Food Hub & Partnership Co-ordinator (.8FTE)

The Hornbeam Centre seeks an organised, self-motivated and ideally, locally well-networked individual to coordinate and support the ongoing development of The Hornbeam Centre as a hub for Food & Community Resilience. This is a fixed-term position, delivering The Hornbeam’s role within the Extended Table Programme funded by the National Lottery (NL).

The Hornbeam has a 30+ year history of community uplift through principals of mutual aid and planetary care. Our vision is an active, engaged, inclusive and environmentally sustainable Waltham Forest where people are empowered and supported to uplift each other through creative and collaborative community action. Our ideal candidate would bring to this role an understanding of the interplay between food, community and climate resilience, being able to bring a creative, caring and intersectional approach to the further development of our community hub.

The Hornbeam & Extended Table

Isolation, community breakdown, and poor diet are key contributors to poor mental and physical health, especially among marginalised groups. The NL Extended Table programme brings organisations like the Hornbeam together with communities and individuals, as well as across sectors, geographical areas and entrenched divides to address these challenges. Through collaboration and shared learning with national partners from Northern Ireland to Brighton, the Extended Table programme will enable the Hornbeam to develop its projects into community food hubs that promote and protect overall wellbeing, of individual, community and planet.

Through a programme of positive engagement and direct advocacy support with diverse and marginalised communities, The Hornbeam and Extended Table aims to reduce reliance on crisis intervention and build systematic mechanisms for self and community resilience. The Extended Table programme utilises community hubs to offer inclusive, healthy social spaces for everyone using food as a vehicle to engage those most in need. As a developing food hub the Hornbeam will promote and share best practices to foster activity through socially fertile spaces across Waltham Forest. The Hornbeam aims to achieve this by expanding and replicating our successful models (People’s Kitchen, People’s Kitchen on Wheels and Solidarity Supermarket) and empowering marginalised voices to advocate for their own needs directly.

The Extended Table Programme comes at a particularly opportune moment for Waltham Forest, as established partners are working on the ground across a range of food, community and climate policy areas.

This role will build on our previous work of co-establishing the local Food Partnership and our connections to the recently established Food Growers Network, bringing these elements together within a strategic, joined-up approach, enabling statutory and Voluntary & Community Sector involvement, along with residents and local businesses, to address local sustainable food policy issues holistically and innovatively.

The role:

• The Coordinator will co-lead the Waltham Forest Food Partnership with LBWF and collaborate with existing VCS networks and public sector teams to promote and continue to build a movement towards localised food sovereignty. Particular emphasis will be placed on engaging groups from marginalised sections of the community.
• The Coordinator will engage with Extended Table Partners, local food partner organisations and the Waltham Forest Food Partnership to share learning and best practice and integrate service delivery with the Food Partnership Action Plan. This will include delivering workshops to build capacity for partner organisations and provide fundraising support.
• The Coordinator will identify and support marginalized community members develop the skills for self-advocacy.
• The Coordinator will be responsible for continuing to oversee our People’s Kitchen, People’s Kitchen on Wheels and Solidarity Supermarket, and support their development as community hubs.
• The Coordinator will be responsible for project monitoring and evaluation as required by funders.
• The Coordinator will also provide additional fundraising support for the Hornbeam and ongoing project development with local partners.
• The Hornbeam’s organisational structure is horizontal, thus the Co-ordinator will also be required to engage with peer management and development as part of the wider Hornbeam Team, and support with aspects of wider project delivery, monitoring and evaluation.
• The Coordinator will collaborate with our Volunteer Coordinator to expand the capacity of our volunteer network.

Essential Skills:

• Extensive experience in partnership development, movement building and or community organising
• Ability to engage and communicate clearly and effectively with local VCS groups and council stakeholders
• A track record in delivering community development and working with multiple partners
• A track record in moving strategic ideas into operation
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to work independently while also involving and engaging staff and relevant stakeholders
• Extensive experience of safeguarding policies and practices
• A strong track record of budget management.
• Experience in writing funding reports, monitoring and evaluation methods such as SROI

Desirable:

• Knowledge of Waltham Forest and its diverse community and VCS organisations
• Experience in working with local authorities
• A good track record of working with and managing volunteers
• An understanding of the principles of food sovereignty and experience of implementing related projects
• Understanding of the climate/ecological crisis and understanding/experience of how to build/building resilience within community projects