Community Connector

**Job Title**: Community Connector Essex (Colchester)

**Salary**: £22,776 - £26,000 (pro rata)

**Responsible to**: Essex Pedal Power Place Sustainability Lead

**Location**: Basildon, Essex

**Hours of Work**:15 hours per week. Flexible working will be required and working hours should be spread over several days of the week. Occasional weekend or evening work is required.

**Contract**: Fixed term until 31st March 2026

**Benefits**:
We offer our team members a comprehensive staff benefits offering to include:

- Annual Leave - 38 days 25 days AL (increasing to 29 days with service) plus 5 wellbeing days and 8 bank holidays.
- Nest Pension - 8% employer contribution - 3% employee contribution.
- Heath Cash Plan - giving you discounts on everyday healthcare such as dental, optical, physio, prescriptions & more.
- Employee Assistance Programme (counselling and DRs on call 24hrs a day).
- Fantastic volunteering opportunities within The Active Wellbeing Society every month.

**The Active Wellbeing Society: Who we are**

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) is a community benefit society and cooperative working to develop healthy, happy communities living active and connected lives. Our vision is for a society where people have the autonomy, capacity, resources and skills to become the architects of their own destiny; where our individual wellbeing is recognised as being bound up in our collective responsibility to and dependency on each other; and where all of us feel empowered as agents of social change to make a difference - whether at an individual level or more widely.

**Community Connector: The Role**

As Community Connector you will be responsible for working alongside other colleagues and local partners to ensure our work reaches the whole community. The role will also focus on ensuring volunteering opportunities are developed so that volunteers can be part of the team making positive changes in communities. The post holder will benefit from peer support, working as part of wider TAWS teams, as well as those members of our local Essex Pedal Power projects in Basildon. The majority of your working hours would be spent out in the local community, alongside the volunteers within our venues and the rest of you time will be spent working from home or within the office.

**Key Requirements: What you'll bring with you**

1. Experience in volunteering and or recruitment or within another similar role.

2. A commitment to equal opportunities and an understanding of the impact on individuals and community’s health and deprivation.

3. Experience in customer facing roles and knowledge of local communities.

4. Ability to coordinate and consult internal and external organisations (including community groups) to provide pathways of opportunity for active citizenship and community activity.

5. Be empathetic and have a knowledge of the barriers that exist to activity within communities.

6. A genuine passion for the wellbeing of others and a drive to improve the lives of individuals and communities by bringing them together to improve their mental and physical wellbeing.

**Experience, Knowledge and Values**:
1. Work with communities and local organisations to develop and deliver ideas and activities to support people who are representative of the projects’ target audience in the area/s.

2. Through local connections identify community assets (community spaces and key individuals) to support TAWS activities.

3. Develop new opportunities, in particular underrepresented groups, to ensure that services offered by The Active Wellbeing Society is brought to new audiences, with a particular focus on hard to reach citizens.

4. Develop relationships within communities to become a trusted source for development and delivery.

5. Devise, understand and use asset-based community development approaches to community development and work with your team/communities to understand priorities and co-design initiatives. Ensure that delivery mitigates or removes the barriers to participation.

6. Use social media channels to build on community engagement; keep local partners and the community updated on events, works and opportunities within key aeras.

7. Co-produce projects with local communities and locally trusted organisations and ensure continuous engagement and communication to ensure that eligible citizens receive a good quality experience.

**Job Types**: Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 8 months

Pay: £23,915.00-£26,000.00 per year

**Benefits**:

- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Life insurance

Schedule:

- Monday to Friday
- Weekend availability

Work Location: In person