Food Access Associate (Direct Service)
START/END DATE: 9/15/2020 - 7/30/2021
United Way of King County’s vision is to build a community where people have homes, students graduate, and families are financially stable. United Way concentrates on issues that affect the most vulnerable and on which it can have measurable influence. Under our priority of breaking the cycle of poverty, we are committed to ensuring children, especially children of color, have access to nutritious food.
Note on COVID-19: AmeriCorps service, including serving at a food bank or meals site, fills a critical need in our community and is considered essential work. This is a community-facing position, and members of our team will be required to serve on-site, with limited opportunities for remote work. In this position, you may have direct contact with other team members and members of the community. United Way is following all guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the Washington State Department of Health regarding social distancing and safety measures. We are eager to support you in having a safe and impactful AmeriCorps term.
Program Overview
Everyone deserves consistent access to healthy and culturally appropriate food. But, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, local leaders estimate that hunger in our community has tripled. Low-income families and families of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and are experiencing hunger at unprecedented rates. United Way of King County’s Fuel Your Future program connects families with critical food resources – including school meals, food banks, and public benefits programs like SNAP and WIC – with a particular focus on low-income communities of color. As a Food Access AmeriCorps Member, you will help families in King County access food this year.
AmeriCorps Role & Food Access Team
The Food Access Associate team is a dynamic cohort of 15 direct service AmeriCorps members working in partnership with United Way staff, AmeriCorps VISTAs, and partner organizations to connect families with the food they need.
As a Food Access AmeriCorps member, you will work directly with families living in affordable housing communities. You will be assigned to support a specific neighborhood or apartment complex, and will connect directly with families to understand their food needs. You will connect families with food resources, including meals for youth, grocery boxes, community meals sites, and federal programs like SNAP and WIC. You will build relationships with families and youth, and maintain those relationships over the course of your service term. You will also support other work at your service site, including youth enrichment activities and nutrition education.
As a member of this cohort, you will be supported with a robust two-week orientation, ongoing trainings and check-ins, and the tools and resources you need to succeed.
This is a full-time position, and members will serve approximately 40 hours per week for the duration of their service term. Most site placements are located in South Seattle, South King County, and East King County.
Member Roles & Responsibilities
- Build and sustain relationships with families living in affordable housing communities,
- Conduct food security surveys with households to identify food needs
- Collect and implement change as a result of family and community feedback
- Assist families in enrolling in federal nutrition programs, including free and reduced-price school meals, SNAP (Basic Food), and the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC)
- Conduct outreach to connect families with their nearest food banks and meals sites
- Serve daytime or afterschool meals to youth and deliver groceries from partnering food banks to families
- Assist with on-site youth enrichment activities, including distributing activity kits, leading small group activities, and teaching nutrition education, in partnership with the YMCA of Greater Seattle
- Manage confidential client data, including the result of food security surveys, and track ongoing food security interventions
- Collect and share stories highlighting local successes in connecting families to food resources
Desired Qualifications
- Experience and passion for working with youth and families, particularly youth from low-income communities
- Experience working with diverse populations and an ability to apply a racial equity lens towards anti-hunger work
- Ability to build and sustain relationships and effectively communicate information to a broad audience
- Strong organizational skills, and the ability to collect and manage confidential client information
- Flexibility to balance the variety of service activities and resourcefulness to quickly solve problems or find solutions for community members
- Second language skill (especially Spanish, Somali, Amharic, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Russian, or Ukrainian) is highly desirable so that we can offer services to families in their preferred or native languages.
We believe that the communities we serve must be centered in the work we do. Therefore people of color and people with experience accessing food resources are highly encouraged to apply.
Members will frequently move or lift boxes weighing up to 30 pounds. This position may occasionally involve service in outdoor weather conditions, and may involve standing, walking, or moving around the service location for up to two hours at a time.
Eligibility
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Must be a U.S. citizen, national, or legal permanent resident of the United States
- Must be available 40 hours per week. Exact hours may vary by site placement, but will primarily be Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Able to serve full-time through July 31, 2021 and reach a total of 1,700 service hours.
- Must go through a Washington State Patrol background check, FBI background check and National Sex Offender Registry Check, plus state of residence background check if not living in WA currently
- F1 VISAS are not sufficient
Benefits
- $1,945 monthly living stipend (pre-tax), paid bi-weekly
- Loan deferment on qualified student loans during your service
- Payment of interest on qualified student loans that are accrued during service term
- An Education Award of $6,195 upon successful completion of service
- Health benefits that meet minimum standards of ACA compliance
- 8 days of sick leave, 8 days of personal leave
- Childcare assistance
- Unlimited public transportation pass (ORCA card)
- Opportunity to be a part of an innovative, high-impact program
- Working across teams of various community organizations
- Gain valuable personal and professional development experience
- Becoming a member of a large network of current AmeriCorps members and alums
To Apply: Create an application on My AmeriCorps Portal or click here: https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?fromSearch=true&id=82212