6:30-7:00

Present: Cori, Lilly, Dan, (Jasmin is absent)

Roles:

A) FACILITATOR - Dan

B) NOTE KEEPER- Cori

C) TIME KEEPER- Lilly

D) AGENDA CREATOR- Dan

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date?

Extra Interview

Met with Jess (X4)

Made budget

Asset Report

Sent out requests for profiles

Have some media drafts posted
Have started posting for Day in the Dirt on social media

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

Everyone will keep writing profiles and drafts for their social media posts
Day in the Dirt coordination/ logistics

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

Jess not editing tweet/ ignoring Dan

D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?
Seeing our posts go up on social media!

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

Working together

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

Logistics for day of
Coordinating times

Meeting Minutes 2/27

1)      DATE: 2/27

2) MEETING TIME
5:30-6:00

3) LOCATION: Kalkin

4) CAT MEMBERS PRESENT: Everyone 

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

A) FACILITATOR (1 person) - Jasmin
B) NOTE KEEPER/PUBLISHER (1 person) - Cori
C) TIME KEEPER (1 person) - Dan
D) AGENDA CREATOR (1 person) - Lilly

6) CAT WORK UPDATE:

A) What CAT tasks have you accomplished to date?

Done with extra interviews

Extra interviews done

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

We have to do social media asset report. Going to tailor to what Jess wants (immediate)

Communication plan (long term)
C) What was the most CHALLENGING element re: the past week's CAT work?

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

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

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

Taking tangible tasks

Weekly Minutes 2/13

2/13
Time 5:45-6:45
Kalkin
All members present

Accomplished: interviews complete
Goals for week: first draft of asset map
Get Jess to email us back info on people we can interview for intagram
Challenging: Dan got stood up for his interview at muddy waters :(
Rewarding: completing interview for better understanding
Strengths: we work well as a team
Work on: connecting with Jess!

Excellence Checklist

6 Requirements for Asset Map
1. Everyone does one part for even work load
2. Information is clear and accurate
3. Well designed and organized
4. Thourogh for all media platforms
5. Professionally presented
6. Correct spelling and grammar

Interview Questions/ Answers for Anna Herman

1. Jess informed us that Champlain Housing Trust works with VCGN, how has your company collaborated with VCGN to better the community?

2. How did the Champlain Housing Trust get involved with VCGN’s “Day in the Dirt” event? Why?

3. How does your company help out at this event?

4. What has been your experience with VCGN's event, Day in the Dirt?

5. Why do you think supporting local community gardens is important?



1. I first reached out to VCGN when I first started in my role in Spring of 2015 -- my position was envisioned as a way to help build community throughout our housing properties, which included the development of community gardens as a way to engage residents and connect them with healthier and more accessible food. At the time, I had limited knowledge and experience in gardening, and as such, I felt unprepared to take on such a task. Throughout the past couple years, VCGN has helped us develop six community gardens (as of this coming summer it will be 9) and train over 35 residents through various gardening workshops.

2. Last year, Dan Baker’s class partnered with VCGN to provide support to various community gardens in the area, and Jess reached out to me to see if we’d like help with our Harbor Place garden.

Harbor Place is a unique model of community gardening - the property is an old motel that we purchased in the fall of 2013 with the intent to provide lower cost option for people who were homeless with no other place to stay. The State has long used motels for emergency, temporary housing for people who are homeless when the shelters are full, and CHT offered an inexpensive option that would also bring services to help guests get back on their feet. 

Due to this nature of the property, guests don’t have as much stake in the garden as they would in traditional community gardens – many guests are there for only one night, while some are there for a month or longer. The idea behind developing the garden at Harbor Place was to have volunteers plant and maintain it, and in turn, help us provide fresh, healthy food to folks staying there.

3. We meet with students prior to the official workday to assess needs and priorities, and I’m available to discuss ideas and suggestions throughout the planning process. We provide all supplies and tools and are there on the work day to help facilitate and assist however needed.

4. Great! Without the help from the class I don’t think we would have managed to get as far along as we did last summer. It’s a fun event that helps us out tremendously.

5. Many reasons – increasing food accessibility, helping low-income folks offset their food costs, teaching people to eat healthier, educating folks on less common crops and teaching them how to cook with them, building community….just to name a few.

Interview with Dan Cahill

Interview with Dan Cahill - Land Steward at Burlington Parks & Recreation (Partner Organization) 

1. What role do community gardens play in building sustainable communities? 

VCGN brings in a perspective that is greater than what we have in a single community. This broader perspective is vital. Community gardens increase capacity and food security, which is why it is important to provide resources for community gardens. Community gardens add a layer of education and culture to a community. Lastly, VCGN provides state wide benefits all over Vermont.

2. How has your organization partnered with VCGN? 

Burlington Parks & Recreation and VCGN have been partnered for so long, and have worked together so closely, that it is difficult to see the two groups as separate. Our organization is involved with most aspects of VCGN, such as the administrative aspect. For example, we can get access to plots of land.

3. What has been your experience with VCGN's big event, Day in the Dirt? 

My experience is that Day in the Dirt is a good event, and overall it is a solid event for the garden community. Lots of folks and individuals get involved, who might not usually be involved with community gardens. In addition, the businesses involved are able to provide sponsorships to help push the success of the event. It is difficult to obtain specific numbers on the event. For example, at a site last year, less volunteers than we expected showed up, so we had to adjust our plan. The Day in the Dirt event is always evolving and adapting.

My Emails with Trish

On 2/3 I said:

Hello Ms. Laraja,

My name is Cori Ward and I am in Dr Rob William's public communication class and my group has been assigned to help the Community Garden Network in promoting the Day in the Dirt event this year. 

We had the pleasure of meeting with Jess Hyman the other night to talk about your organization and some ideas for Day in the Dirt. Jess gave us your contact information and we wanted to reach out to you with some of our ideas.

Jess suggested doing some Instagram/Facebook posts about the people who use the community gardens in the weeks leading up to Day in the Dirt to promote the event. We would love to help with this and if you had a way of getting us in contact with some of the gardens and the people who use them that would be very helpful.

We also had some ideas about documenting the event (Facebook live video, Snapchat geo tags, etc.) that we can discuss closer to the event. 

As a team, we just wanted to reach out and say that we are here to help and are excited to share ideas and help make this event as great as it can be.

best, 

VCGN Community Action Team

And on 2/5 she said:

Hi Cori,

Thank you for your email. I am looking forward to meeting you all and 
working with you on this.

I believe help with social media would be great! Last year we used 
Hootsuite to get access to our media platforms to you. I will have to 
see if that is the same method we want to use this year.

Jess and I will be meeting later this week to discuss the overall 
planning for the event, and I will circle back with you after that.

Thank you!

I did not want to send her formal interview questions because she works so closely with Jess who we already extensively interviewed. 

Interview With Michael Cyr

Michael Cyr- Director of Marketing at Skinny Pancake

1. How did the Skinny Pancake get involved with VCGN’s “Day in the Dirt”? We've been working with Vermont Community Garden Network for a couple years now. They're a wonderful organization and Jess is a wonderful person to work with. So when Day in the Dirt asked us to provide some food for the event, we were happy to help out! 
2. What do you do to help out at this event/what do you provide? We've donated compostable wares and food the past two years. We've tried to participate by getting in the Dirt the past two years but because it's a busy early summer weekend, we often don't have the staff available to volunteer. Maybe this year! 
3. Why did you think it was important to get involved with this community event? We love our non-profit partners and having a community presence, especially one such as this that works to help people eating food grown close to home.  
4. Why do you think supporting local community gardens is important? We believe in increased local food consumption. In order for the state to reach the goal of 10% local food consumption, that goes beyond people just shopping at co-ops and going out to local food restaurants. Community gardens, especially in more urban environments, are a key component to getting all folks eating local! 

Minutes 2/6

    DATE: 2/6/17

2) MEETING TIME
7:45- 8:00

3) LOCATION: Kalkin

4) CAT MEMBERS PRESENT: All members here

5) CAT MEMBER ROLES:

A) FACILITATOR (1 person) - Lilly
B) NOTE KEEPER/PUBLISHER (1 person) - Cori
C) TIME KEEPER (1 person) - Dan
D) AGENDA CREATOR (1 person) - Jamin

6) CAT WORK UPDATE:

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

Interview with Jess

¾ interviews sent
B) What immediate and long-term CAT tasks lie ahead for the week, and who will execute?

Jasmin’s interview

Get contact info for garden users for profiles

Reconnect with Jess and Trish- ask about their meeting and update them on interviews

Read template for communication asset report
C) What was the most CHALLENGING element re: the past week's CAT work?

Dan’s interview with Dan did not go well. Might not get good answers from him
D) What was the most REWARDING element re: about the past week's CAT work?

Presenting our vison to the class
E) What is your CAT doing really well right now?

We have a very concrete idea about what to do
F) What is your CAT needing to work on right now?

Learn more about communication asset reports

Deliverables

Deliverable #1:

Create a communication asset report-
What is the organization doing well? What social media platforms are they using? How are they communicating on their social media platforms? What's working for them, what's not and improve on that.

Deliverable #2:

Promote the Day in the Dirt event: Create gardener profiles (gardener of the week) and promote the day in the day in the dirt event by asking questions about it.

Working the event: Help out with day of tasks. (Day in the dirt- volunteer coordination, take photos at different sites, help out with the volunteer appreciation celebration after event)

Follow Up Interview Assignments

Follow Up Interviews:

Dan: Dan Cahill

Jasmin: Ana Henman

Lilly: Michael Cyr

Cori: Trish Laraja

Interview Answers

1. What role do community gardens play in building sustainable communities?

Community gardens bring people together. People bond over food and being able to grow the food as a community creates a bond between people and nature where the food comes from.

2. Why are volunteers crucial for sustaining community gardens?

Volunteers provide the manpower needed to make the gardens possible. Sometimes members of the community are physically unable to garden and are dependent on volunteers. Also volunteers provide valuable knowledge to the gardeners.

3. Is the Garden Network looking to expand, if so, how is Day in the Dirt designed to encourage the growth of the organization?

VCGN is not as focused on expanding as it is in improving the gardens it already has. Day in the Dirt is trying to raise community awareness about the organization and raise donations through sponsorship. Day in the Dirt is a celebration of the work the communities have put into the gardens.

4. What is the prefered method of reaching the community (website, newsletter, posters, social media)?

They use all these methods as much as they can. They have found that the people who are connected with them are very loyal and follow them closely. The social media we should work on is to reach out to new people.

5. Who has access to a community garden and what are its benefits?

Anyone who wants to can participate in the garden. The benefits include access to home grown food and an added sense of community.

6. What can you grow in a community garden and what can participants do with produce (just consume? Sell?)

Most gardeners usually just garden for self-consumption. However, there are some small-scale selling operations such as being small vendors. Gardeners can produce almost anything, but sometimes there are written rules. As for food, if it can grow in the ground, it can be grown in the community garden.

7. What changes has VCGN made to its marketing strategy in the past?

Originally VCGN was just Burlington-based. Then around 2005/2006, it turned to a statewide organization. VCGN’s focus was then to respond to needs across the state. Now that it is a statewide organization, VCGN needs to be more accessible to more people. VCGN already had a small social media presence, but is looking to expand it and gain more of a following. Previous to social media, they had more “old school” marketing strategies such as posters and newsletters, which they continue to create.

8. What task would you like most for our team to be able to accomplish?The big task would be communications. This would include organizing and documenting celebration at end of event, take pictures to create buzz at event, MC the event, get donations and live blog at the event. Further, we want to communicate stories of people who use the gardens. This would be in the form of profiles, or short video clips.

Interview Questions

1. What role do community gardens play in building sustainable communities?
2. Why are volunteers crucial for sustaining community gardens?
3. Is the Garden Network looking to expand, if so, how is Day in the Dirt designed to encourage the growth of the organization?
4. What is the prefered method of reaching the community (website, newsletter, posters, social media)?
5. Who has access to a community garden and what are its benefits?
6. What can you grow in a community garden and what can participants do with produce (just consume? Sell?)
7. What changes has VCGN made to its marketing strategy in the past?
8. What task would you like most for our team to be able to accomplish?