Battle Creek, MI

The Organization

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a leading national philanthropic force helping communities create the conditions children need to thrive, is seeking nominations and applications for a Program Officer with a focus on Food, Health & Well-Being (FHWB) programming. In recent years, the Foundation has sharpened its focus on improving conditions for vulnerable children, concentrating on three key factors of success and their intersections: education and learning; food, health and well-being; and family economic security. Reporting to the Director of Food, Health & Well-Being, the Program Officer will provide leadership and oversight for execution of programs and policy that strive for positive systemic change within communities to ensure educated, healthy kids and secure families nationally, focusing on the integration of these areas with efforts to transform public health systems to more effectively address racial equity, community engagement and social determinants of health. S/he will screen and recommend grants for funding; build relationships and coalitions nationally; conduct site visits; and build, manage and monitor a portfolio of grant programs and a public policy agenda aligned with the Foundation’s strategic framework. The Program Officer will build and maintain strong, authentic relationships and act as a spokesperson, effectively communicating the Foundation’s goal of working with communities to improve the lives of their children.

Position Overview

The FHWB team partners closely with community stakeholders and policy makers to co-create a network of organizations working together to support community-based approaches in key areas of maternal and child health, oral health, breastfeeding, and continued access to good food and active living throughout a child’s early development. The incoming Program Officer will play a key role in building upon and supporting this work, particularly in ways in which those areas intersect with public health systems.

The ideal candidate will have a master’s or terminal degree and substantial work experience in or with public health systems and a solid understanding of community engagement in those systems. S/he will have familiarity with public health networks as well as experience developing robust partnerships across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. A deep and comprehensive understanding of program design and development along with local, regional, and national networks of contacts is desired. S/he will bring an entrepreneurial spirit along with the capacity, skill and hunger to assume leadership and management of a large body of work and foster trust, accountability, and mutual investment both internally and externally. Successful program officers at the foundation are holistic and interdisciplinary thinkers with a current understanding of broad social and economic forces affecting communities and families, demonstrated ability to develop and implement programs, and the skill to facilitate authentic, productive dialogue within diverse communities and settings. S/he will possess a strong team orientation, a high tolerance for uncertainty and complexity, the ability to adapt quickly to change, and success working effectively with persons from diverse cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds.