Healthy Futures AmeriCorps places service members across rural Colorado to support programs working for a healthy future for all. This includes focuses on nutrition and education, community and school gardens, regenerative agriculture practices & increased access to healthy food.
WHAT IS AMERICORPS?
BUILD YOUR BRIDGE FROM COLLEGE TO CAREERS IN FOOD SYSTEMS
Hands-on experience is what employers are looking for. Join us for a season or up to two full years of service, where you’ll be mentored by industry professionals and gain the hands-on experience building and sustaining healthy communities you need to launch your food systems career.
We partner with 10 different food systems organizations around Southwest Colorado to offer you a wide variety of service locations and positions. Check out the different organizations below.
AMERICORPS SERVICE POSITIONS
Positions are open until filled
Local Education Initiatives
Local Education Initiatives encompass a range of roles aimed at engaging communities, fostering relationships, and enhancing educational opportunities. Within this category, positions such as Community Outreach and Farm to School Educators play crucial roles in connecting individuals with resources, knowledge, and experiences that promote learning and community involvement. These initiatives prioritize bridging gaps in education, whether through hands-on lessons or outreach efforts that bring people together for meaningful engagement.
Mountain Roots Food Project: Farm to School Environmental Educator - Gunnison, CO
Start Date: September 15th, 2025 | Term Length: Quarter Term (450 hours), 40 hrs/wk, opportunity for 2nd term in 2026
Farm to School Environmental Educators will teach lessons, lead after-school and summer programs, and support school garden initiatives for K-12 students. Engage in community outreach, build partnerships, and participate in all aspects of food systems education, including regenerative agriculture, nature, and community food security.
Nutrition and Food Access Programs
Nutrition and Food Access Programs focus on addressing food security and promoting healthy eating habits within communities. Roles like the Food Security Coordinator are dedicated to coordinating efforts to ensure access to nutritious food through initiatives such as food rescue, cooking classes, and community gardens. By prioritizing collaborative approaches and tailored solutions, these programs aim to alleviate food insecurity and empower individuals to make informed choices about their nutrition.
Mountain Roots Food Project: Food Security Coordinator - Gunnison, CO
Start Date: October 1st, 2025 | Term Length: Quarter Term (450 hours), 40 hrs/wk, opportunity for 2nd term in 2026
Food Security Coordinators will support local initiatives in the Gunnison Valley focused on food distribution and access. Members will coordinate food rescue, produce distributions, community gardens, and cooking classes, while connecting fresh, local foods to underserved households. They will engage directly with low-income communities to increase access to nutritious food, support health and self-sufficiency, and bridge cultural and socioeconomic gaps, while also assisting with local food procurement and projects that expand healthy food access.
Agricultural Programs
Agricultural Programs center around regenerative land use practices, agricultural production, and land access initiatives. Positions like Community Farm and Garden Production and Land Access and Succession Coordinator are fostering regenerative farming practices, promoting access to land for agricultural purposes, and providing support to farmers and landowners. Through innovative solutions and educational resources, these programs contribute to the preservation of natural resources while supporting the viability of agriculture in rural communities.
Western Colorado University: Cold Climate Food Production Internship - Gunnison, CO
Start Date: September - October | Term Length: 3 month, 100 hours, 16 hrs/wk
The Sustainable Agriculture & Food Production internship grants students hands-on experience growing food in campus and community gardens. Using the Chipeta Garden and Gunnison Gardens as the classroom, interns are guided through the process of preparing and maintaining edible landscapes while learning the tactics of sustainable, small-scale vegetable production. Interns simultaneously practice self-discipline, time management, and teamwork as they nurture the campus gardens. The internship delivers tools for self-sufficiency while building skills for career pathways in food production.
Mountain Roots & Gunnison Gardens: Registered Apprenticeship – Regenerative Farm Manager - Gunnison, CO
Start Date: March 1st, 2026 | Term Length: Two Year Apprenticeship, 40 hrs/wk
In this 22-month Registered Apprenticeship, you’ll build skills to master the basics of small-scale regenerative production farming in Colorado’s challenging high-altitude environment. Growing spaces include Gunnison Gardens (a 4-acre diversified farm), a community farm, community gardens, and four hydroponic container farms at Mountain Roots. We offer six total apprenticeship spots, accepting three new apprentices each year. This staggered approach ensures that new apprentices can learn from those with more experience and creates a dynamic and supportive learning environment.
Most of our positions open in October each year with a start date in early January. If we’ve piqued your interest, mark you calendar and check back here for service position openings in 2026.
Member Terms & Benefits for Service
You don’t pay tuition or fees for the world of knowledge and experience you’re going to gain during your year of service. But we know you need to live, and to have space for outside-of-work experiences that are fun and fulfilling as well. While you’re in service, you’ll get a living allowance that covers your room and board, and after your service, you’ll get a cash education award that can be applied to pay back your federal student loans, to pay for grad school or other continuing education, including trip-based programs like NOLS and Outward Bound. Read more on the education award here.
Other benefits include:
attendance at 1-2 regional conferences, like the Western Colorado Soil, Food and Farm Forum, Regenerate, or Agrisummit.
three, 2-day expense-paid trips, to locations around the region to broaden your food systems experience
relocation reimbursement (mileage) if moving over 100 miles
$100 allowance toward professional development / training of your choice
some sites offer housing stipends to further offset the cost of housing
some sites offer ski passes, rec center passes, gas cards, and other discounts to local community services
certifications in first aid and food handler, some sites offer more
student loans go into forbearance and the interest is paid
child care and health care coverage for members serving Full Term (1700 hours)
What’s in it for You?
Placement in top Colorado organizations. Healthy Futures AmeriCorps Program places our members in top food systems organizations in Central and Western Colorado to implement and expand community services.
Leadership, mentored by leading industry professionals. Our positions provide unparalleled opportunity for a higher level of responsibility and agency than typical entry-level positions, with the support of a mentor who is invested in your success.
Change the world. Localizing food systems is arguably the best solution we have to combatting so many of our global problems. We need more motivated leaders to challenge the status quo and then mobilize others to do so.
Make a lasting difference in the lives of others. While you’re gaining experience through a meaningful service, the real-world solutions you create are transforming rural Colorado communities.
Professional development and personal growth. Build lasting relationships, expand your professional network in education, agriculture, and food security, and provide excellent professional development experience, and add to a compelling resume for your career.
Transformative life experience. Looking back, our members all say that their service terms were pivotal periods of their lives that prepared them for or launched them into the next chapter of their life.
OUR MEMBERS SERVE AT:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Agency of AmeriCorps under
Grant No. 21AFDCO0010007. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the official position of or a position that is endorsed by Serve CO.
