Program Director

Job Overview

ABOUT US

Mountain Roots Food Project is a community food systems initiative in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We cultivate a resilient and equitable food system by enhancing healthy connections between food, earth, and community. We foster knowledge, teach skills, and provide opportunities that ensure access to affordable, nutritious food that is regionally based and sustainably produced. As the leading local food systems initiative in the region, we promote personal, community, and environmental health to increase individual and community resilience. We run a district-wide Farm to School program, cultivate a regenerative community farm and four hydroponic farms, and coordinate a network of community gardens. We manage a 150-member multifarmer CSA, we lead targeted-access food security programs including Cooking Mattersä and Backyard Harvest, and we lead a regional AmeriCorps program focusing on service within rural community food systems.

JOB OVERVIEW

The Food Security Program Director is a key leadership role responsible for strategic development, operations, and program administration. By working in the general community with low-income and other underserved/underrepresented audiences, you’ll develop current programs and design new access strategies that increase access to and consumption of fresh healthy food, build self-sufficiency and improve individual and community health, address the root causes of poverty, some social determinants of health, and bridge age, cultural, and socioeconomic gaps. You’ll be working directly with marginalized audiences to challenge systems of oppression, amplify voices, and empower people to take action for personal and community change. Current programs include a weekly fresh food box program, community farms and gardens, cooking education classes, and community engagement initiatives. The position oversees three supporting staff members and works with a high level of collaboration with the Executive Director, other program leaders, and community partner organizations.

The Food Security Program Director must demonstrate strong leadership, strategic thinking, excellent communication skills, a passion for resilient and equitable food systems and a commitment to serving diverse communities. Key competencies include expertise in project management, food systems and regenerative agriculture, data-driven decision-making, and a commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in all aspects of the program. Conversational Spanish language is a plus; 30% of our audience are Spanish speak

Strategic Development:

• Advance strategic visioning, program priorities, goal setting, and action planning, ensuring alignment with the organization’s objectives. Work cross-departmentally to leverage resources and expertise.

• Identify emerging trends and challenges to inform program direction. Pursue opportunities for improvement, collaboration, and growth.

• Evaluate program impact/success, making data-driven decisions and sharing results with stakeholders.

• Strengthen critical partnerships with local government, nonprofits, regional and state organizations, private entities, and businesses to enhance resource sharing, funding opportunities, and program outreach.

• Drive innovation by exploring and integrating best practices in sustainable agriculture, food systems, and community-based food security solutions.

• Plan meetings and participate in local and regional food security working groups and stay current on local, regional, state, and national food security issues.

• Advocate for, design, and implement systemic solutions that improve food access and equity for underserved communities.

Food Security Operations & Programming:

• Plan and implement current day-to-day food security program activities and be the driving force behind implementing new activities.

• Oversee the coordination of logistics for food distribution, including partnerships with local farms and other community-based initiatives to ensure consistent and reliable access to food. • Monitor results, developments, and impact to ensure efficiency, resilience, effectiveness, and inclusivity.

• Lead and support food security staff and AmeriCorps members in implementing projects, developing leadership, fostering team morale, and providing guidance, training, and performance evaluations.

• Recruit, train, engage, and retain community volunteers.

• Design outreach and promotion to inform the community about food security issues and solutions.

• Troubleshoot operational challenges and implement solutions to improve program delivery, working crossfunctionally with other departments when necessary.

Program Administration:

• Create and oversee the annual program budget, including tracking revenue and expenses to ensure financial stability and effective resource allocation.

• Manage fundraising activities for the program, including grant proposal composition, cultivating relationships with donors, and engaging business sponsors.

• Monitor and manage current grants and contracts, including maintaining relationships with funders, implementing activities, tracking deliverables, and producing reports.

• Establish and oversee data evaluation goals and benchmarks. Manage data collection and analysis to assess program efficacy and ensure alignment with beneficiaries and target audiences.

• Prepare and deliver accurate and engaging reports for stakeholders, funders, constituents, and the MRFP board of directors.

• Design and implement a community engagement plan for food security outreach and promotion, addressing relevant issues and solutions.

• Advance authentic diversity and inclusion by actively involving the community in decision-making and program design. Create diversity metrics and make it easier to track and report on them.

• Oversee staff and volunteer management, including onboarding, training, scheduling, and performance tracking.

• Develop and maintain comprehensive program policies, procedures, and protocols to ensure clarity, efficiency, compliance, and accountability.

• Participate in manager meetings, organization-wide events, strategic planning, year-end evaluations, reports, and presentations

Essential Competencies, Experiences, and Knowledge:

• Project/Program management

• Team mentoring, management, and leadership.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, written and verbal communication, and public speaking

• Passionate and informed about resilient and equitable food systems

• Committed to serving and working with people of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds, ages, and abilities

• Ability to balance multiple projects with varying deadlines, lead the food security team and maintain enthusiasm, collaborate effectively within a team, and manage the timely completion of tasks

• Competency in establishing new relationships, pioneering new initiatives, and cold-calling

• Ability to recognize value in everyone’s contributions and make people feel at ease, helping them feel secure, confident, appreciated, and interconnected

• Ability to cultivate strong connections and leverage insights from the community to shape the direction of programs

• Ability to work independently, exhibits motivation and proactive initiative

• Flexible to work during different hours, including occasional mornings, evenings, and weekends

Preferred Competencies, Experiences, and Knowledge:

• Post-secondary education in food security/social services or equivalent experience

• Experience in community and grass-roots organizing

• High level of Spanish language proficiency, both written and verbal

• Overall understanding and commitment to asset-based community development (helping people to meet their own needs)

• Robust background in fundraising, grant writing, and event organizing

• Proficient in strategic planning, organization, community mobilization, holistic thinking, analysis, and leadership.

• Detailed understanding of small-scale organic food production

• Understanding of environmental issues, primarily related to local food security

• Physical capability to effectively carry out fieldwork, with the ability to lift and move 50 lbs.

• Capacity to skillfully create and execute research using a variety of methods, as well as to gather and scrutinize data for analysis

COMPENSATION:

This is a full-time salaried exempt position paying $50,000-$56,000/year.

HOW TO APPLY: Please send two documents (word or PDF please) to Holly Conn, Executive Director: [email protected] 1) Resuméwith contact information for two references 2) Prepare a letter of interest that explains: a) the value you will add to our team b) your goals / what you’d like to learn; and c) three attributes your co-workers, friends, and family would all agree you possess, with examples.

Use “Food Security Director 2024 – NAME” in the subject of your email, “NAME_Resume” and “NAME_LetterofInterest” as the titles of your attachments. Applications received by 10/15 will receive priority consideration. Position open until filled.