Community Engagement Coordinator/CHI Job at Cradles To Crayons Inc
About Cradles to Crayons:
Cradles to Crayons® (C2C®) believes that all children deserve the essentials they need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn and valued. Founded in 2002, Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play—for free. C2C sets a gold standard of individual, family, and corporate volunteer engagement, and through its “Giving Factories®” provides unique, hands-on opportunities to directly help local families. Headquartered in Boston, MA, C2C opened in Philadelphia in 2007, Chicago in 2016, and New York City via an innovative online platform, Giving Factory Direct, in 2020.
How Our Model Works: Two in five children in the United States—20 million—are at risk of Clothing Insecurity and going without other basic essentials. Through its three Giving Factory warehouses, Cradles to Crayons collects new and nearly new children's clothing, diapers, school supplies, and other essential items through bulk purchases, community and corporate drives, and individual donations. These items are sorted and packaged by volunteers and then distributed through a network of nonprofit service partners, schools, and government programs. Cradles to Crayons is also known for its excellence in volunteer management, providing an efficient and engaging volunteer opportunity for 50,000+ adults and children—ages five and up—annually.
In 2020, Cradles to Crayons completed a strategic planning process to develop a digital solution to accelerate its national reach. The result was the design of an innovative new online platform—Giving Factory Direct (GFD)—which was piloted and built the same year. Donors with children’s clothing log on to GFD to be matched with a child who wears the same size and gender as their donation. The clothing is then packed at the donor’s home and shipped directly to that specific child. In early 2021, GFD launched on a small scale in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and NYC, and will be the primary vehicle for C2C’s national expansion.
Since 2009, Cradles to Crayons has earned Charity Navigator’s highest four-star rating every year. Only 1% of charities rated have received this distinction, differentiating C2C from its peers, exemplifying the high standard of service at C2C, and indicating that C2C outperforms most other charities in the United States.
POSITION OVERVIEW:
Reporting to the Manager of Community Engagement, the Community Engagement Coordinator will help to ensure that Cradles to Crayons meets our objective of strategic engagement by building and maintaining relationships that advance the goals of both Cradles to Crayons and other organizations in the community. The Community Engagement Coordinator will have primary responsibility for the implementation of a community engagement and product acquisition strategy to bolster the organization’s efforts to acquire new and like-new donated children’s items. She/he will research, foster, and establish relationships with community groups, schools, religious associations, corporations, individuals, and/or foundation supporters. The Community Engagement Coordinator will support all activities associated with Cradles to Crayons’ engagement model, including community events, product acquisition, logistics, volunteer recruitment, volunteer scheduling, program and event sponsorships, and other strategic relationship-building opportunities. The Community Engagement Coordinator will also be charged to support the organization as needed with tasks in marketing, and support in planning for our signature events.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Model and lead a positive “One Cradles” culture, underpinned by Cradles’ Cultural Values and related behaviors.
- Be the primary relationship holder for organizations and volunteers wishing to engage with us around product donations a community volunteering who are located within the city of Chicago.
- Execute a variety of community-based events including strategic outreach, logistics, invitation lists, program planning, site visits, and follow-up. Oversee the timeline and delegate and coordinate roles and responsibilities to teammates and colleagues.
- Identify individuals and groups in various Chicago neighborhoods with interests consistent with C2C’s programs utilizing C2C’s network, warehouse visitors, and research methods to increase product donations from community-based resources. Support the maintenance of positive donor relationships through positive interaction, timely follow-up, and excellent customer service skills.
- Work with the marketing team to create marketing materials, email blasts, and communication/PR plans to support, promote, and elevate community engagement events and initiatives.
- Input, track and maintain community contacts and accounts, collection drives, volunteer visits by community groups and individuals, and other information in the Salesforce database.
- Recruit, schedule, and lead volunteer groups. This includes weekend and evening events.
- Report to the Manager of Community Engagement on a weekly basis with progress to goals.
Operations and Giving Factory production:
- Perform the duties needed to run the General Sort, Clothing Sort, Sizing, Outfits, Books, Shoes, SUP, Kitting, and Toys stations.
- Assist with the fulfillment of Everyday and Emergency Essentials requests.
- Perform warehouse, inventory, receiving, and distribution tasks as directed by the Manager on Duty.
- Receive gently used donations as outlined in the Material Handling Policy.
- Unload pallets of incoming donations and purchases from delivery trucks.
- Load vehicles designated for the delivery of Everyday and Emergency requests.
- Assist with the movement, organization, and tracking of inventory.
- Assist with the physical changes and upkeep needed to create and maintain a socially distant Giving Factory.
- Lead volunteers.
- Perform cleaning and sanitizing duties as directed.
- Other duties as assigned.
- Work closely across C2C’s departments to maintain accurate and up-to-date data on C2C’s benchmarks and impact.
- Work cooperatively with staff and volunteers to support the mission of Cradles to Crayons and meet the organization’s goals.
- Assist with any other tasks as assigned by the Manager of Community Engagement.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
- Meet established goals.
- Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of C2C programs, data, and impact.
- Accurately maintain data and systems for tracking.
- Uphold high-quality of customer service with all C2C stakeholders.
- Demonstrate ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively with other C2C staff, other site counterparts, and volunteers.
- Exhibit initiative by contributing to the engagement strategy and undertaking projects to increase personal bandwidth relative to the engagement process.
- Ability to meet deadlines and prepare reports and presentations.
- Execution of well-planned, well-managed Cradles to Crayons events.
Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
- Demonstrated proficiency or aptitude in community organizing, logistics, event planning, volunteer coordination, or other relevant detail-oriented roles.
- Proven written and oral communication skills, as well as strong relationship-building skills.
- Familiarity with multiple neighborhoods in Chicago is a strong plus.
- Self-motivated, resourceful, and with the ability to multi-task and be highly attentive to detail.
- Ability to navigate database platforms effectively, Salesforce experience a plus.
- Excellent customer service skills including the ability to communicate with visitors, donors, and community contacts in a courteous and professional manner.
- Familiar and comfortable with Microsoft Office suite (including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel).
- Ability to work independently, work under supervision, and work in a team-based and goal-oriented environment.
- Ability to absorb and apply new information rapidly.
- Work weekend and evening hours.
- Work comfortably in a warehouse environment where normal changes in temperature are to be expected. Ability to walk up and down stairs, bend down, reach, push and pull and lift up to 30 lbs.
- Strong commitment to Cradles to Crayons’ mission and a passion for non-profit work.
COVID-19 Vaccines:
Cradles to Crayons has a COVID vaccine requirement for all staff. We are committed to a safe workplace and doing our part to address the pandemic.
DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:
Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Working Conditions:
This is a warehouse environment and normal changes in temperature are to be expected while working inside the warehouse or outside, on or around the loading dock. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions.
Accommodation:
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is possible that requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons which may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization.
To Apply:
Please submit a cover letter and resume with relevant experience through our job portal: https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/what-we-do/careers/
About Cradles To Crayons Inc:
Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive. Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than three million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, NYC, and nationally, through Giving Factory Direct—a first-in-kind online product donation platform launched in 2021. Cradles to Crayons takes a three-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity: 1. In-person Engagement—through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve. 2. Online Product Donations—Giving Factory Direct matches product donors directly to children who need the items they have to donate. GFD is currently available in a growing number of communities as we expand our reach nationally. 3. Advocacy and Awareness—Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach. Cradles to Crayons has earned the highest possible rating from Charity Navigator for 13 consecutive years. Only 2% of charities nationwide have received this distinction. C2C has a budget of $12.9M for FY22.
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