KC Healthy Kids seeks an enthusiastic and dependable part-time Program Assistant to provide programmatic and administrative support for the Kansas Food Action Network. Reporting to the Network Director, this staff person will support the capacity of our growing project. The Program Assistant will become a critical member of a passionate and welcoming team. 

Composed of over 30 local food, farm and policy councils, the Kansas Food Action Network is a statewide advocacy network focused on building resilient local and state food systems in Kansas. The Network provides technical assistance, coaching, peer-to-peer learning and network opportunities to support growth and development of food system leadership in Kansas. 

Duties and Responsibilities: 
Network Administrative Support 

• Assist network staff and consultants with the advancement of advocacy agendas and initiatives of the Kansas Food Action Network and Kansas Food and Farm Coalition. 
• Provide administrative support for meetings, including assisting in scheduling, preparing materials, coordinating with partner agencies, presenting updates and managing meeting minutes. 
• Assist staff with tracking and management of technical assistance requests using an Excel database. 
• Follow up on technical assistance requests from member councils, provide requested information and contacts. 

Communications and Outreach 

• Assist staff with communications efforts including:
  • Create and distribute monthly newsletter 
  • Management of the Network listserv (includes updating the listserv, responding to listserv information requests)
  • Event promotion
  • Advocacy alerts
  • Creation and management of communications database
  • Managing contact information for board members, network councils, and key stakeholders. 

Event coordination

• Assist staff with the organization and facilitation of in-person and virtual network events. Duties to include agenda design, location scouting, speaker coordination, and communication management. 

Desired Skills and Qualifications: 

•  Bachelor’s degree in business, community planning and design, nutrition, public health, public policy, public administration or related field preferred OR comparable professional experience. 
•  One to three years of experience in coalition organizing, legislative/administrative advocacy or other experiences related to policy decision-making preferred. 
•  Knowledge of Kansas food systems is desirable; passion for food systems change is a must. 
•  Experience with Constant Contact or other email newsletter platform.
•  Event planning and project management experience preferred
•  Strong organizational skills and high degree of attention to detail.
•  Self starter with good judgment and time management skills.
•  Must be proficient in use of a personal computer, including electronic scheduling and Google suite (Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc.) 
•  Must be proficient in Zoom 

Reports to: Director, Kansas Food Action Network 
Compensation: $20/hour for 15-20 hours per week. Flexible, remote schedule. 
To Apply: Email cover letter, resume, and one page writing sample to  recruitment@kchealthykids.org. Applications will continue to be accepted while the position remains unfilled. 
** Please note: No phone calls please. Inquiries should be sent by email.

About Us:
KC Healthy Kids advances the health and well-being of children and families through community-driven initiatives and advocacy where they live, learn, work and play. We promote comprehensive solutions to boost the ability of communities to protect and improve kids' health and well-being. Since 2005, our programs and policy work have addressed the following:

• LOCAL FOOD: Kids and their communities need a strong local food system. We help farmers grow thriving businesses and teach kids & families the value of growing their own food and purchasing locally-grown food.
• GOOD FOOD POLICY: Kids and their communities need it to be easier to get healthy food. We engage advocates and decision makers to promote policies that put healthy food within reach.
• MENTAL HEALTH: Kids need to grow up feeling supported and accepted, especially if they have experienced trauma. We address trauma and help community partners create environments that support good mental health practices.
• YOUTH ADVOCATES: Kids need to see themselves as advocates who lead adults. We teach kids how their surroundings shape their health, and how to speak out for change.
• ACTIVE COMMUNITIES: Kids need to grow up in communities where physical activity can be a natural part of their day. We rally advocates to support policies and plans that make it easier and safer to walk, bike and play throughout our region.
  
  

KC Healthy Kids is committed to maintaining a diverse, multicultural working environment. We adhere to the policy of providing equal employment opportunities to all job applicants and employees regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, or sexual orientation.
 
Job Type: Part Time
Salary Range: Up to $29,999

KC Healthy Kids invites farmers to apply for membership to the KC Food Circle™ for 2022. Memberships are open to anyone within a 120 mile radius of Kansas City who is using organic practices (but not necessarily certified) with the intent to sell food to others. 
Membership is free for 2022 and benefits include:

• A profile in the KC Food Circle™ Directory of Farms, with a brief description, product categories, photos and a link to your online store, website or social media page. 
• An invitation to sell at the Eat Local & Organic Expo in early April, which historically has attracted around 3,000 people.
• ​​KC Food Circle™ designation on the regional Eat Local KC map.

KC Food Circle™ is committed to promoting sustainable agriculture while recognizing the economic challenges of small farms in competition with subsidized, large-scale, petrochemical agriculture. ​Applicants should feel comfortable with the farmers' pledges, as they are the guidelines that help buyers understand how their food is grown.

 Get Details

Speak Out Today
1. Support the Build Back Better Act. This historic budget reconciliation package includes important food system provisions. It expands and extends child nutrition assistance programs, like free school meals and Summer EBT, and the Child Tax Credit, which decreases child poverty. The legislation also invests in sustainable agriculture, rural development, urban agriculture and working lands conservation. Here are three easy ways to ask your Members of Congress to support the Build Back Better Act:

• Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected the office of your Representative and Senators.
• Sign on to support child nutrition assistance programs.
• Sign on to support sustainable agriculture provisions.

2. Help us build an equitable food system. Help identify relevant information to share and designate stakeholders to participate in food system equity assessment and planning. Use the Steering Committee Resource Guide to deepen your understanding of racial injustice and strategies for building an equitable and just food system for all.

3. Advocate for urban agriculture. Our Urban Farm Zoning and Planning Task Force published policy recommendations to improve planning and zoning for urban farming in the region. Read the report and learn how to get involved here.

4. Eliminate Kansas' Sales Tax on Food. Kansas has the second highest state sales tax on food. Tell your Kansas state representative and senators to eliminate the sales tax on food. Find more information and advocacy resources here. Use this sample social media post:
Ending Kansas’ Food Sales Tax has bipartisan support – but it’s never been done before. Glad to see @GovLauraKelly announced a commonsense plan to ELIMINATE this tax and put more money in Kansans’ pockets. #AxeTheFoodTax #ksleg

5. Get ready for Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Congress is expected to pick up CNR in 2022, so brush up on the reauthorization process and all the nutrition programs funded through this legislation. Learn more about CNR at Food Research and Action Center.

6. Support food and farm workers. Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act has been passed by the House in 2020 and 2021, but the Senate has not taken up the bill. The PRO Act ensures workers have the right to organize and bargain for a living wage and safe working conditions. Join Food Chain Workers Alliance and other organizations in supporting workers across the food system. Message your Senators here.

Everyday Actions
7. Find local food and farmers. Use the Eat Local KC map to eat local for the holidays and year-round. Farmers who wish to be included in the directory can apply for membership here.

8. Amplify alerts and events. Rapid policy changes mean action alerts are more important than ever. If you’ve attended our meetings but haven’t received advocacy alerts, check your spam folder and filter settings. Otherwise, sign up for our email list.

9. Network and collaborate. Attend our quarterly work group meetings and other coalition events. Our events are generally free and open to the public. Find events here.

10. Sustain effective advocacy. Coalition membership is free, but the work isn’t! Donations provide crucial support for costs that grants don’t cover, such as lobbying. Make a monthly or one-time donation here.

KC Healthy Kids, along with partnering organizations Groundwork Northeast Revitalization Group (NRG), Mid-America Regional Council and New Growth, have received funding from the USDA's Regional Food System Partnerships program to connect and strengthen our regional foodshed.

The partnering organizations bring together diverse networks from urban, suburban and rural communities. The project area includes: Allen, Douglas, Leavenworth and Wyandotte in Kansas and Cass, Jackson, Lafayette and St. Clair in Missouri. They also bring complimentary expertise in community planning, research, stakeholder engagement, food system justice and community development.

​Katie Nixon, Food Systems Director with West Central Missouri Community Action Agency and member of the New Growth Team, believes this project "will give us an opportunity to understand our local food system from new perspectives and help guide future work that will help make the region more resilient and food secure."

Alyssa Moncure, who coordinates the Northeast Grocers Project for Groundwork NRG, is "especially interested in seeing how we can assist our BIPOC farmers to self-organize and implement their visions for a more integrated and locally-reliant regional food supply chain".

The main goal of the project, led by the Greater KC Food Policy Coalition, is to identify actionable strategies to develop a sustainable, systematic connection between food producers and consumers in the regional foodshed by:

1. Bringing together diverse stakeholders to build connections, collaboration and a shared understanding of the current food system and establish a collective vision for a resilient food system.
2. Conducting an equity-based food system assessment to understand inequities in the regional food system and highlight structural barriers as well as identify assets and opportunities, including an inventory of food system organizations.
3. Developing recommendations and an action plan for building a collaborative, resilient and equitable food system.​

For Marlene Nagel, Director of Community Development at MARC, "this project is important to our region in understanding food security needs and how to best leverage existing resources and determine where additional support is necessary."

Coordinating Team
Andrea Clark, Project Coordinator
Policy & Planning Manager, KC Healthy Kids

Ben Carpenter (interim), Coordinating Partner
​Climate Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator, Groundworks NRG

Beth Low-Smith, Project Manager
Vice President Policy, KC Healthy Kids
Director, Greater KC Food Policy Coalition

Katie Nixon, Coordinating Partner
Food Systems Director, West Central Missouri Community Action Agency & New Growth
President, The KC Food Hub
​Co-Operator, Green Gate Family Farm

Marlene Nagel, Coordinating Partner
Community Development Director, Mid-America Regional Council

Rachael McGinnis-Millsap, Project Coordinator
Farm to Institution Director, KC Healthy Kids

Beth Low-Smith, KC Healthy Kids’ vice president for policy and director of the Greater KC Food Policy Coalition, was presented with the InnovateHER Lifetime Achievement award, which was established to recognize women who’ve paved the way for positive change in the Kansas City community. 

After completing the Women’s Studies program at MU, Beth moved to Kansas City to receive some on-the-job experience. A few years later her work for the Progressive Vote Coalition helped her grow deep roots in the community and to eventually led her to join KC Healthy Kids.

Since then, Beth has served three terms as Missouri State Representative (2005-2010) serving a district that included Westport, the Country Club Plaza and part of Brookside, working as a domestic violence social worker, and serving as the Jackson County Democratic Committeewoman for Ward 6 since 2012.

At KC Healthy Kids Beth engages stakeholders to shape policies that define our opportunities to eat well and be physically active throughout our lives. Beth also strives to change policies around urban agriculture and public transit and to shift state policies to improve community food security and local foods including SNAP, WIC, and school lunch programs — programs that have made a difference in her own life.

Here are her comments from the awards ceremony:
​

​Thank you for this honor. At the risk of sounding trite, I am humbled to receive a lifetime achievement award.  I’ve tried to live up to Teddy Roosevelt’s advice to “work hard at work worth doing,” but I think it is often difficult to know whether you are actually making a difference while you’re in the midst of such efforts. So it is truly an honor to look up from my tasks and find that others admire and respect my efforts. 

My career has been quite varied, but the unifying thread has been working with others to change policy. In other words, I’ve specialized in group projects. That means sharing the credit—or occasionally the blame—for any achievement. There’s a long list of people whose love, encouragement, wisdom, grace and generosity contributed to every achievement. They have not only made my work possible, they make the work worth doing. 

My parents, Jim and Diane, blessed me with unconditional love and support that gave me the courage and tenacity I’ve needed. They also raised me with a fierce commitment to justice and mutual responsibility. 

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to work with people who share that commitment, and who inspire me each day to build the kind of community we all deserve. I’ve learned from brilliant supervisors and coworkers such as John, Gretchen, Sarah, Heather, Miranda, Andrea and many others. 

I’ve also found teachers among the countless volunteers and stakeholders involved in campaigns and coalitions with which I’ve worked, such as the Greater KC Food Policy Coalition. 

Throughout my career I’ve drawn from these wells to build an extraordinary community of friends and mentors who sustain me: Crystal, Brook, MaryEllen, Alexis, Susan, Judy, Joni, Todd, Amy, Sarah, Amanda, Kirsten and many other BABS. Finally, my husband, Dwight, whose patience and generosity allow me to devote a massive amount of time to my work and our community.  These people are both my daily inspiration and reward. 
Thank you to InnovateHer for recognizing the merit of our collective efforts. 
Buckle up, because we are just getting started.

InnovateHER KC is a 4,600+ member leadership community, serving a diverse, passionate and highly engaged network of women and individuals from marginalized gender communities. They focus on equity, inclusion and low-barrier-to-entry through their five pillars of social connection, professional development, championship, mentorship, and resource sharing.