Role Profile
Grass Roots Development Worker
Reporting to: CEO
Responsible for: Delivery and Development of Provision to Grassroots
Location: Cumbria wide (and WFH, ARC HQ, Flexible)
Salary: £32,000.00
Job Purpose
We are looking for a highly motivated person to play a key role in our aim of making Cumbria an anti-racist county.
The Grass Roots Development Worker (GRDW) will reach out into communities across Cumbria with a view to empower and support communities and community groups to work on anti-racist practices and overcome potential barriers in creating an anti-racist Cumbria.
You will liaise with and work collaboratively county wide with individuals living in the community, and partner organisations to establish gaps in understanding what anti-racism means, and where applicable, support the development of new community initiatives.
You will be responsible for creating projects that make real change and there will be a strong emphasis on working with a broad spectrum of young people.
Context of the Post
Main duties and responsibilities
- Ensure that the grass roots delivery is carried out in a planned, professional, systematic and coordinated way, through scoping, exploration and investigation to begin to form new relationships across broad spectrums of our communities and strengthen and develop already existing ones.
- Deliver and/or support a programme of activities with the emphasis on anti-racism embedded throughout and that engage and meet young people and communities where they are at.
- Identify and work with the CEO to apply for appropriate funding streams to make projects happen.
- Practice an asset-based approach to delivering and developing this work with young people and communities.
- Amplify the voices of young people and the communities whose voices are seldom heard.
- Support the development, continuation and expansion of ARC projects and groups including projects like our Youth Mentorship, Animated Futures, a Youth Forum/Youth Shadow Board, an ARC Tik Tok, Young Adults Book Club ARC Generation and Parents of Mixed Heritage Children Support Group.
- To support our existing delivery team of Youth Mentors for example by providing them with meaningful frameworks and content for their sessions with young people.
- To ensure that young people and communities are at the centre of this service.
- Working directly with young people to develop their social skills and build their confidence with asset-based programmes of activities, services and facilities that work for them.
- To deliver sessions which will take place during the evenings, and possibly at weekends, during school holidays and may occasionally include residential work, in a variety of settings including outside the building.
- To have responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people at all times.
- To deal with any issues arising during project sessions.
- To monitor, record and evaluate work and provide reports and information as required in order to ensure a consistently high quality provision and demonstrate the impact of the Project.
- To be aware of and adhere to Anti Racist Cumbria policies and procedures, in particular Safeguarding and racial trauma awareness.
- To recruit, support and contribute to the training of other paid staff or volunteers.
Person Specification
Good candidates for this role will be passionate about anti-racism and demonstrably on their own anti-racist journey. They are passionate and creative, high achievers (not necessarily in a qualifications way) but be knowledgeable and have the following Qualities, Skills, and Experience:
Knowledge
- Knowledge of national and local anti-racist groups and other initiatives.
- Delivery of grass roots youth and community work.
- Demonstrable knowledge of Health and Safety and Safeguarding best practice & how these relate to young people and staff within ARC.
Qualities
- A strong and passionate commitment to anti-racism.
- Strong commitment to young people and ability to engage and build positive relationships with disengaged young people.
- Strong commitment to building communities and have the creative drive to bring communities with you and us.
- Ability to establish good professional relationships with young people and adults.
- Patience, flexibility, resilient and robust.
- Understanding of factors affecting lives of those in our communities and the ability to provide reliable support in times of stress.
Skills
- Ability to design and implement high quality grass roots activities with young people and communities.
- Ability to identify and challenge racism and other intersectionally and discriminatory behaviors, taking appropriate action as necessary.
- Good organisational skills.
- Ability to plan, monitor, evaluate and prioritise work through setting realistic targets.
- Strong project management skills
- Ability to coach others and bring out the best in them.
- IT literate.
Experience
- Working with Black and Brown global majority communities.
- Working with young people both in groups and individually.
- Liaising with collaborative partners to deliver quality work.
- Demonstrable experience of supporting young people who are disaffected, underachieving and/or have social/emotional barriers to participation.
- Face to face grass roots delivery.
- Residential work – desirable.
- Organising a programme of grass roots activities.
General
The hours of work are 40 per week but we recognize that in order to fulfil the requirements of the position, it involves working some unsocial hours so we take a flexible approach.
In accordance with our Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures, this position requires an enhanced CRB check.
The ability to engage with people and move around the County is essential; a full driving licence is highly desirable.
Qualifications & Attitude
- Anti-racist, passionate and driven for an anti-racist county.
- Exceptional organisational skills.
- Exceptional writing and communication skills.
- Demonstrable experience in G-suite.
- Creative thinker.
- Open to change.
- Enjoys a fast-paced environment.
- Able to work alone – self motivated and disciplined.
- Reliable.
- Team player.
- Enjoys working with a wide range of people.
Benefits and Entitlements
This is a full-time permanent role – £32,000.00 (gross) per annum.
- Hybrid office/home working/ flexible working environment.
- 36 days annual leave including Bank Holidays.
- Statutory sick pay.
- Employers pension scheme contributions.
- Well-being and wellness support.
How to apply
Please submit a one page A4 covering letter, detailing your motivation and vision for this role in an anti-racist count: tell us your ideas and what the role looks like to you and give us examples of the things you would do, along with your CV, to hello@antiracistcumbria.org
If you would prefer to give your covering statement in another format, please contact us to discuss.
Closing date 5pm, 12th September 2022
Interviews: will take place on the 22nd and 23rd of September.
If you are called for an interview, you will be notified by 5pm on the 16th September at the latest. Interviews may be held in person or virtually.
Equitable Opportunities: As you would expect we are deeply committed to equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We recognise that to achieve all we want cannot happen without a wide and varied contribution to our thoughts, plans and ideas. We want and need a broad range of people around our table. Having a unique, rich and diverse team is important to us and means we get the best people doing the job because they bring with them a rich tapestry of creativeness and experience. We strive to ensure that certain voices in our communities are amplified and heard to ensure that things we may never think let alone consider are included in our plans and aims. Our future is positive and we make no apologies when we say we want our team to include people who are Black, Brown or Minoritised, Working Class, LGBTQIA+, Disabled and of a wide range of ages. So that we can monitor how we are doing in this regard, who is applying and what their backgrounds are, we ask you to complete this form and return it with your application.
Completion of the form is voluntary. Returned forms will be separated from job applications and used solely for monitoring purposes.
The information collected will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be used only for the purpose of furthering and improving our aim of creating equitable opportunities.
