Community Engagement Officer

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

Volunteer Recruitment and Relations: (80%) 

1. Supports the Director of Outreach in the recruitment for volunteers, in line with FORA’s values, our anti-discrimination/pro-inclusion commitment of Equal Employment Opportunities and federal and state and local civil rights and employment legislation.
2. Identifies key districts for volunteer recruitment and works with the Outreach team to develop a plan to cultivate volunteers through canvassing, including but not limited to: conducting visits, tracking each contact and visit, following up on leads, and collecting key data to document canvassing results.
3. Works with the Director of Outreach to leverage our current organizational partnerships for effective canvassing; manages external recruitment initiatives to local neighborhoods and suburbs cultivate long standing community relationships to build up FORA’s long term volunteer capacity. 
4. Works with the Chief Administration Officer and Director of Development to engage with current and prospective FORA community members, support community recruitment and/or fundraising events, and cultivation strategies.
5. Leads FORA interns in canvassing initiatives. 
6. Supports the Outreach department in conducting prospective volunteer interviews. 
7. Disseminates recruitment materials both physically and digitally, focusing on key locations and communities for new tutor recruitment. This includes but is not limited to flyers, pamphlets, and social media communications.
8. Cultivate digital relationships with non-local communities (i.e FB groups, the similar)
9. Uphold ethical standards and confidentiality in all partnership and community interactions, ensuring transparency, respect, and fairness in representing the organization’s mission and avoiding any conflicts of interest or exploitation of relationships.
10. Supports the Director of Outreach in uploading and filing all required documents for volunteer onboarding.

Tutor-Donor Stewardship: (15%)

1. Cultivates relationships with tutors and their families as potential donors.
2. Works with the Outreach team, Development team, and/or Managing Director to implement the plans and strategies for communication with tutors and their families who are potential and current donors. 
3. Sends regular invitations to tutor families and prospects for tours, meetings, presentations, and events. 
4. Monitors key tutors and ensures they receive regular feedback, their families receive regular updates, and their experiences with FORA are the best possible. Work to ensure long-standing tutors and interns in the key category. 
5. Creates and hosts opportunities for potential volunteers and donors to observe and learn about FORA’s impact. 

Other Job Duties: (5%)

1. Contribute to FORA’s collaborative, all-hands-on-deck culture by providing occasional assistance beyond the role’s primary responsibilities. This may include supporting events, assisting with shared administrative tasks, covering essential functions during staff absences, and helping colleagues address time-sensitive organizational needs, as reasonably assigned.
2. Assists in donor relations/fundraising as deemed necessary by the Managing Director, Chief Administration Officer, or Director of Development. Such as but not limited to attending donor functions which may occur outside of normal working hours. 
3. Assists Chief Administration Officer and/or Director of Outreach with special projects and programming as deemed necessary. 
4. Participates and attends staff meetings, professional development meetings, and technical knowledge-based learning meetings. 

Key Competency Skills: 

1. Outstanding oral and written presentation skills. 
2. Possesses strong interpersonal skills, such as persuasion and motivation, to build strong donor relationships. 
3. Highly organized. Proficient at managing large systems with regular data turnover, promptly responding to a high volume of correspondence, etc. 
4. Exhibits excellent verbal communication skills for initiating conversations, actively listening to a person’s message, responding appropriately, and using tone of voice to convey respect.
5. Willingness to continually interact with people as the face of FORA while consistently maintaining appropriately professional communicative standards.

The Community Engagement Officer must endorse, embrace, and enact FORA’s vision, mission, and values (as described atwww.refugeefora.org). Employees are expected to support all other FORA departments as requested by staff supervisors in order to ensure the smooth operation of FORA programming and special events. This job works closely with external communities and additional hours will be expected outside of and in addition to normal working hours as deemed necessary. This position is eligible for overtime pay.

This position is for 4o hours per week, with flexible scheduling depending on the timing of recruitment opportunities. During the school year, the hours for this position are from 1:00 pm to to 9:00 pm. During the summer, the hours are generally from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. This position will often include weekend hours, as necessary.

The location is in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago.