Youth Development and Partnerships Director, Urban Nutrition Initiative

Posted by on May 20, 2013

Urban Nutrition Initiative Youth Development and Partnerships Director

UNI: The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI) is a major component of the University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) program of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships (NCCP) at the University of Pennsylvania. UNI’s Youth Development and Partnerships Director is a core member of UNI’s leadership team. UNI’s mission is to engage, educate and empower youth, university students, and community members to build a just and sustainable food system. UNI organizes school day, after school and summer learning opportunities for more than 10,000 students and their families at 20 public schools in Philadelphia. In addition, UNI offers healthy cooking classes and gardening workshops for adults and seniors. UNI’s approach to community health improvement focuses on nutrition education, youth empowerment, food sovereignty, social justice and physical fitness.

Position Overview: UNI is seeking a dynamic, collaborative Youth Development & Partnerships Director to increase the organization’s capacity to implement and replicate the Youth Development (YD) program model. The program believes that empowering young people as agents of change in their community will not only lead to an improved food system, but also improve their health, self-efficacy and ability to solve personal and societal problems. UNI’s Youth Development Program provides paid internships in nutrition education and urban agriculture to one hundred and fifty West Philadelphia teenagers annually. UNI empowers teen interns to explore and identify solutions to health disparities, promote healthy lifestyles and build a just and sustainable food system. By teaching healthy cooking classes, tending school gardens, and operating local farmer’s markets, AUNI interns increase access to local, organic, affordable, nutritious, and culturally-relevant food; create tools to build food sovereignty; provide a space to deepen our relationship to the land, our food and each other; and improve community health while developing academic, critical thinking and job skills. The Director is responsible for providing overall leadership and vision for the YD program model and ensuring it is implemented with fidelity.

*To apply, please send your resume and cover letter as one PDF file to [email protected]. The subject line should be: “Youth Development and Partnerships Director”. Applicants must be able to start the position no later than July 1, 2013.

*If you have a question about the position, please first read this posting and our website carefully, and then feel free to contact [email protected]. We will do our best to respond. Please do not contact us to check on the status of your application