Aaron Vargas

Experience

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  Tunitas Creek Ranch

  Mar 2008 - Aug 2012

  Seasonal Farmworker

  • Supported farm manager with payroll and accounts payable/receivable.• Seasonal farmworker that thinned, harvested, and prepared foods to bring to market.• Developed annual maintenance schedule for all buildings and farm equipment.

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  University of Oregon

  Sept 2012 - Jun 2013

  Program Coordinator

  • Provided programmatic support to an educational bicycle repair shop, serving 2,400students per year.• Created agendas and facilitated meetings with 5 staff members.• Awarded $3,700 grant from Student Sustainability Center and coordinated reporting.• Educated diverse student population on bicycle repair, meeting each student at theirlevel of knowledge and experience.

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  DevNW

  Mar 2013 - Sept 2014

  Marketplace Manager

  • Managed year-round farmers market with 30 vendors and an average of 1,000 visitorseach market. 2014 market season generated $2 million of economic activity inDowntown Springfeld.• Authored weekly e-newsletter to 10,000 recipients. Visited farms to interview andphotograph farmers for vendor highlights.• Managed Sprout! Regional Food Hub Facebook page.• Assisted in partnering with Huerto de la Familia to host annual fundraiser FestivalLatino at Sprout!• Coordinated efforts to integrate incubator kitchen and marketplace programs throughpop-up restaurants.• Supported data collection for grant reporting and annual economic impactassessment. Show less

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  Vertical World, Inc.

  Sept 2014 - Feb 2017

  Events and Outreach Coordinator

  •Coordinated the scheduling, registration, promotion, logistics, and evaluation of 27 events including: -fundraiser for the American Alpine Club with 450 participants raising $10,000. -ROCK Project, Vertical World ’s largest event. A 3-day education & stewardship event in partnership with the Access Fund. -partnership with Vertical Generations empowering 65 marginalized youth. -Managed social media outlets and updated website content. Increase Facebook engagement by 40% in one year and established the company Instagram page. Show less

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  Ecotrust

  Mar 2017 - Jan 2024

  • Supervised 2 staff at the manager levels, handheld project teams accountable and balanced in our work. Served as a coach and advisor to help the team meet core objectives, experiment, learn, and develop professionally through an anti-oppression framework.• Supervised a portfolio of 6 projects, 13 different grants/contracts, and fiscal management of a multiyear, multimillion dollar program budget. Worked closely with the VP of Food Systems Equity and Finance team to track allocations, spending, and submit grant reporting.• Led proposal development to successfully receive $1. 5 M of funding through a Cooperative Agreement with the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) to address the lack of engagement and benefit from FSA, NRCS, and other USDA programs and services by underserved urban producers in the Portland Metro area.• Served as a strategic thought partner to colleagues across levels of the organization while Ecotrust has evolved as an organization through the creation of and implementation of a 5-year strategic plan. Show less • Served on Ecotrust ’s Strategic Planning Work Group and hosted 3 interviews duri ng Ecotrust’s strategic planning process with the Intertribal Agriculture Council, Capaces Leadership Institute, and a focus group of Washington based food systems organizations.• Facilitated a collaborative process with the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition to launch the inaugural year of the Viviane Barnett Fellowship for Food System Leaders.• Led the proposal development for a $250k USDA RFSP grant that funded the Equitable Food Economy Collaborative (EFEC) in close partnership with Prosper Portland. A 3-year project designed to implement a community engagement process to assess local food system gaps and opportunities in support of a more equitable regional food economy in the Portland Metro area.• Managed regional Farm to Institution vendor fair, Local Link, from 2017-2019. The event convened 21 institutions and 43 regional farms, ranches, and food businesses. Co-authored 2020 end-of-year appeal letter and blog, “Reflecting on food, roots, and family” which centered themes of relationships, ancestral connections to food, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color led solutions for building an equitable food system. Show less • Led the coordination of the NW Food Buyers Alliance, a peer-to-peer network of institutional foodservice buyers and chefs.• Launched the Agriculture of the Middle Accelerator, a business development program that served 65 farmers, ranchers, and fishers accross the region from CA to AK.• Conducted data collection and preliminary research for Farm to Institution and Ag of the Middle Accelerator program deliverables.• Supported the development of three successful USDA grants (RBDG, VAPG, FMPP). Show less

  • Program Director of Food Systems Equity

    Jan 2022 - Jan 2024

  • Food Equity Manager

    Jun 2019 - Dec 2021

  • Food & Farms Coordinator

    Mar 2017 - May 2019