Position Overview:

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg (the Foundation) has a bold mission. We achieve health equity through race equity by listening humbly, learning fearlessly, and leading courageously impacting systems and population health. To be effective in this mission, the Foundation’s internal operations must be efficient, sophisticated, and nimble. The Strategic Communications Officer role is crucial to translate the voice of lived experience into influential narratives that influence social change.

The purpose of this position is to translate data to multiple communications channels involved in changing systems within the social/political/moral determinants of health to achieve race equity as the theory of change to health equity in Pinellas County using a social determinants of health lens. The role interacts with Learning, Programs, Center, and with the President & CEO (PCEO). This position has the authority to launch efforts across the channels, establish the communication audiences by various channels, and the deployment of all techniques across the channels with a frequency and content that works.

The role also has a key responsibility with metrics of engagement and of outreach determining ranges of targets that can lead to changing systems. This will require data collection over time.

Finally, the role plays a technological role in determining how user uptake across the community can be engaged in submitting ideas to the Foundation for health equity with a race equity focus. How do we mine those groups to bring about change?

The Foundation must be felt, seen, and heard to influence systems change. A multi-disciplined multi-pronged approach is required with cycles of engagement driving accelerated trust from community participants.  Comfort with all print, electronic, social, digital, and strategic curated approaches toward communications toward change is an expectation of the successful candidate.

This position participates in a management huddle across the Foundation to stay informed, influence methodologies to amplify efforts, and to lead the communication efforts across the Foundation tied to strategic aims.

Core Responsibilities:

Lead: Lead the establishment of all communication channels across the Foundation’s database of people with data elements necessary for channels of messages that influence a particular group. For example, business, elected officials, government bureaucrats, nonprofits, PRELC (Pinellas Race Equity Leadership Council), community residents, and others.  Lead in ensuring these channels have regular and trusted timelines for deployment of strategic data with meaning for Pinellas County and the Foundation’s mission. The Foundation’s positioning (view of audiences in terms of power and influence) is critical. This position will also anchor the Foundation’s messaging about itself.

Listen to and establish Feedback loops: Defining the role for and then organizing regular feedback loops to include community grass roots, and grass top influencers is a critical part of the role. What messages are needed? Are we coming through with our efforts? How are we experienced among those we aim to address?  The role must be in partnership with research and evaluation, determine the proper pathway for disseminating data so that the data is understandable and culturally appropriate.

Training: Organizing how each staff and volunteer learn and share key messages about the Foundation, and its work, including impact in the community. How do we talk about race equity to health equity that is community led? What does that sound like to an array of audiences?

The Center For Health Equity: Develop a full and robust marketing plan for the Center For Health Equity where synergy and multi-sector work blend to bring about social change.  Who needs to know what when about what event and whose job is the communications plan given the work with multiple partners?

Imagine/Create: This role requires imagination and creativity to communicate complex ideas in straightforward understandable pictures, language, and sounds. How can we use video to communicate in a regular way? How can we take a stale data point and make it meaningful to residents of Pinellas encouraging action? What stimulates people?

Direct: Day-to-day eblasts, graphics, vendors, and coordinate internal staff to deliver powerful messages to influence various audiences into action toward system improvements to reverse racism in social determinants as led and prioritized by community voices. Support listening efforts as needed, and distribute messaging as determined through analysis of listening efforts. Oversee all activities of vendors or outside teams supporting the Foundation’s influential communications.

Learn and Share: What messaging is working, what isn’t, and how will we know? Collect metrics and solicit ongoing feedback from our audiences to understand how our messages are received, and improve messaging over time by aligning language, tone, and personality.  As learnings occur, share with the team so adjustments (start/stop/continue) can be made.

Strategize: Select the most strategic ideas and efforts to put into action given limited resources (time, money, social capital) available at the time. The Foundation’s annual strategic plans will specify goals and actions.  Because social change requires great adaptability and flexibility of strategy implementation on the fly, several activities may emerge and at times take priority over the plans. The Strategic Communications Officer will be involved in strategic planning efforts and results for planning with the understanding that adaptation is a critical element of social change.

Manage: Day-to-day actions, schedules, deployment of plans, vendors, partners, and all internal relationships to have successful activities.  Manage workflow ensuring deadlines are met and messaging is coordinated. This includes the oversight of the tools outlined in the description below.

Competencies and Tools: Influential messaging requires a candidate skilled in channel marketing and positioning, and comfort with a range of communication and data visualization tools. A graphic eye for print and video productions, understanding and deployment of social media, best methodologies for e-news communications and blasts. How are we using all the print and electronic media (including purchased media) and is it strategic? How are we deploying social media and supporting it? Ensure we are feeding appropriate messages on a regular basis across all identified social media platforms that link with our identified channels.   Support and amplify data visualization efforts to enhance communication of the Foundation’s messaging.

Support: The ongoing basic communications around Foundation events, media announcements, and activities of the Foundation. Utilize unique skills when warranted (strategic) but deploy all tasks and actions in the most effective and efficient manner.

Relate: Successfully relate to all internal staff and ensure their understanding of the needs for this position. Effectively build relationships to establish trust and action solving all problems that limit the ability to implement planned actions/efforts.

Qualifications:

 

·         Master’s degree preferred; Bachelor’s degree with strong experience in relevant work will also be considered. 

·         Three to five years of relevant experience in social justice/health equity communications which includes print, digital, media, website, social media, and publications.

·         A comprehensive understanding of the social determinants of health is strongly preferred.

·         Professional and errorless writing, speaking, and design skills.

·         Demonstrated strategic thinking skills.

·         Prior experience in managing others, managing processes, and managing vendors.

·         Ability to work in St. Petersburg, FL.

·         Able to organize and prioritize multiple projects and meet deadlines in a time-sensitive environment.

·         Experience with project planning and implementation.

·         Demonstrated skills and strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of applications, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, SharePoint, and Teams.

·         Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

·         Proven ability to work independently and in a collaborative team environment.

·         Ability to respond quickly to change.

·         Ability to develop good working relationships with internal and external customers.

·         Demonstrated ability to work effectively under stressful conditions.

·         Ability to work a flexible schedule that may include evenings and weekends.

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