Director, Community Engagement

GENERAL SUMMARY OF POSITION:

The mission of the UMass Chan Collaborative in Health Equity (CHE) is to: 1) nurture and sustain community embeddedness and trust, 2) center health equity throughout innovations in clinical care, research, education, and service that engages the local as well as global community, and 3) bolster community workforce development, and participation in research and clinical trials, while amplifying pathways to diversify the workforce with individuals underrepresented in medicine (URiM). The vision of the CHE is to advance health equity for vulnerable, underserved, and historically marginalized communities.

Under the general direction of the Executive Director of the CHE, the Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach Core (CEOC) of the CHE will oversee efforts to cultivate, nurture, and sustain community embeddedness and trust by anchoring community embeddedness while coalescing existing and new collaborative efforts which are: a) community-driven, community-partnered, and community-led; b) address the social determinants of health (SDOH) and the drivers of persistent health inequities; c) engage trainees, faculty, and staff who are underrepresented in medicine (URiM); d) nurture community workforce development and capacity building, and e) advance community-engaged research, educational, and service opportunities both locally and globally.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Center the voices of vulnerable, underserved, historically marginalized communities by nurturing safe, inclusive spaces for open, bi-directional dialogue, and amplifying the efforts of the CHE in leading truth, reconciliation, and restorative justice efforts that foster trust, and establish metrics of accountability and transparency; including establishing and maintaining guiding principles on the conduction of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR);
• Work closely with/alongside and support the efforts of the Governance Board, comprising the Community Advisory Board (CAB), to align and seamlessly integrate both community and institutional identified priorities, establish metrics of accountability, and monitor impact.
• Work closely alongside the Program Manager and Program Coordinator in establishing and maintaining a Collaborative Database and associated listservs comprised of institution-wide faculty, staff, and learners, as well as community and global partners/stakeholders engaged in health equity efforts as well as Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), education, service, and clinical care in order to coalesce the silos of excellence in health equity work across UMass Chan, its schools, clinical affiliates and regional partners, the greater Worcester community and global partners;
• Work closely alongside the Program Manager and Program Coordinator in developing and maintaining a communication plan for disseminating information out to and across the Worcester community, as well as across UMass Chan, its regional and global partners and clinical affiliates providing up to date information about both CHE and community activities, events, research, and service engagement; while recognizing and reflecting the diversity of languages, literacy needs which would necessitate innovative multimodal communication strategies inclusive of social media, podcasts, radio, direct community outreach and engagement, as well as any other audiovisual, graphic, linguistically inclusive, interactive modalities.
• Work closely with the other core arms of the CHE: 1) Global Health, 2) Research, Education, and Training, and 3) URiM Community Workforce Development and Capacity-Building, to seamlessly align, integrate, and center community embeddedness and sustained trust throughout all of the CHE's initiatives and efforts.
• Identify community resources and/or experts to support and/or amplify the projects/programs of the CHE.
• Contribute to reports, data analyses, and papers describing project/program results in conjunction with the Executive Director, Program Manager, and Program Coordinator, as well as Directors of the other cores of the CHE: 1) Global Health, 2) Research, Education, and Training, and 3) URiM Community Workforce Development and Capacity-Building.
• Perform other duties as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree or equivalent in Public Health, Social Work, Global Health, Health Care Administration, or a health policy related health care field
• 8+ years' experience in developing, implementing and evaluating community-based and/or community-engaged research and/or service programs, including significant experience in project management, supervision of staff and fiscal responsibility, or equivalent
• Possess deep knowledge of the local Worcester community and surrounding region through direct lived experience and identification with groups underrepresented and historically marginalized, oppressed, and disadvantaged; including engagement in anti-racism initiatives and social-risk informed care models/programs (i.e. including but not limited to Community Health Worker-led programs in behavioral health, chronic disease, health systems navigation, or a related field) that specifically address the social determinants of health and the drivers of persistent health inequities
• Demonstrated experience with the Community Health Work workforce and/or minimum 2 years' experience working as a Community Health Worker in behavioral health, chronic disease, health systems navigation, or a related field
• Strong understanding of political and social determinants of health and health related social needs and their major impact on health outcomes and social drivers of persistent health inequities
• Demonstrated commitment and passion for implementing and fostering equitable health outcomes, diversity, inclusion and social justice in program planning and practice
• Proven leadership, communication, strategic planning, visionary, interpersonal skills and collaboration including confidence and ability to effectively engage key stakeholders in challenging and/or deadline-oriented situations
• Strong record in development of strategic communication plans and independent management of communication cycles for key stakeholders and clinicians
• Demonstrated experience with designing systems/frameworks for synthesizing, interpreting, and presenting health equity/disparities data to various types of audiences
• Prior experience working in and across diverse community and academic settings, including working with and across migrant populations, inclusive of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other immigrant groups, and the health and social service entities that support these groups.
• Working knowledge and experience in community engagement, relationship, and trust-building, as well as community-engaged research, specifically the conduction of research that espouses the core principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Supervision and coordination of complex, multi-site community-based and community-engaged research, projects, programs, and environments
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to effectively communicate with diverse leaders, faculty, staff, learners, and community stakeholders
• Communication and presentation skills, both oral and written, to interact with leadership, faculty, staff, learners, and community stakeholders, and to produce reports suitable for both a community and academic audience
• Proven problem-solving skills including innovation, flexibility and creativity
• Excellent organizational skills
• Ability to travel to off-site locations.

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING CONDITIONS:

Usual office environment including hybrid work options.

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