RUDY LOZITO FELLOW 2025
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
In 2025, the Rudy Lozito Fellowship Program will host 4 West Contra County adults at our North Richmond Farm for 7 months of training in sustainable and regenerative farming practices. These practices include but are not limited to seasonal organic crop production, minimal till farming, soil-based carbon sequestration techniques, drip irrigation installation and repair, animal husbandry/poultry farming, and nourishing the soil while working alongside our staff to steward the land and cultivate resources for our community.
*The Rudy Lozito Fellowship program is open to West Contra Costa Adults – 18 years old +
The program includes workshops, trainings, earning certifications, field trips, and guest speakers from people working in various farming and land management fields accompanied by hands-on learning by working and completing daily tasks alongside the North Richmond Farm Collective.
This program is for individuals who are seriously interested in learning the fundamental principles of how to responsibly run an urban farming operation. Farm work is gratifying work but nonetheless, it is very physically demanding and requires consistency, discipline, and ability to work in all kinds of weather conditions. After some work days, you may be achy or just plain exhausted.
The 7-month fellowship requires a 20-hour-a-week Monday-Friday from 9 am-1 pm commitment with some flexibility during the week and weekend to accommodate guest speakers and field trips that are integrated into the program. The program will run from April 7th, 2025- November 14, 2025, compensated at $22.00, including some basic benefits such as sick leave, holidays, and wellness fund allocation.
As part of the fellowship each accepted applicant will have the option to fully participate and complete the Occidental Arts & Ecology Permaculture Design Course which will take place:
- Online 05/22, 05/29, 06/05, 06/12 Evenings 6-8:30pm PST
- In-person 06/20-06/27 (a full week stay)
Please Note: There may be other mandatory or optional certifications that will be added to the fellowship before application acceptance into the program.
Position Responsibilities
- Fellows are also required to attend and fully participate in; trainings, workshops, field trips, certifications, and lectures that are designed to be a part of this program and involve strengthening the skills of the fellows as land stewards
- Learn our farm’s standard operating practice (SOP) to complete all onsite farming tasks to assist and eventually lead in farm tasks including but not limited to harvesting weekly, preparing beds, planting, weeding, seeding, fertilizing, sheet mulching, compost processing, seed saving, pest management, irrigation installation and repair, site clean-up, and maintenance
- Support Farm Collective and Volunteer Coordinators during volunteer, group visits to the farm including tasks such as ice-breaking activities, supporting urban agriculture workshops, education activities, volunteer tasks, preparing for volunteer days, and documenting volunteer days
- Support with inter-program work days at other sites including but not limited to WTS, FarmStand, RHS, Verde Elementary, Greenway Gardens, CSA
- Supporting the Farm Collective in collecting farm data for monthly reporting
- Work with Farm Crew to maintain a photo diary of all farm projects, regularly upload photos to DropBox and Google Photos
Other responsibilities
- Fill out clear and accurate timesheets on time
- Follow Urban Tilth’s Code of Conduct and all Rudy Lozito Fellowship Agreements
- Support ALL Staff Urban Tilth events
- Attend all staff meetings
BELOW YOU WILL FIND THE ONLINE APPLICATION FORM
Please complete all sections of the Application Form by Friday March 14th, 2025.
*Only completed applications will be considered.
All candidates will be interviewed online via Zoom between March 3rd – March 27th. If you are applying to this year’s program please download the Zoom app onto your device (phone, tablet, or computer) ahead of time. (https://zoom.us/download)
It is imperative that you schedule an interview and are on time for your interview.
Accepted 2025 Fellows will be announced on March 31st, 2025.
Looking forward to your submission!
Urban Tilth
More About Rudy Lozito
Rudy Lozito was a gentle soul who wanted to heal the planet with healthy organic food. He worked with Urban Tilth for 7 years, starting when he was 17 in the Summer Apprentice Program. Later Rudy was hired as staff and went on to manage the Adams Crest Farm. After becoming a farm manager at Adams Crest, he trained most of our staff on how to care for the land, so the land could care for us in return. He taught the summer apprentice program introducing these young apprentices to his tasty vegan cooking.
Rudy was passionate about many things including: growing food for our community, soil health, sustainability, herbalism, mycology, & more. He loved working the soil and helped start the no-till culture at Urban Tilth. Rudy grew the most delicious tomatoes, peppers, and greens.
We honor our beloved brother by growing the foods and medicines he loved growing the most: Lemon Cucumbers, Squash, Habanero Peppers, Lacinato Kale, Mugwort, Elderberry, and Lemon balm. We hope that he is proud of our work and continues to grow food beyond our realm.
Rudy was also a notorious lover of Kombucha. We would always joke that you could tell where Rudy was on the farm by his trail of empty Kombucha bottles. If you see empty Kombucha bottles along our farm rows, please leave them where you find them, as we always want to honor our brother and keep him with us as we continue on this journey.
More about Urban Tilth
Urban Tilth inspires, hires, and trains local residents to cultivate agriculture, feed our community, and restore relationships to land to build a more sustainable food system, within a just and healthier community.
Founded in 2005 to help build a more sustainable, healthy, and just local food system, Urban Tilth has emerged as a local leader, a catalyst drawing together a variety of individual, discrete initiatives into a web of integrated, food- and community-focused efforts. In sum, we farm, feed, forage, teach, train, build community, employ, and give back. We help our community grow our own food; train and employ our own young people as “homegrown experts”; teach our local residents about the relationships among food, health, poverty, and justice; and forge partnerships with local small farmers to increase demand for their produce.
We use our 7 school and community gardens and small urban farms to teach and employ community members to grow, distribute, cook, and consume thousands of pounds of local produce each year, to create a more equitable and just food system within a healthier and more self-sufficient community.