Since launching our community initiative in March 2009 Bountiful Brookline has been engaging Brookline residents and our neighbors in many creative, memorable ways to promote our mission of access to fresh local food across the community. This season we became stewards of an urban demonstration garden serving the emergency food pantry, piloted a teen urban agriculture and leadership program, supported the creation of a community garden at a public housing facility and created garden sharing and garden building projects. We will celebrate the fruits (and veggies) of our collective labor at this weekend's Edible Garden Tour and Harvest Party, a compliment to the Spring into Gardening event held in March. We continue to receive recognition throughout the community and beyond for our work, thanks to NEGEF's early support last year and other actions. Now we need to begin to make a concerted effort to address capacity building, to develop our operational framework and position ourselves for the future. This grant request for $2,500 will help fund three internships and enable Bountiful Brookline to focus on key needs of adminstration, development, marketing, communation and programs. Bountiful Brooklne has benefited, to date, from the extensive generosity of individual and corporate cash, goods and in-kind services. These gestures of support, in association with the efforts of the core group, have been invaluable in enabling our initiative to obtain such a high degree of visibility and success. In order for our organization to be positioned to serve the community for the long haul we recognize that certain things must be put into place now. We do not have all the essential human resources or expertise within our core group to be able to develop, manage and carry out this critical work in a timely manner. We are fortunate to have access to interns through career service programs @ local universities. We believe this is a unique opportunity to both bring fresh perspective to our work as well as engage a vital constituency in our community. We have defined these three internship opportunities to most effectively address areas of highest priority. Each of these positions aligns directly with an existing function within the core steering committee and will enable us to respond to goals for organizational sustainability and community engagement as outlined in the draft strategic plan. These actions include creation of a membership program, expanded website, development of online community forums and engagement and improved outreach and programs. We are seeking a total of $2,500 for three internships including funds to extend the Program/Garden internship into the summer. • The Administrative/Development Intern will provide support for day-to-day operations as well as contribute to event planning, grants research and submittals, and creation of a membership program, all projects that are key to the mission of Bountiful Brookline. • The Communications/Marketing Intern will have a key role in the development and management of our online and print communication including website, newsletter and activities associated with the development of BB's brand. • The Program/Garden Intern will assist in coordination of planning and programming for gardens, youth engagement and gardeners opportunities. This position will ideally continue through summer 2011 depending upon funding. We are confident, that this concentration of energy and effort will enable Bountiful Brookline to make a quantum leap in our ability to engage, inspire and support the community. Our goal is to optimize the human resources we have in order to maximize in -the- ground results. This grant, at this time, is critical. We have gained the confidence of the community and are recognized as a vital resource in the community. These funded internships will be a catalyst enabling us to effectively act and react to help others grow as well.