Vice President of People and Equity

About FoodCorps:

Together with communities, FoodCorps serves to connect kids to healthy food in school.

Founded in 2010, FoodCorps has a holistic vision for transforming the role of food in schools, believing every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place, or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn. In historically marginalized communities in 18 states, their 250+ AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons in classrooms and gardens, promote nutritious and delicious school meals in cafeterias, and collaborate with school and community stakeholders to foster a thriving school climate and a long-term culture of health.

Building on this foundation of direct impact, and leveraging the leadership trajectories of its AmeriCorps alumni, FoodCorps pursues an ambitious agenda for systems change. Through policy and advocacy efforts, FoodCorps champions state and federal reforms that strengthen healthy food education and access at scale. FoodCorps has also recently launched reWorking Lunch, a cross-sector initiative that brings together senior decision-makers across the school food system to take collective action that leverages the $18B our country spends on school meal programs annually towards better health outcomes for kids.

Across its work, FoodCorps pursues a future where healthier, more sustainable food is abundant and easily accessible for our nation’s kids at school, where school food is an engine for health, wealth, and equity in our communities, and where students receive daily opportunities to be nourished and cared for.

About the Opportunity:

The incoming Vice President of People and Equity is the senior-most people leader in a people-focused organization, creating and codifying FoodCorps’ approach to equitably attracting, engaging, and developing the organization’s staff and corps members.

The VP joins FoodCorps during a period of ambitious organizational growth, rapid evolution, and change. As FoodCorps matures from a promising start-up to a field-leading social enterprise driving change at the system-level, the VP will shape and integrate FoodCorps’ approach to equity, inclusion, and belonging, including: driving FoodCorps’ earnest efforts toward becoming an anti-racist organization; leading recruiting and development; overseeing goal-setting and performance management; codifying and developing management practices across the organization; and guiding efforts toward a positive overall employee experience.

With responsibility for the people functions that impact the 250+ emerging leaders in FoodCorps’ AmeriCorps program, the nearly 1,000 AmeriCorps alumni who stay active in FoodCorps’ network, the 100+ members of FoodCorps’ geographically distributed national staff, and the growing cadre of school food leaders who see FoodCorps as a resource in their professional development, the VP and their team will build FoodCorps into a talent destination, cultivate a culture that empowers and develops people, and accelerate progress toward being a more just, inclusive, and equitable organization. The VP reports to the CEO, manages a large team of talent professionals, and works closely with colleagues on the Executive Team to guide overall organizational growth and strategy.

How the VP will be measured:

• Executive leadership: Serve on the Executive team as an essential voice for the staff of FoodCorps, its corps members, and other stakeholders, and actively participate in strategic planning; routinely provide input on cross-department matters and CEO and Board decisions
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion: In partnership with the Director of Organizational Equity and Inclusion and colleagues across FoodCorps, accelerate the building of a more just, anti-racist organization, serving as a thought leader to the Executive Team and Board, and ensuring organization-wide accountability for progress towards EDI goals
• Team management: Lead, develop, and grow the People and Equity Department
• Change management: Ensure strategic planning and processes across the organization are implemented in a way that protects people and supports stakeholder voice, agency, inclusion, and belonging
• Talent management: Partner with recruitment and HR staff to develop robust vision and strategy for how FoodCorps approaches attracting and developing staff and corps members
• Organizational Culture: Ensure staff engagement levels are high, reflecting a strong sense of belonging across all backgrounds and identities; this includes addressing pace, individual and team agency and empowerment, building supportive structures, and ensuring clarity of purpose at all levels of the organization
• Management coaching and codification: Articulate and codify FoodCorps’ approach to management, developing people management capacity at all levels

Skills and experience:

• Mission alignment: A compelling personal connection to the FoodCorps mission and demonstrated interest in and familiarity with issues of education, food, equity, child welfare, and/or health
• Domain expertise in full spectrum talent management: A minimum of 10 years leading a talent function that includes acquisition, development, engagement and strategy; experience serving on a senior leadership team is required
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion: Significant experience driving or partnering on transformational organizational equity and inclusivity efforts, leading executive teams in accountability for the work; understanding of the structural inequalities and the cycles of discrimination based on place, race, and class that both reinforce and are reinforced by the problem FoodCorps is trying to solve
• Management: A demonstrated record of building and developing high performing, multi-layered teams and building the management capacity of others; experience managing remote team members is a plus
• Strategic planning and change management: Hands-on experience in strategic planning and organizational development, with a history of success in cultivating organizational change and navigating high growth contexts
• Relationships : Highly skilled in building trusting, collaborative relationships, excelling at interpersonal communication and managing difficult conversations
• Operations, system, and process design: Able to build systems and processes for talent that are both scalable and equity focused

Location:

Preferably New York City or Portland, OR

Application, compensation, and benefits:

This search is being managed by Axis Talent Partners, a boutique executive search and talent strategy firm which partners with social justice-focused organizations. Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter detailing their interest in FoodCorps’ mission and qualifications for the position to:

 https://www.axistalentpartners.com/current-openings.

FoodCorps pays salaries that are competitive with nonprofits of our budget size and geographic location, and offers generous vacation and medical benefits, 401(k) matching, professional development funds and a sabbatical policy. Our salary range for this position begins at $150,000 and extends upward based on experience.

People of color, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.  FoodCorps is committed to a diverse workplace, and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities. FoodCorps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions. FoodCorps provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law.

Applicants with disabilities may request reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.