Career Opportunities
School District 8 - Kootenay Lake
District Food System/Provincial Food Programs Advisor
School District #8 (Kootenay Lake)
District Food System/Provincial Food Programs Advisor
Job Description & Requirements
Through Budget 2023, the Province is investing $214 million over three years so school districts can create or expand local healthy, sustainable and robust food programs in schools throughout B.C. This is the largest investment in school food programs in the Province's history. The Feeding Futures program addresses the immediate need of feeding vulnerable students and builds on the progress made with other programs.
Read information about the Feeding Futures program here.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care will work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to include the Feed BC program in school food programs. BC will support schools in building strong community partnerships with local growers and food producers and to include more B.C. food in schools and invest in local economic growth.
Functions of the role include district coordination of school food programs including those for vulnerable students and students at risk for food insecurity (e.g., build Ministry connections, school connections, community connections, seek local partnerships and procurement opportunities, seek grant opportunities, work with local First Nations and Indigenous partners and so on). This role also includes accessing, promoting, coordinating and managing provincial resources and supports (eg: Feeding Futures Fund) to enable schools to provide food service delivery programs (especially for vulnerable students), while considering equity and diversity as guiding principles.
Our ideal candidate is an enthusiastic, self-driven and collaborative individual who is passionate about local food systems, skilled in program development, delivery, and monitoring, and has the ability to navigate both individual school and district-wide environments. The ideal candidate will provide exceptional advisory skills with procedures and processes that ensure excellence in developing, reviewing and revising food service delivery programs so they follow the Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools. This is a highly dynamic role that has the potential for significant impacts on student health and learning. This role is rooted in building relationships, collaborating with many stakeholders and rightsholders, and bringing student-centred, locally adapted and health-promoting school food programs to fruition.
School District 8 has a variety of school food programs for vulnerable students and students throughout schools. Programs include BC Agriculture's Fruit, Vegetable and Milk program, snack programs, breakfast programs and lunch programs. The district has an equity-based food program for on-reserve students and their families. Additionally, the district has weekend backpack programs for some vulnerable students. Current school food programs include a mix of free to students, free to some students (equity-based), convenience for parents (cost recovery or for profit), and special event food sales or distribution.
Responsibilities:
Assess, promote, coordinate and manage provincial resources and supports (eg: Feeding Futures Fund Programs) to enable schools to provide food service delivery programs, especially to vulnerable students, considering equity and diversity as guiding principles.
Implement a needs assessment of schools to review food security in schools.
Use the 2019 Food Equity District Scan to determine what aspects may be implemented in SD8 to equitably support food security for students.
Assess the current assets and operations of school food programs across SD8, including but not limited to existing programs, cost structures, infrastructure and equipment.
Identify opportunities and conditions required to maintain and expand existing programs, or develop new school food programs, and work to create or enhance these conditions.
Identify grant opportunities for the delivery of food programs and apply for grants.
Identify opportunities for infrastructure and equipment improvement grants and provide information to district staff.
Bring a district-wide, collaborative approach to the planning and delivery of school meal and food programs. Coordinate school food orders across the district where required.
Coordinate food orders with Indigenous Education staff and/or families.
Collect and review application for food program forms (ie – from PAC groups, parents, volunteer organizations, etc.).
Coordinate information, order and distribute necessary equipment, supplies and/or resources for school food programs.
Communicate broadly about healthy foods, healthy food organizations, opportunities for schools, parent information about healthy food, etc.
Ensure that policies and procedures for school food programs are communicated and followed. Ensure that volunteers and third parties directly involved in school food programs have the necessary certifications (eg: FoodSafe and criminal record checks).
Build and maintain community partnerships with local/ BC food producers, PACs, non-profits, local businesses, Indigenous nations and communities, and others who can support the aggregation, processing and distribution of local food and healthy meals to students and families.
Build capacity within school communities to deliver food programs, including providing resources and knowledge-building opportunities and supporting local leadership, e.g. training part-time school food program leads at each school or cluster of schools to deliver programs in partnership with community partners.
Support new and existing school food programs to incorporate principles of inclusion, equity and diversity into their design and implementation to ensure that programs are universally accessible.
Support new and existing school food programs to incorporate principles of health promotion, community connectedness, sustainability and Indigenous reconciliation.
Support the connection and collaboration of food programs with school gardens and other food literacy programming.
Research models of promising or best practices for school food programs.
Connect and liaise with public health dietitians, healthy school coordinators, and relevant regional and/or provincial networks (e.g. Farm to School BC, Coalition for Healthy School Food), to support professional development and stay up to date on school food resources and opportunities.
The ideal candidate will:
Be familiar with existing school food networks, food procurement and other relevant policies, and school food programming within the district, the schools and the surrounding community
Have experience advancing sustainable regional food systems, e.g. healthy local food procurement, local food policy, preparation and delivery of food services
Have experience and/or be familiar with the BC public education sector, including K-12 schools, BC curriculum, Indigenous rightsholders, and educators (e.g. senior district staff, principals, school educators, parents/guardians, students)
Have an applied understanding of healthy school food environments, food literacy, and food systems education Have excellent networking, engagement, facilitation, and collaboration skills
Have experience in project management/coordination that requires systems-thinking
Have a background in asset mapping/needs assessment, operational planning, as well as budgeting, managing, and evaluating programming of similar nature and scope
Have demonstrated understanding of cultural context and perspectives and/or have completed cultural competency training that includes a focus on equity, diversity and inclusion perspectives
Have strong verbal and written communications skills
Be highly resourceful, creative and self-directed
Have a high level of personal and professional integrity
Eligibility:
Applicants must have:
A degree in program administration and management, population health nutrition, sustainable food systems, food policy, school food service, or asset-based community development, and/or equivalent training/experience; or equivalent education
A clean criminal record check for working with vulnerable populations (children/youth) Legal eligibility to work in Canada
A vehicle and the ability to visit schools, community partners and food preparation sites across the district
Reporting to:
The District Principal of Inclusion, Early Learning and Childcare - Deanna Holitzki at deanna.holitzki@sd8.bc.ca
Frequent travel throughout the district is required throughout the year
Qualified candidates are invited to apply on Make a Future at https://bit.ly/3XOS9Ys.
School District 8 supports equity hiring for Indigenous applicants.
While we appreciate all applications, we will contact only those who have been shortlisted.
*If you are experiencing any technical issues with your application process to contact Make A Future's customer service line as HR cannot upload or assist with these types of issues. We also cannot accept documents via email such as cover letters/resumes/transcripts/teaching reports via email as they do need to be part of the employee's Make a Future profile.