Community Engagement Manager

Westway Trust are seeking an energetic and enthusiastic individual who will support our vision of putting the community at the centre of everything we do, and will be committed to the value of participative community engagement.  You will also have a great understanding of the needs of diverse communities and commitment to equality of opportunity.

You will have strong influencing skills, and will have the right blend and balance of people skills with excellent communication and project management abilities. You’ll be comfortable in connecting with the wider community, able to listen, gather the views of local people, and feed these back into our wider programme of work. 

Key responsibilities of the role include:

Member Engagement

• Design and implement a community engagement strategy, this is to nurture positive relationships and information flow with different groups including Members, Tenants, Start-Ups, Community Groups and Community Organisations.
• In partnership with the Events Manager, activate an events programme, which creates opportunities for Member Organisations and other community groups and stakeholders to contribute to the Trust’s broader activities and development plans.

Key Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead on the instigation, scheduling and management of the Trust’s relationship with Community Forums and the relevant convenors.  
• Be responsible for effective stakeholder management and mapping, to include local residents, local businesses and local voluntary sector groups to ensure maximum reach.
• Attend community meetings on behalf of Westway Trust to listen and engage in conversations about local issues and update them on the Trust’s activities. These meetings are primarily in the evening.

Institutional Racism Report

• Playing a key role with stakeholder groups on dissemination on the Tutu Foundation Report and the progress as the Trust moves towards eliminating ‘institutional racism’.

Grants & Community Investments

• Support the grants and impact manager in engagement with applicants of Westway Trust’s grants programmes, nurturing positive relationships with successful and unsuccessful applicants.

General Duties

• Support the development of new, refurbished, and existing spaces with innovative community development projects and events.  
• In time you may be required to line manage at least one member of staff.

Knowledge & Experience:

• Experience of designing and delivering high quality, proactive and impactful community engagement activities, with a track record of creating innovative solutions to engage with people, particularly seldom heard community groups.
• Clear evidence of sound judgement and of an ability to evaluate options to make appropriate recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ideally with experience of writing Board/Committee papers with the ability to present persuasive arguments to senior stakeholders in a formal setting.
• At least 1 year experience of line management.
• Understanding of the needs of diverse communities and commitment to equality of opportunity

The application deadline is Sunday 30 June when applications will be reviewed and shortlisted for interview.  However, we reserve the right to close the application early.  An early application is strongly recommended.