The City of Texarkana has hired Holden Fleming as its new Farmers’ Market Manager for the next two years. In this role, Holden will administer the city’s Farmers’ Market Promotion Program (FMPP) grant.
Spearheaded by Community Planning and Development Director David Orr, the city won the grant in October from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a competitive application process. Cities receiving the grant will use it to increase community participation in farmers’ markets. The City of Texarkana proposal was one of just seven in Texas to win the USDA grant.
As FMPP Manager, Holden will not only manage the grant, he will also “assist in general development of downtown activities,” according to the job position announcement. This will include “vendor recruitment, promotion, market management, planning and execution of market special events, coordination of EBT, preparation of planning and reporting documents, monitoring of market and grant activities.”
Holden, a History senior who graduated this month, was a Texas A&M University-Texarkana Political Science intern during the spring semester. The Political Science program coordinates an internship program, placing well-qualified students with local city and county governments, as well as with judges, attorneys, and elected officials. Students do not receive any money for working at their weekly internships, but they do earn course credit.
One of the projects that Holden worked as an intern was the “Texarkana Arts & Historic District Economic Impact Study.” Holden credits the internship for preparing him to serve as FMPP manager.
Holden says “I owe this job 100 percent to this internship. Honestly, the thing that most helped me was just obtaining a familiarity with the policies and people within local government. I worked with them, and they worked with me. They knew what they could expect by offering me a job, and I really appreciated it. I’m very glad I decided to do this internship.”
For more information about the grant, please contact Holden Fleming, Farmers’ Market Manager for the City of Texarkana, Texas at Holden.Fleming@txkusa.org or (903) 798- 3901. For information about the Political Science Internship, please contact Gary Bugh, Associate Professor of Political Science, A&M-Texarkana, gary.bugh@tamut.edu or (903) 223-3127.
