Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The proposed project would be conducted by the UF Nonprofit & Advocacy Lab, housed in the CALS Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences (FYCS). A core function of the research lab is mentoring undergraduate students in nonprofit career development and graduate school preparation. The proposed program will bridge food and agricultural sciences with leadership and management sciences to prepare students for entry-level food and agricultural nonprofit organization (FANO) positions and a future in sustainable and impactful FANO leadership. The program also aims to support students from underrepresented groups in applying and preparing for graduate school by developing methodological and critical thinking skills through practical application in FANOs.The MSP Scholars will engage in four semesters of methodological training in the lab. Then, MSP Scholars will apply the knowledge and skills gained in the nonprofit leadership minor and methodological training toward a two-semester internship in a locally-based FANO, such as a food pantry, farmers' association, urban farm, farmers' market, or soup kitchen.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
75%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The Strengthening Tomorrow's Food and Agriculture Scientific Leaders program will pursue two core goals. The first goal is to enhance mentorship for underrepresented student populations, including racial and gender minorities, students with disabilities, and first-generation students, in food and agricultural sciences undergraduate programs to scaffold students' success for entering careers in food and agricultural nonprofit organizations (henceforth, FANOs) and graduate programs. The second goal is to increase students' technical skills and self-confidence in qualitative research through applied science.
Project Methods
MSP Scholars will enter the program as juniors and commit ten hours per week to the Nonprofit & Advocacy Lab for the entirety of the program. The MSP Scholars will engage in four semesters of methodological training in the lab. Then MSP Scholars will apply the knowledge and skill gained in the nonprofit leadership minor and methodological training toward a two-semester internship in a locally based FANO. Curricula and hands-on and onsite instructional approaches: The program will tap into three sources of curricula to ensure knowledge and skill mastery: FYCS nonprofit leadership minor, CALS honors program, and the Nonprofit & Advocacy Lab. The FYCS undergraduate nonprofit leadership minor prepares students for nonprofit careers. The 18-credit minor will provide students with the knowledge base and competencies to perform in a variety of roles in FANOs at the local, state, and national levels. The curriculum requires the completion of four nonprofit courses and one elective. The required courses include Working with Nonprofits in Community Settings, Fundraising for Community Nonprofits, Human Resource Management in Nonprofits, and Organizational Leadership for Nonprofits. The FYCS nonprofit courses are taught by four full-time faculty members. Electives include options from Accounting, Agribusiness, Agriculture Education and Communications, Education Marketing, and Political Science.MSP Scholars pursuing graduate school will be encouraged to join the CALS Honors program where they will complete two honors courses and an honors thesis. CALS Honors program requires research credit hours which may be completed as part of the proposed program. The scholars will be mentored toward pairing their FANO internship research with their thesis requirement. During the first four semesters, the MSP Scholars will spend ten hours weekly building knowledge and skills in the Nonprofit & Advocacy Lab. This structured education will include methodological skills transferable to the FANO workplace and graduate school preparation.The PD and Co-PD, and lab graduate assistants will employ hands-on methods to teach data collection, management, and analysis skills during the weekly lab meetings. These meetings are used for training, project reporting, and public speaking practice. MSP Scholar will receive training in qualitative data collection, coding, and analysis using FANOs as the context. The hands-on teaching methods are interactive and engage real and sometimes playful datasets. For instance, the current lab manager created the "Taylor Swift Method" to teach content analysis using Swift's song lyrics. Students qualitatively code patterns in the lyrics related to emotions and common themes in Swift's music. This technique has proven to be a valuable addition to the lab.Experiential opportunities: The program will offer an undergraduate internship program where MSP Scholars will use qualitative methods to solve a service provision problem identified by a hosting FANO. The PD and Co-PD will leverage established connections with FANOs to arrange MSP Scholar FANO worksites. FANOs will submit a one-page letter of interest describing a specific management or programmatic problem and their commitment to host an intern. Site selection will be based on the FANO's capacity to support the intern's onsite needs, access to data source, and the feasibility of using qualitative methods within the context and time frame. Nonprofits will be provided a one-time $1,000 payment to support its hosting expenses, such as employee time, workspace, and technology.For the program's final two semesters, each MSP Scholar will intern at the FANO and work toward deliverables under the supervision of the FANO representative. The MSP Scholar will divide the work hours as appropriate between the lab and nonprofit worksite. The MSP Scholar will attend weekly lab meetings to continue methodological training under the faculty and graduate assistant mentorship. With collaborative support from the research lab, the MSP Scholar will gather and analyze qualitative data at the FANO site and report on the results. If a site is located outside of the area, the MSP Scholar will work remotely and visit the site 1-4 times per month depending on travel distance.