Policy Specialist

Vital Village Networks Inc. is a network of residents and organizations committed to maximizing child, family, and community well-being. Based in Boston, MA, the central goal of Vital Village is to seed sustainable and scalable community change around child protection by mobilizing a collective investment from residents, community organizations and institutions using a strengths-based and trauma-informed paradigm. Launched in 2021, the Community Food Systems Fellowship is a leadership pipeline to increase opportunities for diverse leaders who are committed to food justice and equity to build skills, capacity, and networks, with a growth network of alumni leaders and partners.

The Community Food Systems Policy Specialist will oversee day-to-day programmatic and administrative coordination of the Community Food Systems Alumni Network, serving as a key operation backbone support for the alumni co-stewards leadership team and emerging policy advocacy initiatives and priorities. Key deliverables include coordinating alumni community leadership and capacity building activities, conducting regular resource scans and curation, developing advocacy toolkits and resource for dissemination, providing policy advocacy strategy technical assistance and resource coordination, tracking relevant policies, legislation, and field development, meeting and event planning and coordination, program data collection and documentation, and support with other alumni-led policy advocacy and mobilization needs and priorities. The Community Food Systems Policy Specialist will play a key role in supporting the Alumni Network’s growth and expansion, facilitate alumni-led co-design and policy mobilization efforts the network, and strengthen Vital Village’s collaborative network of cross-sector partners focused on food systems policy and advocacy. The coordinator will also support broader policy capacity building efforts and other policy-focused projects by providing quality and timely resources and tools, regular resource and policy scans and curation, and other program coordination activities across Vital Village and our networks.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

Alumni Community Leadership and Capacity Building Coordination

• Coordinates day-to-day backbone operations for the Community Food Systems Alumni Network and planned growth and expansion
• Partners closely with the Alumni Network co-steward leadership team to provide timely and responsive administrative and coordination support for alumni-led campaigns, projects, and initiatives, such as program co-design support, meeting and event logistics, peer learning and capacity building programming, and overall Alumni Network engagement, communications, and program coordination.
• Collect, organize, and summarize Alumni Network program data and network feedback to inform ongoing program and capacity building design and iterative improvement, including documenting process and program outcomes, tracking requests, documenting and communicating capacity building needs, capturing meeting notes and feedback, and other program metrics
• Supports other project-related coordination and program management responsibilities as needed

Community-Based Policy Advocacy Resource Coordination and Technical Assistance

• Conducts regular online scans and field research to document promising practices, policies, partners, resources, and tools focused on community-based policy advocacy in the food system
• Compiles, organizes, and summarizes curated resources and tools and partners with the Communications team to support content development and dissemination materials to network members, partners, and diverse audiences through engaging platforms (multi-media stories, social media content, web-based tools, etc)
• Tracks food systems local, state, regional, and federal policies, legislation, and other field developments relevant to alumni-led policy campaigns, projects, and initiatives
• Support the development of flexible advocacy toolkits, policy briefs, educational materials, action and outreach resources, and other accessible resources to be disseminated widely through an online portal and other platforms
• Provide high quality and timely coaching, resource and partner referrals, and technical assistance to alumni and partners focused on food systems policy advocacy strategy
• Collaborate with other Vital Village team members to coordinate other policy advocacy focused planning, design, and strategy development activities across the broader network

Alumni Network Meeting and Event Coordination

• Coordinates planning and implementation of virtual, hybrid, and in-person Alumni Network convening(s), policy meetings, educational and advocacy events, and cross-team events
• This includes scheduling, meeting and event planning logistics, attendance and registration management, communications, partner and vendor management, and accessibility arrangements
• Coordinates meetings with partner organizations, legislative and elected official offices, policy leaders and stakeholders, coalition partners, and other allies to support virtual, hybrid, and in-person advocacy efforts and projects

Other Administrative and Programmatic Supports

• Provides other administrative and program coordination activities, as needed, to support key organization functions, such as grant reporting and cross-team strategic planning
• Supports financial and administrative maintenance activities as needed, including set up, follow up communications and processing of partner and vendor invoices and payment processes

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree required. A Master’s Degree in Public Health or related field preferred.
• Three to five years of direct experience coordinating collaborative community-based projects and local, regional, state, or federal policy advocacy campaigns and/or initiatives with diverse, multi-sector partners, in food systems, public health, education, or community-based

PREFERRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Strong experience engaging food system, public health, education, and policy systems and social service, legal advocacy, and community-based programs

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Strong knowledge and understanding of community food systems local, state, and federal policies, food justice initiatives, and advocacy efforts
• Experienced with group facilitation, community outreach, community organizing, communications, event and meeting coordination, policy and research coordination
• Collaborative leadership style, adaptability, growth mindset, and strong interpersonal skills
• Strong organizational skills, detail-focused, and ability to support multiple projects and timelines
• Excellent oral and written communications skills, including writing and multi-media content focused on policy advocacy
• Cultural sensitivity and comfort with working with a wide range of social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.
• Commitment to health equity and strengths-based community capacity building.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote work environment with both independent tasks with guidance and dynamic collaborative processes with leaders, partners, and cross-team members
• Proficiency with MS Word, Power Point, Excel, video/meeting conferencing, and Google Drive suite is essential