Welcome to James, our new Community Engagement Officer!

This week, following our recent highly successful recruitment drive, we’ve been utterly delighted to welcome James to the team as our new Community Engagement Officer!

James comes with a wealth of local knowledge, community experience and a fabulous positive attitude and passion for the work ChangeKitchen CIC delivers across south Birmingham. Yes, we wanted to introduce James to you but we wanted it to be in his own words…

“I couldn't be more excited to help out with ChangeKitchen CIC's ‘Cooking Up Change’ United by 2022 Gen22 food and social action project!

“Finding employment is particularly difficult at the moment, especially for young people. More than this, finding "meaningful work" - that is, work where people feel as if they're able to make a social contribution, or an active difference within their community through their work - is increasingly hard to find.

This project, engaging 16-25 year-old's with barriers to employment through offering voluntary work at ChangeKitchen CIC, is a really exciting response to an economic climate which is increasingly difficult for younger people.”

 James on his role as Community Engagement Officer…

“I’ll be working as a Community Engagement Officer to support this project, so I'll be responsible for talking to local community partners, and recruiting a group of young people interested in the project. I'm really excited to start working with what I'm sure will be a wonderful group of volunteers!”

When James started on Monday, we gave him a couple of days before asking him ‘why are you excited to be joining ChangeKitchen CIC?’… 

“I'm particularly excited to join ChangeKitchen CIC because its core values are particularly close to my heart. Making a switch to climate-friendly food which is delicious, affordable and brings people closer together, or, put simply - food justice - is at the centre of what ChangeKitchen CIC does on a daily basis!

For the last year, I've been co-running my own community food project, seeking to widen access to nutritious, sustainable food. This alignment of values means that ChangeKitchen CIC is a unique place to work for me, and I can't wait to learn from the amazing team here.”

James, we’re really excited to have you in the team and looking forward to seeing how our Gen22 project impacts positive change, shares new skills and knowledge, and creates new opportunities for local young people.

Get in touch with James | email here