JANUARY 4, 2021| EXTERNAL/INTERNAL JOB POSTING 

COMPETITION NO. 21-003

Position: SOCS Coordinator and Food Justice Advocate - Contract Position

Location: Seeds of Change Food Hub/Remote work and/or office location TBD

Hours: 35 hours until July 31, 2021 (with possibility of extension)

Join Seeds of Change collective impact initiative in Surrey and White Rock. Seeds of Change is a collective impact initiative working together to increase food security in Surrey/White Rock. Working closely with Seeds of Change Surrey (SOCS) in the community, the City of Surrey’s Sustainability Planner, Fraser Health, Sources, and Seeds of Change partner organizations, SOCS Coordinator and Food Justice Advocate role provides two key functions to further the collective impact strategies of Seeds of Change:

• Essential support to the SOCs Leadership team to facilitate backbone functions and better meet the conditions for effective collective impact.
• Development of tools, strategies, and new partnerships to further the impact of SOCs partners’ collaborative advocacy and food literacy and access work based on equity, food justice and intersectionality.

The role will support SOCS’s work to change the intractable systems that create food inequities, policies, and processes and work toward systems change. The role will provide coordination and admin support to Seeds of Change and support collective impact and systems-level work through community and partner engagement, asset mapping, needs assessment and the development of advocacy tools and strategies.

This individual must be social justice oriented, technologically savvy and have excellent interpersonal skills (additional languages are an asset).

About Sources

Sources is a community-based non-profit organization that has been providing help, encouragement, and hope for individuals and families in White Rock, Surrey, Delta, Langley, and Prince George for 40 years. We serve 40,000 individuals yearly and that is all owing to our dedicated team. We provide wraparound services that provide a continuum of support such as food banks, substance use counselling, employment services, and legal resources. At Sources we value respect and collaboration as we are all striving to promote the same mission—social wellness for our community.

Responsibilities:

Working closely with the SOCS Leadership Team and key SOCS partners, and by using your knowledge of food justice and advocacy, partner and community engagement, and community development, you will:

• Execute Seeds of Change communication plan to support improved internal and external communication and messaging between all SOCS partners and stakeholders.
• Identify and engage at least 5 new partners to join SOCS including partners who work with culturally diverse, racialized and indigenous communities.
• Create an advocacy package for SOCS members including key policies that SOCs seeks to influence, key stakeholders and appropriate advocacy avenues and strategies.
• Development of position statements on key SOCs policy areas (e.g. universal basic income, racial and food justice).
• Support the SOCS leadership team in grant writing for sustaining the backbone functions of SOCS.
• Utilize SOCS amassed primary and secondary research to conduct asset mapping and needs assessment of food security supports and emergent community needs in the areas of food literacy and food access.
• Use results of asset mapping to help SOCS members strengthen existing partnerships and collaborations and identify new opportunities for sustainable food access and food literacy beyond current initiatives.
• Convene working groups of SOCs as appropriate (including food literacy and food access).
• Act as a SOCS spokesperson when appropriate.

Qualifications:

Possession of the following attributes is desired to ensure success of the food security initiatives:

• University or college level graduation; preference for education a related field (e.g. health sciences, community development, social planning, sustainability), and 1-3 years of progressively responsible relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Community and partnership engagement/development skills and experience
• Knowledge of collective impact approaches and principles
• Knowledge of advocacy and stakeholder engagement approaches and principles
• Program development and coordination experience, including programing informed by social justice, anti-oppression, intersectionality, decolonization and anti-racism frameworks.
• Knowledge of the Surrey food security landscape and actors would be an asset
• Experience in grant writing
• Comfortable in navigating a quickly changing landscape where program plans will need to pivot and adapt to meet evolving community needs
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Experience establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with diverse stakeholders
• Robust interpersonal skill and leadership abilities
• Demonstrated use of independent judgement and initiative coupled with strong planning and organizational skills to set priorities and meet deadlines
• Broad general knowledge of understanding and methodologies of responding to diverse community needs
• Competency with MS Word, Excel and other applicable computer applications.
• Must provide own Work Safe and liability insurance coverage

Start Date: ASAP

Contract: Please state compensation expectations in cover letter

Closing Date: January 15, 2021

How to apply: Please email your cover letter and resume to Deirdre Goudriaan, Please include where you saw this job posting in your email. Thank you.