April 5, 2017

Local First Arizona Foundation

Dear Natalie,

I was pleased to discover that the Local First Arizona Foundation is accepting applications to be a part of the team as a Local
Foods Community Coordinator. This position aligns with my goals to promote public awareness of locally grown foods by
creating access to healthy food sources through information, outreach, and education. As a project manager for the Learning
Garden at The Farm at South Mountain, a coordinator for the Sierra Club, and an ASU researcher in urban agriculture, I have
been working to restore the intrinsic value of food and social systems, particularly to our underserved communities for nearly
a decade. You can expect that I will work diligently and collaboratively to engage all stakeholder interest groups throughout
the development and application process to stimulate interest and commitment.

Community Outreach: I am a research aid for ASUs Sustainability & Happiness Research Lab. My current research focuses
on creating strong connections in Tempe neighbors and fostering the development of sustainable solutions to increase
community resiliency. My introduction to the lab started with implementing a pilot project in Phoenix for research on field-
formulated best practices in food system sustainability. My involvement now incorporates a variety of benchmarks including
grassroots outreach, project management, and publishing findings to the public and high-level partners.

Partnerships and Event Coordination: Before I began my research with ASU, I worked for the Sierra Club as the
Internship Program Coordinator. I attended local farmers markets and other regional events as an outreach representative to
identify and create partnerships with key stakeholders. I facilitated the collaboration between interns and local stakeholders to
develop and maintain active relationships of those stakeholders in state wide events. The coordination experience I gained
from the Sierra Club ensured my success as a Coordinator and Project Manager at The Farm at South Mountain. My
responsibilities were to create and develop a Learning Garden that would serve South Phoenix based community groups. In
order to achieve our goal of being a community hub in South Phoenix, I built an 1800 square foot garden and designed a
participatory model to be an engagement tool for non-profits in South Phoenix. My experiences have allowed me to grow my
passion for sustainable food systems into the skills needed to become a community leader in local foods.

Web-based Communication: As a part the Climate Action Now initiative at the Sierra Club we identified how farmers were
affected by climate change by interviewing them and sharing their stories to the public on our website. I led the team that
produced and published these podcasts, newsletters, and video blogs. It was my responsibility to ensure the quality of our
content as well as the ease of use of the interface on our website. As a Business Development Assistant for Lightworks, I
transformed scientific data into reader friendly content for our website and monitored our social media presence.

I believe Local Firsts model has an immense a capacity to lead and transition the community while stimulating the Arizona
economy. I have attached my resume and a references page, I would be happy to send you any additional materials such as
previous presentations or my executive summaries. I look forward to speaking with you and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Rabekha Siebert