Description
Work. Serve. Thrive.
Imagine a place where your talent can make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives. Working at Feeding America is a uniquely rewarding experience in which our employees work together as vital parts of a much larger mission. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results.
Feeding America is the nation’s second largest charity and the leading domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. Our mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
Learn more about Feeding America here.
This position is based out of Feeding America’s Chicago or Washington DC office. At Feeding America, we believe in offering a flexible work environment. Employees can be in the office an average of 2 days a week (when not travelling for work) and work from home on other days. Employees also have access to a 30-day “work anywhere” program during the course of each calendar year that can be combined with PTO and/or holidays.
The Opportunity
The Director, Community Engagement will develop and implement Feeding America’s grasstops community engagement strategy to help increase our collaborations and partnerships with organizations working with communities of color who face higher rates of food insecurity than the national average. As part of this strategy, grasstops organizations would include national groups that serve communities of color, can mobilize support and have a relationship with politicians of influence. This role will provide national strategic management in areas of outreach to and engagement of communities of color, with a focus on Black communities, to build long-lasting, positive relationships. Travel required for this role is frequent (between 20 to 40% travel).
Compensation
Here at Feeding America national organization, equity is central to our mission and is an integral part of our compensation policies and structures. Historically, systemic racism and sexism in all aspects of our society, including compensation practices, has led to pay inequities that negatively impact people of color, women, and especially women of color. These practices include basing salary offers on previous compensation and negotiating salary offers. As such, we maintain transparent salary ranges and clearly defined practices for how our team, including new hire salary offers, moves through these ranges. You can expect us to offer the best salary up front based on these clearly defined pay practices with little room for negotiation. The salary range listed below represents the starting to mid-point salaries for positions and comparable roles at this level at our organization and candidates should expect to be offered a salary near the starting point of the range that is listed on the job posting. We make exceptions for highly experienced (multiple years of at-level experience) new hires in accordance with our pay practices. Once hired, employees have the opportunity to progress through salary ranges via regular merit increases and step promotions.
Salary Range: $104,000 to $130,000+ Based on ExperienceResponsibilities:
- Develop and execute a community engagement strategy to establish and deepen partnerships with national organizations and associations focused on serving and strengthening Black communities in order to advance the mission and policy goals of Feeding America.
- Manage a portfolio of national partners and identify potential new partnerships and coalitions to increase collaboration and advance policies and programs that help address food insecurity disparities, with a focus on Black communities. Opportunities to collaborate may include advocacy, fundraising, and/or media.
- Collaborate across functions with government relations, communications, advocacy, marketing, and development to ensure that communities are considered by and connected to internal planning and initiatives led by other departments.
- Work closely with other departments to glean learnings from the field and establish consensus around promising practices to strengthen communities and address disparities in Black communities to facilitate connections with national partners.
- Craft, facilitate, and engage internal and external partners in webinars and other digital convenings around timely topics related to the Black Community.
- Collaborate with colleagues in Network Learning & Engagement to ensure that food banks receive access to high quality learning materials, conference sessions, and tools for community engagement.
- Represent Feeding America at conferences, forums, convenings, coalition meetings, similar events and in media.
- Develop and lead strategy for disbursing member grants to food banks to support Black community building efforts.
- Manage Community Engagement team projects, including technical assistance, resource creation, briefings, proposals, and capturing partner priorities and learnings.
Required Experience and Qualifications:
- Professional and/or lived experience within Black communities.
- 8+ years’ experience working with community-based organizations, state and local government officials, state agency staff, and/or businesses and engaging low-income communities.
- Ability to leverage existing relationships and/or cultivate new relationships to build productive, trusting partnerships with a variety of organizations, demonstrating cultural competence and expertise.
- Experience in leadership roles working within complex operating environments – ideally a network and/or matrixed structure.
- Excellent verbal and interpersonal skills to facilitate effective communication with community members and community groups.
- Strong written communication, problem-solving, priority-setting, project management and computer skills.
- Ability to work independently, thrive under pressure and perform multiple tasks.
Foundational Requirements:
- Mission Focused – Demonstrates a commitment to Feeding America’s mission through work and action. Is committed to people keep people facing hunger at the center of our work and strives to translate this commitment into action on a daily basis. Willing to advocate for people facing hunger and serve as an ambassador for Feeding America inside and outside of work.
- Embraces Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Demonstrates a personal commitment to valuing different background and life experiences through word and action. Takes personal actions to build an inclusive culture that ensures everyone can fully contribute based on their unique talents, skills and perspectives and feels welcomed and valued. Commits to driving equitable solutions to address root cause issues by incorporating an equity framework in their daily work. Committed to continuous personal EDI development.
Required Leadership Competencies:
- Communicates Effectively: Conveys clear and effective messages using verbal and written communication to individuals, small groups, and large audiences. Shares timely, relevant project/operating priorities and updates to key stakeholder audiences that may include staff, network food bank members, donors, and other groups. Reads audiences, asks questions, and uses feedback to adjust messages and style as necessary to make positive impact. Seeks first to understand before voicing own opinions. Shares difficult or negative messages in a tactful manner.
- Collaborates Internally and Externally: Leads cross-functional work groups and is regularly sought out to work collaboratively on problem-solving teams. Networks and fosters relationships with external partners to achieve long-term mutually beneficial outcomes. Promotes constructive conversations that challenge ideas and consider alternative points of view about issues and options. Models positive engagement in resolving conflict and elevates a focus on mission and what is best for the people we serve. Avoids finger-pointing and preserves others’ reputations, even in challenging situations.
- Translates Strategy to Operational Goals: Develops projects that support the execution of strategic initiatives. Translates department strategy into SMART project goals and deliverables for teams and individuals. Cascades strategies and goals to all team members.
- Fosters Innovation and Continuously Improves: Pursues opportunities to identify new ideas, scan for best practices, share learnings, and drive continuous improvement. Analyzes current practices, policies, and procedures to find areas for improvement and apply best practices. Reinforces a data-driven, learning, and innovation-focused mindset across the organization through persistent inquiry for and sharing of external practices. Gives others latitude to test new ideas and learn from the experience.
- Leverages Functional Expertise: Applies extensive functional expertise to diagnose challenges and root causes to complex, organization-wide problems. Provides colleagues with sound functional guidance and influences others to embrace leading practices for the benefit of Feeding America. Prioritizes building employees’ functional acumen and helps team stay abreast of leading practices in their field.
Feeding America recognizes and values diversity. Our goal is to attract, develop, retain, and promote a talented diverse workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging and contribute to a culture that values differences, ideas, and experiences. We intentionally seek out diverse perspectives and skills on our teams, knowing that it makes us stronger as an organization and better equipped to serve our neighbors in need. We encourage individuals from historically under-represented communities and individuals with lived experience of hunger to apply.