Community Action Program Coordinator

Responsibilities:

Community Engagement & Health Promotion

Work with marginalized community members including newcomers, immigrants and refugees, volunteers, residents, agency alumni and other organizations to identify health priorities and work in collaboration with the community to plan for and implement strategies to achieve better health. The specific focus of this role is supporting and enhancing the peer outreach women program as well as the community ambassador model.

Work with the interdisciplinary team, other organizations, Access Alliance clients and community groups to identify current and emerging needs of immigrants andnewcomers; and develop or strengthen programming to address those service gaps. The focus in particular is hard to reach and underserved communities facing barriers accessing social determinants of health, families and youth at risk of violence.

Be familiar with and use diverse community engagement and outreach strategies including health education, creating supportive environments, community development, policy building and re-orienting community and supporter services to support people and communities to increase control over and improve their health.

Act as a resource for community groups by facilitating workshops, seminar, information sessions or groups; by providing consultation, referrals and information, and by advocating on behalf of or for groups in the community.

Mobilize the existing human and material resources in the community to enhance the capacity of the community to affect social change by developing self-help and social support networks, building coalitions and fostering grassroots leadership.

Maintain familiarity with services and programs in the community, and share this information organizationally as appropriate. Develop and maintain information resources for the Centre and informational/ educational displays on selected community engagement and supporter topics as required.

Project Management

Develop community based projects in conjunction with other staff that are responsive to needs, and in accordance with the strategic directions of the Centre, using a project management approach.

Generate a process of stakeholder ownership, including community agencies, clients/ participants and community members, in the planning, delivery and evaluation of projects based on our values of interdisciplinary teams and collaborative approaches.

Lead the Implementation of projects by:
Participating in budget development and managing project activities as required
Overseeing effective delivery of project activities
Using a shared leadership, team based approach , provide guidance and direction to students, volunteers and project related staff to achieve identified project or program outcomes.
Using a team based approach, provide guidance to volunteers and project related staff to achieve identified project or program outcomes.

Evaluate programs to ensure that objectives are met and recommend changes to the day to day operations of the projects based on community input.

Research, Advocacy and Social Action

Initiate, carry-out, participate in or monitor research on health needs involving and mobilizing the community of interest around the research, and from the research, develop clear plans and positions upon which the Centre should base program and advocacy efforts.

Initiate appropriate links with stakeholders including key foundations, educational and other institutions to promote the availability of the Centre as a learning site. For example, developing initiatives in collaboration with the University of Toronto, Department of Health Sciences or the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement – Toronto.

Administration

Participate in committees, work groups, projects, and chair and or take minutes at such meetings as may be required.
Identify the need for or participate in the development of policies and protocols, and follow all protocols and policies of the Centre.
Develop an annual work plan with inputs from supervisor, identifying actions plans, learning goals and professional development needs.
Submit program statistics and reports on a timely basis.
Participate in the development of funding proposals.
Contribute to the vision, mission, values, principles and strategic directions of the Centre.
Carry out other duties as may be assigned from time to time.

Qualifications And Experience:

Required

Graduate degree in Health Sciences, Social Work, Immigration and Settlement Services or related field or a combination of relevant education and work experience;
Minimum 3 years front-line experience in community engagement based program coordination, planning, implementation and evaluation;
Thorough understanding of health promotion and community development principles;
Experience working with low-income and other priority groups;

Preferred

Strong understanding of the social determinants of health and the systemic issues affecting low income, multi-lingual and racialized communities;
Success in partnership development and funding proposal writing;
Experience managing project budgets;
Good interpersonal, communication and teamwork skills;
Ability to speak fluently in a language of one of the priority groups we serve (Arabic, Tigrinya, Dari/ Pashto, Bengali or other languages)

Asset

Prior involvement in community based research;
Experience mentoring staff, students or volunteers.