We’re Hiring!
Transitions Ahead at CalCAN

I am writing to share some changes happening in the CalCAN team, and to ask for your help to find three new team members we will hire this spring.

Becca Lucas, our Communications & Operations Manager since Nov. 2019, is leaving CalCAN in May to take a teaching position at CalPoly SLO. Becca spent almost her entire tenure with CalCAN under the shadow of the pandemic, and showed remarkable adaptability during a difficult time. Under Becca’s leadership, we pivoted to the virtual world of teamwork and communications. She took our social media presence to a new level, became super-competent with Zoom and other platforms that got us through, played a support role in fundraising, produced numerous publications and farmer profiles. Through all of the challenges, Becca has been flexible, generous and patient, and we will miss her.

Jeanne Merrill is CalCAN’s founding Policy Director and has been with CalCAN since we formed in 2009. She is stepping down from CalCAN in August to attend to family obligations. Jeanne has been our strategic north star, skillfully wielding the tools of public policy to shift California’s farming system towards climate resilience for 13 years. She has led the development and implementation of our campaigns, supported numerous coalitions and working groups, and has had a huge influence on the many trailblazing climate and agriculture programs and plans that California has launched that serve as models in other states and federally.

Though this is a big loss for CalCAN, Jeanne plans to stay involved in the organic and sustainable agriculture policy field as she has for more than two decades. We will be in touch later this year with an invitation to join us in celebrating Jeanne’s contributions.

Both Jeanne and Becca will be with us for the next few months as we bring new colleagues on board. And here is where you come in! We need your help finding new CalCAN team members who are passionate about agriculture, the environment and social justice, who understand the power of public policy as a driver of change, and who are ready to join us at a dynamic time when the imperative to tackle climate change has never been more urgent. We’re hiring for the following positions:

• Director of Communications & Partnerships (ideal start date: May 1)
• Policy Director (ideal start date: June 15)
• Operations Associate (half-time; ideal start date: May 1)

Learn more about these job openings here, and please share them with people who would be excited to join the CalCAN team.

– Renata Brillinger, CalCAN Executive Director