Child Nutrition Lead

Purpose : To increase the adoption of best practices in child nutrition programs and increase program participation among school-aged children statewide.

Find out more about the daily tasks, overall responsibilities, and required experience for this opportunity by scrolling down now.

General Description : As Illinois strives to be the best state in the country to raise a family, we must make sure that Illinois children have access to the nutrition they need to thrive.

One in eight Illinois children is food insecure, and child food insecurity is significantly higher among African American and Latino families.

Food insecurity and poor nutrition can have negative impacts on physical and mental health and educational attainment. Food insecure children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to have lower math scores, poorer grades, and repeat a grade than low-income children who do not experience hunger.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) implements child nutrition programs that provide nutrition to low-income children at school, after school, and during the summer.

To support schools in optimizing the implementation of child nutrition programs and increase children’s participation in child nutrition programs, ISBE is housing a Child Nutrition Lead, a three-year independent contractor position funded in collaboration with the Illinois Commission to End Hunger.

Responsibilities :

• Support the development of a shared strategy to support child nutrition program sponsors in increasing participation among low-income children, especially the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and Summer EBT.
• Develop and implement an engagement plan for regional superintendents, school districts, schools, and other decision makers on the importance of child nutrition programs and strategies to increase participation.
• Identify and facilitate opportunities for ISBE and the Governor’s office to support engagement and recognition strategies.
• Engage and mobilize key influencers to accelerate child nutrition participation goals, including statewide associations, superintendents, principals, school nutrition directors, coordinated school health coordinators, Boards of Education, teachers, parents, elected officials, and community stakeholders.
• Develop and implement a communications plan leveraging newsletters, convenings, site visits, media events, and other forums to encourage schools to strive for child nutrition program best practice and participation goals and recognize those that make progress.
• Connect child nutrition program sponsors to technical assistance, grants, peer-to-peer learning, and other resources, in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and No Kid Hungry Illinois.
• Develop and implement an Illinois Child Nutrition Challenge’ modeled after the U.S. Healthier School Meals Challenge that encourages communities to implement best practices and strive for child nutrition program participation goals and recognizes those that do.
• Identify school meal champions to participate in regional, state, and national conferences and webinars to highlight impacts, best practices, and lessons learned.
• Share regular updates on child nutrition program participation and best practice adoption, for example through an annual report.
• Prepare fact sheets, policy briefs, reports, talking points, statements, and other written materials as needed.
• Set statewide goals for increasing adoption of child nutrition program best practices and increasing program participation, with a focus on low-income children.
• Track and report progress toward goals and recognize child nutrition program sponsors for progress made.
• Work within ISBE to improve data collection and reporting processes related to the statewide goals.
• Support the implementation of surveys, focus groups, and interviews with school administrators and staff, parents, students, and other stakeholders to understand barriers to child nutrition program best practice implementation and participation.

Qualifications :

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s Degree preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of work experience with a proven track record in public policy, state government administration, and / or child nutrition program management.
• Understanding of school, ISBE, and State of Illinois operations. Direct experience working in a school-based child nutrition program and / or State of Illinois government preferred.
• Sophisticated understanding of school and school district operations, including strategic and budgetary decision making, preferably as it relates to school nutrition and child and family well-being.
• Demonstrable experience in developing and implementing strategic plans in the private, government, or nonprofit sectors.
• Entrepreneurial leader with significant creative capacity and flexibility who can be highly successful with minimal supervision.
• Superior strategist, with robust analytical / problem solving skills, organizational agility, political savvy, strong interpersonal judgment, and the ability to manage high levels of ambiguity.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and written), including strong presentation skills and emotional intelligence.
• Outstanding record of generating buy-in from internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to effectively and efficiently manage complex projects and work with limited supervision.
• Understanding of the complexities and intersectionality of poverty, hunger, and social determinants of family well-being.
• Flexibility to travel to Springfield, as needed.
• Proficiency in MS Office-Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook.

Role : The Child Nutrition Lead is a temporary, grant-funded position governed by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Illinois State Board of Education and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

The position is funded by the Food Depository but reports directly to the ISBE. The Child Nutrition Lead is funded for 36 months as an independent contractor position.

Benefits are not included.

Compensation :

• Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer contribution
• Generous paid time off
• Parental leave
• On-site gym
• $3,000 annual employer-paid ThrivePass lifestyle and wellness benefit program
• $250 employee referral bonus

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, believes a healthy community starts with food. We are at the center of a network of more than 700 partner organizations and programs food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, mobile distributions, and other partners working to bring food, dignity, and hope to our neighbors across Chicago and Cook County.

The Food Depository addresses the root causes of hunger with job training, advocacy, and other innovative solutions.

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