Community Outreach Specialist

Community Outreach Specialist

The Community Outreach Specialist will provide support for the implementation of community-based nutrition education programming in Richland County and throughout the Midlands region and will also serve to strengthen FoodShare's outreach to local communities and the teaching kitchen community of practice in South Carolina. Demonstrates commitment to conducting business lawfully and ethically by consistently adhering to compliance policies, procedures and regulations. This position is established in support of expanded research activities.

Required Education and Experience - Requires a bachelor's degree in a job related field and 1 or more years of job related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job related certification, training, education, and/or experience.

Required Certification, Licensure/Other Credentials

Preferred Qualifications - Program management experience in a community-based, educational, and/or population health setting. Food service experience in a commercial, institutional, or other setting requiring adherence to SCDA Regulation 61-25 for retail food establishments. ServSafe Food Handler or Food Protection Manager certification.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities - Must be proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and possess strong organizational, written, and verbal skills, including attention to detail and a proactive/strategic approach to daily tasks; willingness to work in a dynamic environment and team setting; is a strong public speaker with community engagement skills. Required to conduct business lawfully and ethically by consistently adhering to compliance policies, procedures and regulations.

Job Duties

Supports the implementation of community-based nutrition and culinary educational programming:

• Supports the development of community-based teaching kitchen programming using evidence-based curricula.
• Engages with community partners to promote programs and recruit participants.
• Supports training and administration of program facilitators in program implementation, ServSafe, kitchen and food safety, and FoodShare's mission and values.
• Coordinates program scheduling and implementation.
• Manages and reconciles procurement of food and supplies for community classes.
• Leads cooking demos at partner sites in Richland & Lexington counties.
• Contributes to the development of community programming expansion pilot across the FoodShare hub network.

Implements nutrition education programs and initiatives for Richland County FoodShare Hub:

• Sources recipes for recipe card(s) (Gordon to continue to handle formatting and printing).
• Leads Richland hub recipe sampling program.
• Monitors and enforces safe food handling practices for Richland Hub staff.
• Supports hub management with procurement of warehouse supplies.
• Administers ServSafe Food Handler training and certification for Richland staff.

Oversees teaching kitchen operations and maintenance:

• Recruits and manages volunteers for kitchen activities including, but not limited to, recipe development, sample production and distribution, and program assistance.
• Daily cleaning and maintenance duties as needed/directed.
• Tracks inventory of food, supplies, and equipment.
• Maintains documentation related to safety protocols and procedures.
• Observes and enforces kitchen policies and procedures for all kitchen activities.
• Builds and maintains relationships with vendors and service providers.

Supports the statewide FoodShare hub network in nutrition education training and best practices:

• Creates and manages the recipe database in Google Drive.
• Trains hubs in recipe sourcing and in utilizing the recipe language guide appropriately.
• Supports hub network with cooking demo facilitation and training when available.
• Supports hub Program Managers with ServSafe Food Handler training and certification.

Supports student-led community initiatives and promote FoodShare activities at the USC/School of Medicine:

• Supports procurement of food and supplies for School of Medicine programming.
• Assists with teaching kitchen programming as needed.
• Gives presentations about FoodShare as needed.
• Engages with and supports community-oriented student initiatives.

Provides additional support to Culinary Medicine:

• Engages with nutrition- and community-related coalitions and advisory committees.
• Participates in state and national conferences pertaining to nutrition, culinary medicine, and public health.
• Contributes to grant research and identify funding opportunities to support community programming.
• Contributes to discussions related to community program strategy and expansion. Support with management of interns.