Program Manager: Nutrition Initiatives

The Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) is seeking an energetic and well-organized team member to manage the implementation of the nutrition and food service guidelines strategies in the CDC-funded Illinois State Physical Activity and Nutrition program in IPHI’s Center for Policy and Partnership Initiatives. The position is full-time exempt; IPHI’s standard workweek is 37.5 hours.

To apply: Complete applications must include a resume, cover letter and completion of an online questionnaire. Unfortunately, incomplete applications cannot be reviewed. The cover letter should compare your qualifications, experiences and interests to the duties, responsibilities and qualifications for the position. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. No phone calls please.

About IPHI and the Center for Policy & Partnership Initiatives

The Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) mobilizes stakeholders, catalyzes partnerships, and leads action to improve public health systems to maximize health, health equity, and quality of life for people and communities. IPHI has three program centers: the Center for Community Capacity Development (CCCD), the Center for Health Information Sharing and Innovation (CHISI), and the Center for Policy and Partnership Initiatives (CPPI).

The IPHI Center for Policy and Partnership Initiatives (CPPI) works to convene multi-sector partners to promote health and health equity with a policy, systems, and environmental change approach. CPPI has long convened a statewide policy and systems change coalition, the Illinois Alliance to Promote Opportunities for Health (IAPOH), focused on nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease prevention, which serves as the backbone for most of the Center’s work to improve health in schools, early care and education settings, and communities. The Program Manager will support implementation of the nutrition and food service guidelines strategies that are part of the Illinois State Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Program cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This includes support to community and governmental organizations to draft, adopt, implement and audit improved nutrition policies and food service guidelines, and support to spread access to produce prescription and fruit and vegetable incentive programs across the state. As funding allows, the Program Manager may also support other nutrition and nutrition security initiatives across Illinois.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Project Management

• Provide and coordinate oversight of day-to-day program and project execution across various interest and partner groups to achieve program goals, including:
  • Training and supporting partners, and directly supporting community and governmental sites to develop, adopt, implement, and monitor tailored food service guidelines to improve the nutritional quality and cultural responsiveness of the foods provided.
  • Working with partners to support the uptake of and access to produce prescription and fruit and vegetable incentive programs across Illinois.
  • Supporting efforts to advance farm to early care and education strategies.
• Monitor and manage program priorities and deliverables as outlined in workplans and as advised by the CDC and community partners.
• Work closely with the Program Director, Food Systems and Nutrition Policy to ensure progress on program workplans and strategy implementation.
• Develop/maintain working knowledge of the food system and nutrition policy landscape in Illinois, working to align initiatives both internally at IPHI and externally with partners and communities participating in SPAN and IAPOH.
• Develop content and lead program activities such as online meetings, webinars, technical assistance and training offerings, and in-person engagement events to accomplish project goals.
• Administrative tasks may be included as part of the execution of project activities.

Relationship Management and Communication

• Foster and maintain relationships with various local, regional, and state groups including government agencies, community-based organizations, SNAP educators, state agency partners, and others to achieve program goals and alignment.
• Represent IPHI at external events including local, regional and state meetings and conferences.
• Draft, contribute to, and review publications including landscape scans, reports, white papers, background documents, presentations, fact sheets, infographics, success stories, and content for newsletters.

Strategy, Planning and Program Development

• Lead, support and monitor technical assistance and training opportunities with community organizations and SPAN partners to successfully implement program strategies in priority communities.
• Identify opportunities and implement strategies to partner with and advance collaborative initiatives with other IPHI and partner programs.
• Promote and support capacity development among partners and communities by providing insights, information and solutions.
• Apply health equity and racial equity frameworks and tools to program planning, systems development, partnership and engagement strategies, and evaluation.

Continuous Improvement and Evaluation

• Identify and recommend program improvement opportunities to deepen impact, create capacity, promote operational efficiencies, and/or improve budget management.
• Support the development of evaluation tools and implement program evaluation and reporting requirements related to the nutrition and food service guidelines strategy.
• Work with directors to identify and solve problems, address barriers, integrate health equity across work streams, and make connections between IPHI and partner initiatives.

Other duties as assigned.