About Brighter Bites
Brighter Bites is a nonprofit that creates communities of health through fresh food with the goal of changing behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health. Brighter Bites is an evidence-based, multi-component elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that provides reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food.
Since 2012, Brighter Bites has provided more than 19 million pounds of produce and 100,000s of nutrition education materials to more than 53,000 families and teachers in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, Washington D.C., and Southwest Florida.
More information can be found here!
Fieldwork Internship Overview
Brighter Bites offers fieldwork internships in our programming department to students and non-students interested in public health, nutrition, and nonprofit work. Fieldwork internships are ideal for anyone who wants to gain experience working with a public health nonprofit or students who only need to fulfill community fieldwork hours required by their school/program. Fieldwork interns are exposed to all components of Brighter Bites programming to gain a well-rounded understanding of how a public health community nutrition non-profit operates.
Programming fieldwork internships are offered in three cohorts – fall, spring, and summer (dates vary based on city). Applicants who can commit to the full school year (fall + spring cohorts) preferred, but candidates who can commit to only one semester are also encouraged to apply.
Position Description
- Collaborates with Brighter Bites Program Director, Manager, Coordinators, and Associates in the field and office.
- Completes Learning Objective reflections provided by manager by specified deadlines (10%).
- Assists Program Coordinators and Associates with fieldwork (90%), including, but not limited to:
- Working and communicating effectively with key site contacts, site volunteers, and
families to create a friendly, fun, and health-conscious environment and to offer guidance and support for nutrition and culinary inquiries. - Participating in the bagging process, including setting up, bagging produce, monitoring volunteers, initiating and participating in clean-up efforts, delivering bags to teachers’ classrooms, and distributing bags and educational materials to parent and community volunteers.
- Participating in the distribution process, including setting up, encouraging families to try the recipe sample, recording family participation on rosters, distributing nutrition education materials and produce to families, playing educational games with children, administering surveys to parents/guardians, and helping families to their cars.
- Motivating site staff, volunteers, and families to engage with Brighter Bites staff.
- Assisting Brighter Bites staff with preparation of weekly food samples, teaching student nutrition lessons, nutrition material development, and fieldwork photography as needed.
- Working and communicating effectively with key site contacts, site volunteers, and
- Assists team with other small projects on an as-needed basis.
Requirements
- Commit to a minimum of 8 hrs/week Monday – Friday; mostly fieldwork.
- Conversational Spanish language skills a plus.
- Must be able to travel independently to office and school sites around city area.
- Must be able to lift boxes/bags weighing up to 50 pounds each on a continuous basis.
Displayed interest in nutrition education, public health, dietetics, food justice, culinary arts, and/or childhood obesity prevention. - A passion for sharing the power of fresh food with others, especially elementary-age children in an educational setting.
- A positive and energetic attitude and initiative.
- Exceptional customer service skills.
- Basic culinary, math, and computer skills.
How to Apply
To apply, please fill out the Programming Internship Application at this link.
Brighter Bites & COVID-19
We have adjusted our procedures due to COVID. We have not been able to conduct our program inside of schools, so we have been working outdoors on school property. Our produce distributions are now contactless. Safety is a priority for us, so we are following CDC recommendations, including: wearing masks, gloves, and practicing social distancing. We are still committed to building healthy communities through fresh food, and are currently serving 18 Austin schools by supporting their nutrition education and hosting free produce distributions.
