Area 2 Farms - Director of the Neighborhood Land Trust and Community Development

Every generation builds the infrastructure that defines it. Railroads reshaped the 19th century, highways and suburbs the 20th, and data centers are shaping this one. We are building something more durable, food grown in the neighborhood, by a farmer, on land that can never be taken away.

Area 2 Farms develops urban farms that grow and harvest organic food for their communities. The Neighborhood Farm Trust is our plan to make those farms permanent. We acquire small parcels, roughly 0.5 to 2 acres, and dedicate them to local food production. Our farms are operated by an Area 2 Farms farmer who is the farms owner, and also a neighbor within their community. The vision is for 90 percent of Americans to live within 10 miles of a local organic farm.

What you'll do

You will stand up the trust and run it. There is no playbook here. You are writing it. That means:

• Defining the entity structure and forming it.
• Drafting the model ground lease, working from proven templates such as the Schumacher Center's and the Indian Line Farm lease.
• Identifying three to five pilot parcels in target markets and refining the site-selection scorecard.
• Writing and winning grants and other public funding.
• Building municipal partnerships for donated or leased city parcels, property-tax abatement, and CDBG and other HUD streams.
• Recruiting an advisory board.
• Launching the Neighborhood Founding Supporter program, our community capital layer, from Seed Supporter through Founding Partner.

Who you are

You have two to five years in land use, real estate development, or community development finance, and you are ready to build from nothing something generational. The ideal resume runs through a CDFI, a land trust, a municipal planning department, or an impact-focused real estate shop. You read a zoning map and a term sheet with equal ease.

You have written and won competitive federal or state grants. You are comfortable with ambiguity and autonomy. You can pitch the trust model to a city council on Tuesday and draft the ground-lease amendment that makes it work on Wednesday.

Most of all, you feel the stakes. Every parcel you acquire is a farm that will feed a neighborhood for generations. That should energize you, not weigh on you.

Details

• Location: Arlington, VA, with roughly 25 to 30 percent travel to target markets.
• To apply email: hello@area2farms with the subject line "Director of the Neighborhood Land Trust and Community Development (YOUR NAME)"

Area 2 Farms is a Public Benefit Corporation and an equal opportunity employer.

Compensation base, plus a performance bonus tied to trust milestones (parcels closed, grants won, farms activated) and equity in Area 2 Farms.