Food Bank of the Rockies Hiring for Culturally Responsive Food Initiative Representative at Denver, CO Full Time

Job Description

Overview:

Food Bank of the Rockies recognizes that food pantry users from diverse cultural backgrounds may experience additional barriers when accessing emergency food services, such as different food preferences, language access, or feeling uncomfortable visiting a food pantry that does not understand their culture. In response, in 2020 we piloted the Culturally Responsive Food Initiative (CRFI) in eight counties. We are now working to roll out the initiative to our entire service network.

The Culturally Responsive Food Initiative Representative will focus on collecting feedback from food pantry users from a wide range of cultures as well as collecting feedback from our food pantry partners, community organizations as well as state, local and partner databases. This role will help identify trends in this feedback and coordinate responses such as developing recommended food lists and educational material and coordinating with internal staff to facilitate culturally responsive practices. The ideal candidate will have experience collecting feedback from a wide range of audiences, practice creative problem solving, have thoughtful communication skills and have a passion for food banking and/or equity.

We value diversity and inclusivity and are thus always looking to diversify our staff with an eye toward race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and age, among other areas. Candidates who bring such diversity are encouraged to apply.

Mission: We ignite the power of community to nourish people facing hunger

Values: Service; Integrity; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Collaboration; Innovation

Primary Responsibilities:

• Conduct in-person community and partner feedback collection including survey distribution, interviews and focus groups 
• Research, compile, review, and manage trend data and evaluations of new and ongoing strategies related to disproportionately served populations and determine disparity gaps
• Evaluate and recommend adjustments to plans, food lists, educational material or procedures based upon analysis of community feedback
• Develop suggested food lists for cultural communities in collaboration with clients, community organizations and partners
• Coordinate and develop culturally responsive educational material for partners such as virtual lunch and learns, newsletters and printed and digital training material
• Facilitate program administrative tasks such as project planning and funding to partners
• Develop and distribute culturally specific outreach material which may include the use of translation or live interpretation services
• Perform consultations with partners to assess their cultural responsiveness and develop customized recommendations
• Conduct training sessions with partner agencies on the cultural demographic within their communities including food preferences and barriers for access and attend and engage with community meetings
• Identify and facilitate opportunities to increase partner capacity through storage, transportation or to reduce other operational barriers such as language access
• Work cross-functionally with other departments including sourcing to share and refine findings for external audiences (e.g., reports, press releases, newsletters, etc.)
• Create metrics reports, presentations, diagrams, and other documentation to illustrate outreach challenges and solutions
• Work in partnership with the Food Bank’s Development and Outreach teams on grant proposals and reporting periods to ensure data collection and evaluation plans are integrated within the project
• Other duties as assigned

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bi-lingual. Following languages strongly preferred: Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Amharic, French, Ukrainian or Russian
• Lived experience with food insecurity preferred
• Commit to fulfilling the mission of FBR (Food Bank of the Rockies); positively represents the FBR brand internally and externally
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, and PowerPoint)
• Strong work ethic, including organizational, multi-tasking and time management skills
• Collaborative, creative problem solving and solution-oriented mindset
• Demonstrated ability to work independently; self-directed, proactive, and independent problem solver
• Ability to travel 25% of the time

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Sitting and standing for extended periods, walking intermittently
• Using office equipment such as a computer, mouse, keyboard, and printer
• Comfortable with frequent outdoor community engagements in inclement weather
• Ability to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, balance, stoop kneel, crouch or crawl, talk or hear, and taste or smell
• Occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds
• Use specific vision abilities, including close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

Preferred Qualifications:

• High school diploma or equivalent required; Associate degree is a plus or equivalent work-relate experiences
• At least 2 years of experience in customer service in a diverse environment is required; nonprofit or government experience preferred
• Extensive experience using Microsoft Office Suite and online technologies preferred
• Experience using collaborative tools for file storage and sharing, meeting scheduling, and virtual collaboration preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work independently with minimum supervision
• Bilingual and bicultural preferred
• Valid Driver’s license strongly preferred

Expected Hours of Work:

This role is considered full-time, working approximately 40-45 hours per week. Work schedules could vary based on projects and may consist of weekdays, evenings and weekends.

Classification: Non-Exempt

Reports To: Director of Programs

Location: Denver 45th Avenue

Compensation: $21.25/hourly

Benefits:

Food Bank of the Rockies offers a fulfilling workplace and comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Paid time off, 10 paid holidays, sick time, paid parental leave, paid volunteer time
• A 401K retirement plan with a 4.5% percent employer-paid match
• Competitive employee health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• A monthly incentive for certified bilingual staff