Melanie Weir Email & Phone Number

United States

The University of California’s Cooperative Extension (UCCE) office requires the ability to wear multiple hats to support advisor and county director projects, programs & changing needs. Additional support has included: grant writing/editing, budget development, fiscal management, operation assistance, digital repository design & changing day-to-day needs including operational protocols, procedures and shifting needs across collaborative agencies, that have been serving Alameda County Communities for over 100 years.

UCCE administrative operations, and fiscal assistance to advisors. Work includes engagement with community, local, state and national programs and partners. Primary partner agencies of UCCE Alameda are currently: (1) the County of Alameda’s Department of Agriculture(2) the County of Alameda’s Community Development Agency(3) the University of California’s Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) (4) Hayward Unified School District(5) Local Senior Service Agencies(6) Local Preschools(7) East Bay Park Systems(8) Local Community Gardens

Co-writing & Editing Grant Proposals; Supporting Report Research, Writing and Editing; Grant Development, Submission & Management; Development/Management of Budgets; Day to Day Cooperative Extension Operations & Administration; Participation in Short-Term and Long-Term Planning Activities (including cost-savings efforts, change management, problem solving, and management of unit growth); Oversight of New Hires and Recruitment; Programmatic Event Planning, Organization, Coordination, Programmatic Design, and Development; Partnership & Stakeholder Support; Coordination of Team Meetings & Project Management.

Washington, D.C., Us

Support of Online Curriculum Development and Training Material Development in collaboration with Joyce Hunter (former USDA CIO), and education partners and stakeholders. Building on UC ANR's Food, Ag, Design and Open Data Curriculum expanded on in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Davis, California, Us

This summer program, was the third pilot of programming in collaboration with UC ANR, Vulcan Enterprises, Community Colleges and K-12 educational enrichment, which included experiential education and field trips as important elements of fostering youth interest in STEAM and Food Systems.Collaborative development and expansion of curriculum for Summer Youth Programming in collaboration with Cosumnes River College and Burbank Ag Academy. Programming included a focus on Farm to Hospital, Public Libraries, Maker Labs (eg. Sacramento Library) and Burbank Ag Academy Field Trips.

Us

As a National Cooperative Extension Food Systems Fellow I had the opportunity to work with "boots on the ground" folks engaging with cooperative extension at the regional level. Together we focused on ways to Find Inspiration in Food Systems, and developed workshops that fostered making time and space to work with eXtension to explore ways to collaboratively learn and grow as individuals, as teams and as communities.Work with a wide range of private and public groups, agencies, and organizations across the United States and within the land-grant system. Forged new partnerships across university and food sectors that are now advancing locally-based projects and programs addressing food security, safety, production, and marketing efforts. Focused on cultivating innovative networks resulting in greater capacities than what one or a few groups could accomplish on their own. Designed and developed an asset map of food resources. This database has been and continues to be a valued resource for a wide range of land-grant faculty and staff and the partners they work with.

Davis, California, Us

This summer program, was the second pilot program with UC ANR and Vulcan Enterprises, with a focus on 4-H programming and youth career pathways. Programming included experiential education and field trips as important elements of fostering youth interest in STEAM and Food Systems.As a lead instructorI, had the opportunity to:Co-develop a three-week Summer Youth Programming residency program was a collaboration between UC ANR and the UC Davis Pre-College program, hosted on the UC Davis Campus. Programming included field trips, skills training, and education to integrate resources across multiple disciplines in academia, extension cooperative, local organizations, farms, ranches, greenhouse, and technology labs. Curriculum included lectures and workshops focused on ag, food, design thinking, scientific methods, and technology.

Davis, California, Us

This summer program, was the first pilot of programming in collaboration with UC ANR, Vulcan Enterprises, Community Colleges and K-12 educational enrichment, which included forging community partnerships. The program focused on experiential education and field trips as important elements of fostering youth interest in STEAM and Food Systems.As a lead instructor for a pilot program between UC ANR, Apps for Ag, USDA, Vulcan Enterprises and Sacramento City College, I had the opportunity to:Support the launch of a unique two-week Summer Youth Program hosted at Sacramento City College, with a focus on better serving diverse and underserved Sacramento students and preparing them with skills to foster their curiosity in life long learning. Selected youth were introduced to open data, scientific methods, and careers in food, ag, technology, and data science. The free program also offered students the opportunity to participate in a field trip hosted in collaboration with UC Davis, UC ANR, Fiery Ginger Farm, the Cannery, and the Center for Land Based Learning. Final presentations were hosted at the local Urban Hive Collective Space in Sacramento, CA and were judged by local academics, government, and business specialists.

California, Us

As a contracted entrepreneur, I had the opportunity to use platform design techniques to support three women founders launching a women in tech incubator in the Sacramento region. My work included:Support of Incubator Launch 2017Incubator Funders Event Planning and Implementation - at Thai Basil / Veg (2017)Education Day Event Planning and Implementation - at the Trade CoWorking Space (2017)

Oakland, California, Us

As a contracted entrepreneur, I had the opportunity to work with an amazing team of Good Eggs staff during CEO transitions and changes that occurred in early 2016. With a focus on restructuring the supply chain and onboarding process into a learning engine for Good Eggs, Vendors and Customers, I had the opportunity to bring almost 8 years of experience as a specialty grocery entrepreneur and greenhouse supply and design specialist to the table. This project was one of my first opportunities to work as a team member toward deliverable that included:Participation in Growth & Expansion - 2016Coordination of Sustainability Matrix for Packaged Foods

If there was a such thing as an entrepreneurial thesis, building this business from the ground up, would be mine. The development of this business was one of the most intensive times of my life, and allowed me to grow and develop as a social entrepreneur, while also learning elements of experience design and platform development through "boots on the ground" entrepreneurship.Over 7 years and 7 month’s I worked with a diverse team of employees, entrepreneurs, businesses, vendors, distributors, artists, designers, musicians and specialists to launch and maintain a specialty grocery neighborhood market catering to folks with food allergies, specialty diets and Celiac disease.

This work was my introduction to entrepreneurship. In this position I had the opportunity to build a greenhouse supply company inside a garden supply store. The greenhouse company launch was due to a FEMA flood in 2005, the year I graduated with my BA, as the 2008 recession emerged. Business was acquired in 2009.

Davis, California, Us

This position included volunteer work running research experiments in Social Psychology and participating in literature review, the preparation of presentations for research conferences and discussions.

Oxford, Oxfordshire, Gb

Educational Technology Evaluation - Team MemberSurvey Design with Oxford Brookes University’s Learning Development Department.

International Degree Of Arts And Sciences - Bs, Social Sciences, Architecture, And Educational/Instructional Technology

Master Of Arts - Ma, Social Innovation And Sustainability

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Psychology

Visual And Performing Arts