Associate Director of Youth Programs & Community Partnerships

What We Seek

We are seeking a strategic, equity-driven leader with a strong background in youth development and community engagement. The Associate Director will play a key role in implementing cross-departmental partnership strategies, supporting program impact evaluation, and aligning youth programming with organizational goals. This position requires a skilled collaborator who can build and steward relationships across communities, institutions, and regional partners to advance our mission. The ideal candidate will bring strong management experience, a commitment to justice and belonging, and a passion for supporting young people as agents of change. They will also contribute to organizational learning, foster a culture of accountability, and help drive strategic growth and alignment across our youth and community initiatives.

Responsibilities

Youth Programs & Partnerships - Greater Boston Management

• Work with Director of Learning and Program and staff to implement a community partnership strategy among staff across departments (youth, community, farm & food distribution, dev/comm, operations)
• Work with the Regional Team to implement community events and partnerships contributing to the alignment, maintenance, and further development in accordance with organizational strategy.
• Work with the Director of Learning and Program and Director of Impacts and initiatives to determine the impact and outcomes of programs to inform the next steps.
• Work in collaboration with the Director of Learning & Programs to focus on Seed Crew, Dirt Crew, and Root Crew curricular development in line with Youth Outcomes.
• Rotating regional visits and observations for youth programs work to gather information to inform feedback and further program and staff development.

Organization Building & Effectiveness

• Provide guidance and process on developing and fulfilling strategic plan & annual goals to achieve mission of the organization.
• Develop, model, and steward, a culture of shared values and self accountability within the Leadership Circle.
• Work with the Director of Learning and Programs and Youth Programs team (group meeting) to research, design, maintain, and ensure program alignment across Greater Boston and North Shore.
• Identify opportunities to leverage strengths and enhance youth program experience.
• Work together in refining and evaluating arcs of experience (curriculum, activities, operations, evaluation).
• Work together to ensure that the organization's strategy for the region aligns with resident vision and priorities.

External Relationships

• Develop regional partnerships to enhance the regional priority of youth and community programs, as outlined in the strategic plan.
• Partner, build, participate and manage key Greater Boston relationships with key institute partners such as DSNI board, DNI and ect.
• Build strong relationships with local institutions to ensure accountability of TFP's work to resident interests and foster community control in the food system (municipalities, local non-profits, businesses, residents, etc.)
• Participate and represent The Food Project in city coalitions around youth and food justice initiatives
• Funders: Cultivate relationships with funders in collaboration with TFP's development team
• In collaboration with the Director of Learning and Programs, support the building and maintaining robust regional alumni network and opportunities for continued engagement

Management

• Will be responsible to supervise 3 to 4 staff members.
• Manage routine maintenance and registration of all youth program regional vehicles and Boston office.
• Co-creation and Management of all regional youth, alumni, and community partnership budget
• Ensure a clean, organized, and efficient workspace
• Oversee respective budgets, respective annual plans, review variance reports, data collection and entry, finance allocation, and Paychex management.

Organizational Health

• Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, Equity: Training, work, affinity group space, dialogue space.
• Feedback Participation: Real Talk, Peacemaking Circle, etc.
• All Staff Meetings: Team Building, Trainings, Activities, Strategic Planning/Annual Planning as determined
• Supplemental Strategic Planning, Annual Planning, Budgets: Individual supplemental working time to work on these pieces outside of built in staff time. This compliments all staff meetings.
• Support Recruitment, Onboarding, Orientation, Training: Tap into various networks, participate in screenings, interviews, etc. for all organizational positions.
• Health & Wellness: Building in intentional time to dedicate for your personal health and wellness.
• Perform other duties as needed, within capacity.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience managing a team in complex, interconnected, emergent work.
• Deep commitment to working with young people as partners; direct youth development experience required.
• Outstanding ability to think strategically and translate that into actionable goals.
• Strong relationship-building skills.
• Must embrace TFP’s mission, goals, and commitment to building just food systems..
• Committed to helping to foster an environment of equity and belonging.
• Committed to contributing to an organizational culture of learning and well-being.
• Minimum of 3 years of youth development management and supervisory experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of community engagement
• 2 years of project management experience: first-hand involvement in initiating, planning, executing, and monitoring projects.
• Excellent time management, especially when working collaboratively and balancing competing internal priorities and external deadlines.
• Solution oriented outlook and growth mindset.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build effective relationships.
• Ability to balance attention to process, results, and relationships.
• Comfort working within our data management systems: Salesforce, Asana, Google applications, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• 21+ with a valid driver’s license and clean driving record (required for use of TFP vehicles)

Preferred Skills:

• Proficient language skills in Spanish, Cape Verdean Creole or Vietnamese
• Preferred Resident of Roxbury, Dorchester or Mattapan.

Location & Schedule

This position will be based in Boston and Lincoln, MA with fluctuating Tuesday-Saturday (during academic year) and Monday-Friday (summer) depending on the season. Some periodic travel throughout the year to our Lynn Wenham sites as well.

Recruitment Process

Please send resume and cover letter via email to: jobs@thefoodproject.org. In the subject line, write your name and the position for which you are applying, eg: “Jordan Smith – Full JOB TITLE”.

We will review all submissions, identify viable candidates and contact ONLY those individuals selected to continue in the search process. The position will be filled when a desired candidate is found.

The Food Project is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to creating an inclusive organization. We actively seek a diverse pool of candidates for this position.