Community Engagement Manager
Working at the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange means being part of a team committed to building a lasting legacy for the West Orange community. We take on complex challenges through focused, collaborative, and learning-oriented work with shared leadership, care for one another, and accountability for meaningful outcomes.
Position Summary
The Community Engagement Manager is responsible for bringing Healthy West Orange’s impact to life across the community through high-quality programs, events, partnerships, and on-the-ground engagement. Reporting to the Director of Community Impact, this role leads day-to-day community activation efforts that translate strategy into visible, inspiring experiences for residents, partners, and volunteers.
This role supervises Community Engagement Specialist and Coordinator and works closely with internal and external partners to deliver scalable community impact such as Healthy West Orange initiatives, Westly’s Mile, and HUBB-supported outreach. The Community Engagement Manager combines strong operational leadership with a relationship-driven, people-centered approach - rallying partners, engaging the community, and ensuring that every interaction reflects the heart of the Foundation’s mission.
Responsibilities & Accountabilities
- Lead and manage Healthy West Orange’s community programming, event execution, outreach initiatives, including oversight of engagement materials and supplies.
- Supervise, coach, and support staff and volunteers, delegating tasks to ensure efficient operations.
- Build and sustain strong working relationships with community partners (e.g., American Heart Association, YMCA, health systems, municipalities, schools, and nonprofits).
- Serve as the primary operational liaison for community-based solution delivery, including coordination of Westly’s Mile and related wellness activities.
- Collaborate with marketing and communication team to ensure community experiences align with messaging, storytelling, and campaign goals.
- Inspire participation and engagement by representing Healthy West Orange at community events, meetings, and partner convenings.
- Cultivate and grow volunteer engagement strategy.
- Ensure all programs and activations reflect the Foundation’s focus on staying active, eating well, and enjoying life while remaining adaptable as solutions evolve.
- This role requires demonstrated schedule flexibility, including availability for early mornings, evenings, and weekend events throughout the year. While not required daily, seasonal peaks and key initiatives may necessitate extended or non-traditional hours to support organizational priorities and community engagement activities.
- Due to the event-driven and community-facing nature of this position, the successful candidate must be able to stand and walk for extended periods of time and safely lift, carry, and move materials and supplies weighing up to 40 pounds.
Human & Interpersonal
- Communicates clearly and transparently across teams and with the community.
- Collaborates openly, builds trust, and shares information generously.
- Listens with curiosity and respect for diverse perspectives and lived experiences.
- Demonstrates empathy, respect, and care in how work is done and decisions are made.
- Approaches challenges with practical problem-solving and creativity.
- Prioritizes effectively, making clear tradeoffs to focus effort where it matters most.
- Adapts to change, experiments, and learns from experience.
- Plans work, follows through on commitments, and communicates proactively.
- Uses insight and information to inform decisions and improve outcomes.
- Builds and sustains relationships with care, responsiveness, and integrity.
- Understands how their work fits within the broader mission, community, and ecosystem.
- Willing to test ideas, learn, and take informed risks in service of impact.
- Ability to project plan, coordinate, and deliver high-quality community-facing programs, events and activations, while adapting in real time to resolve issues and make sound decisions in dynamic environments.
- Ability to manage timelines, tasks, and deliverables across multiple concurrent efforts.
- Comfortable representing an organization in community settings and coordinating messaging in partnership with communications teams.
- Ability to track participation, engagement, and operational metrics to inform improvement.
- People Leadership & Development: Builds trust, develops others, and creates clarity so teams can do their best work.
- Cross-Functional & Systems Leadership: Works effectively across functions and partners, understanding how work connects to broader outcomes.
- Adaptive Decision-Making: Leads with sound judgment in dynamic, public-facing environments; adjusts quickly as conditions change.
- Focus & Boundary Leadership: Prioritizes what matters most, sets clear boundaries, and avoids unnecessary complexity or overload.
- Communication: Provides clarity, direction, and shared understanding through clear, grounded communication.
Relevant experience may come from nonprofit, community organizations, events, hospitality, education, or related environments.
Education
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
We welcome passionate, mission-driven individuals who want to make a difference. Please email your resume and a cover letter indicating the position you wish to be considered for to careers@fhwo.org.
