Campus Innovation Lead

About this position

Meal Exchange is looking for an innovative program lead to help build the student food movement in Canada!

The Opportunity:

Meal Exchange is looking for an experienced project lead to contribute their strategic thinking and management skills towards the issue of food security in Canada. This position is an invitation to join our national team in coordinating programs, building our network, and supporting advocacy activities in the development of the national student food movement.

Background:

Meal Exchange engages young people to take an active role in creating a just and sustainable food system. A national registered charity founded in 1993, we work with over 40 universities and colleges in Canada and our programs have been run in over 100 communities across the country. At Meal Exchange, we believe that post-secondary campuses are an important leverage point for working towards food security and sustainability in Canada, and that student leaders have the power to drive this change. Serving the largest network of student food leaders in Canada, Meal Exchange provides these young people with mentorship, resources, leadership opportunities and connects them with their peers and stakeholders across the country.

Our research shows that 2 in 5 post-secondary students experience some level of food insecurity. Meal Exchange is dedicated to working with campus and community stakeholders to support post-secondary students to access the food they need for a healthy active life across the country. We run various programs and projects that focus on improving food security for students, including our Hungry for Knowledge survey, our Campus Food Report Card, and our Students Feeding Change program, which uses a campus-adapted social innovation lab process to create multi-stakeholder engagement and to develop new innovations. We’re looking for a passionate systems thinker and experienced program lead to develop and scale Meal Exchange’s food security portfolio.

The Position:

The Campus Innovation Lead will build relationships and work with students and stakeholders at Ryerson and Lakehead University to design and test strategies to reduce student food security, as well as scaling our ideas to new campuses. Through partnerships with the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security, The CIL will maintain a network of stakeholders in Thunder Bay and Toronto through a Social Innovation Lab process, including hosting Lab convenings, pilot testing emerging ideas and solutions, and supporting evaluation of these ideas. The CIL position will directly contribute to Meal Exchange’s overarching goal of reducing the prevalence of student food insecurity on Canadian campuses. The following components are key parts of the CIL role:

• Workshop/event facilitation: Ability to successfully steer a group of people towards a series of goals and objectives in a workshop setting.
• Social innovation and systems thinking: Is able to understand how trends influencing food security operate at multiple levels. With that understanding, can identify leverage points in the campus and community system in Toronto and Thunder Bay where the Students Feeding Change project can operate. Will work with students and stakeholders to develop strategies that address barriers to student food security in different environments.
• Relationship building and maintenance: Can interact and build relationships with a variety of stakeholders who approach the problem of student food insecurity in different ways. Through these relationships, incorporate stakeholders into the SFC project process through Lab convenings and piloting strategies. Can represent Meal Exchange in rooms of different stakeholders, can explain Meal Exchange’s mission and vision and how our programs work towards them.
• Project coordination: Can keep track of budget and reporting requirements for grant purposes. Can plan out activities over the course of the project timeline and adhere to deadlines. Will work with students and staff on both campuses to help turn their ideas into action and can coordinate multiple moving pieces of the SFC project, including coordinating convenings, pilot projects, and overseeing student coordinators.
• Have strong leadership skills: Foster new partnerships to build Meal Exchange’s food security portfolio, including scaling Hungry for Knowledge and Students Feeding Change across Canada.
• Thrive in a team environment: Being a part of this work means being surrounded by inspiring, committed, intelligent colleagues. Each success and failure we encounter is shared. Over the course of the year this position will support other national programs and events.

The Candidate:

You’re someone who wants to create meaningful and sustainable social change. You are passionate about addressing complex problems and are excited to design innovative strategies to address them. You are creative, pragmatic, organized, and empathetic. You have an interest in disrupting existing systems and structures and have the patience to do so in a generative way. You’re ready to collaborate and bring together a variety of stakeholders who view the same problem differently, including those from campuses, industry, and communities. You understand the importance of local context, history, and momentum in developing solutions that work for vulnerable groups. You’re excited to join a supportive and motivated team of change-makers with diverse perspectives, and you have a desire to contribute to solutions-focused work.

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

Required Skills:

• Post-secondary education in a relevant field, or combination of relevant education and experience
• Experience with project management or program coordination, including managing budgets and other operations tasks.
• The ability to foster and build relationships with a variety of students, faculty, and campus administrators
• Excellent communication skills, including interpersonal, written, and public speaking, as well as workshop facilitation
• Flexibility with multiple deadlines and ability to multitask
• Able to work both independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced environment

We’d love it if you also have:

• Knowledge of sustainable food systems, post-secondary campuses, food insecurity, and social innovation
• Work experience in a campus context or with young people
• Experience managing a team
• Experience with grant-writing or fundraising
• A desire to laugh, play, and reflect with colleagues
• Able and willing to work nights and weekends in special circumstances, and to travel occasionally

Application process:

• Please include your cover letter, resume, contact information for 3 references and submit to opportunities@mealexchange.com. If you have any questions about the application process, please direct them to the same address. Only candidates chosen for an interview will be contacted.
• Meal Exchange is committed to employment equity initiatives, and to having a team that reflects the diversity of the issues and communities we work with. We welcome the wide range of experiences and viewpoints that applicants may bring, including those based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ability, age and religion. We welcome both lived and academic experience, and encourage applicants to note this in their application. In our inclusive workplace everyone is assured the right of equitable, fair, and respectful treatment.
• For more information about Meal Exchange visit www.mealexchange.com

About us

At Meal Exchange, our goal is to ensure that students are food secure. This means having access to good, sustainable and just food that is accessible, affordable and is equitably shared with all those who need it. For over 26 years we have been leading the movement on student food insecurity.