Communications & Community Engagement Coordinator

TITLE: Communications & Community Engagement Coordinator

DEPARTMENT: Communications

REPORTS TO: Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications

PAY RATE: $23.00 - $25.00 p/hr

FLSA: Non-Exempt

HOURS: Full Time - 40 hours/week

START DATE: ASAP

Heart of Los Angeles helps young people overcome barriers through exceptional, free, integrated programs and personalized guidance in a trusted, nurturing environment.

Our Core Values are: Inclusion, Respect, Responsibility, Positive Communication & Support

About Heart Of Los Angeles

Heart of Los Angeles gives underserved kids an equal chance to succeed through a comprehensive array of after school academic, arts, athletics, music, and wellness programs. Serving more than 3,000 youth in the Westlake, Central, and South LA areas each year, 90% of Heart of LA's elementary school students perform at or above grade level, and more than 95% of Heart of LA's high school seniors graduate and go on to post-secondary education. Heart of LA exclusively serves youth who would otherwise not have access to quality education and wellness resources, and our programs are offered at no cost to the families who we serve. Our success is founded on safe environments, nurtured by a no-wrong-door approach, amplified by world-renowned partners, and perpetuated by students who become productive, caring, and responsible citizens.

Position Summary

The Communications & Community Engagement Coordinator will act as an integral member of our growing Communications team and will play a pivotal role in advancing the communications and marketing efforts of Heart of Los Angeles. This position is responsible for assisting with developing communications content, managing our social media presence, keeping our website current, and generally working in close collaboration with the Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications to raise Heart of LA’s visibility and impact in Los Angeles’ communities, in California, and across the nation. In addition to Communications, this person will meet organizational and project-specific goals regarding Heart of LA’s community engagement with our elected officials, community members, and constituents. This may include assisting with developing educational campaigns and maintaining newsletters to share Heart of LA’s positions on important topics that affect our sector.

Who We’re Looking For

The ideal candidate has a strong creative background coupled with excellent time management skills with a demonstrated ability to work independently on multiple projects with weekly or biweekly deadlines. This person has experience with writing and editing websites, with a strong working knowledge of WordPress and in creating social media content especially for Instagram. They focus on maintaining message consistency and attention to detail. They are self-motivated and able to implement new ideas while offering suggestions and ideas to add to the creative communications process. They have a positive disposition with the ability to accept constructive feedback on their work and implement changes in a timely manner. They set priorities to meet deadlines and reflect accurately the relative importance of their assignments while being able to respond effectively and flexibly to changing priorities and fluctuating workloads. They are a team player who values respect, shared learning, and accountability and a compassionate community communicator who is comfortable interacting with the public, important donors, and officials at community events.

This role is perfect for an early career professional who enjoys storytelling, message development, community building, and “keeping the trains running on time.”

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Communications Content & Strategy:

• Develop a detailed annual communications calendar that includes programmatic, volunteer, fundraising and other inputs as well as deliverables, in collaboration with relevant departments.
• Create communications-related content and co-develop strategy in collaboration with Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications, ensuring that messages are unified and able to effectively amplify Heart of LA’s work to a diverse group of stakeholders. This includes, but is not limited to, Heart of LA’s website, newsletters, social media posts, press releases, fact sheets, decks, marketing materials, online articles/blog posts, and external partner updates.
• Nurture, grow, and manage Heart of LA’s presence on our social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc), including content creation, scheduling, and engagement as well as maintaining a social media calendar.
• Update and support maintenance of Heart of LA’s website content using WordPress, ensuring content is current, engaging, on-message, and aligned with organizational goals.
• Design, or oversee the design of, graphics as needed for social media, the website, the newsletter, and for other promotional needs.
• Receive requests for communications support and respond in a timely manner, prioritizing based on due date and the direction of the Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications.
• Capture photos for visual storytelling through multiple media and platforms.
  
  

Project Management & Coordination

• Support day-to-day coordination of various communications initiatives and projects, maintaining/developing communications project plans with timelines of deliverables such as:
• Communications projects in-progress with internal teams.
• Coordinating workflow and communications across external collaborative partners and consultants to accomplish objectives.
  

Administrative Support

• Support with the coordinating and scheduling communications department meetings with external and internal partners, document and ensure completion of discussions and action items, and follow up with internal and external partners, as needed.
• Support with proofreading and copy editing.
• Assist in basic troubleshooting of website issues and liaise with external web developers as needed.
• Organize and maintain communications files.
  
  

Media Relations

• Support the Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications in media relations activities, such as maintaining, growing, and cultivating Heart of LA’s media lists, drafting press releases, and attending media events as needed.
• Coordinate photographers, videographers, and other professionals for updates to Heart of LA’s inventory of programmatic content and for special events as directed.
• Pitching stories to news outlets and pursuing media connections as directed.
  
  

Community Engagement

• Strategically help the Senior Director of Community Engagement & Communications manage external relationships by:
• Support with creating decks about Heart of LA for strategic partnership, donor, community, public officials, and foundation meetings and events as requested.
• Providing tours of Heart of LA programming across all sites to external partners and visitors.
• Attending community events as a representative of Heart of Los Angeles as needed.
• Assist with the coordination of Heart of Los Angeles’ space use by community partners.
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations or Marketing preferred, or equivalent experience required
• 2+ years of communications experience preferred
• Excellent writing, editing, and verbal communication skills
• Highly proficient in WordPress, Google Workspace, Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office Suite, and social media platforms
• An eye for design, ability to create simple graphics and experience creating marketing materials
• Strong record of organizational and project management skills, including the ability to manage tasks and workplans and prioritize work across multiple projects while maintaining quality of work required
• Ability to maintain accountability and ensure effectiveness with minimal direction and supervision, and within a team environment
• Ability and willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends
• Positive attitude, flexible mindset; ability to be a strong role model for Heart of LA stakeholders during all working hours and embody Heart of LA’s core operating values
• Working knowledge of education equity and/or youth development preferable
• Must pass a CA DOJ background check
  
  

Compensation

• This is a full time, non-exempt position
• $23.00 - $25.00 p/h
• Employer-paid medical benefit
• Employer-paid vision and dental benefit
• Employer-paid life insurance benefit
• 403b retirement plan available with employer contribution
• Paid holidays benefit in excess of 20 days annually with birthday off, including 1 week of summer break and winter break between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day
• Paid vacation benefit to include one week during the first year, 2 weeks during 2nd year, and increasing to 3 weeks by 3rd year
• Paid sick time benefit of 10 days annually
• Paid parking or transportation stipend
  
  

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job- related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments.

All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills aptitudes and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills or abilities.

Heart of LA is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, gender, handicap, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or veteran status.