Community Engagement Manager, Job Description
Introduction & Context
Folkestone Leas Lift is a Grade II* (Historic England No. 1061185) cliff funicular railway situated in the Leas & Bayle Conservation Area in Folkestone. Part of the fabric of Folkestone, it is well loved by its people, many of whom have precious memories of visiting as a child and adult. This was brought home during public consultation. Their affection for Leas Lift, and memories were deep and moving when we asked them what they valued about it.
“Very happy memories stretching over nearly 70 years”
“It is part of the story of Folkestone and makes Folkestone what it is”
“It’s the town’s heritage, it’s a beautiful construction, plus being disabled means I can get up to the town quickly and enjoy the views in style!”
In 2023 the Folkestone Leas Lift CIO secured a £4.9million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore and re-open the Lift for the benefit of Folkestone residents and visitors to the seaside town. A three-year Activity Plan, developed in partnership with Kent Coastal Volunteering and Strange Cargo, is rolled out parallel to the restoration project and aims to inform, educate and engage the local community with the Leas Lift in an open, inclusive and emphatic way.
Purpose of the Role
The purpose of this new Community Engagement Manager (CEM) role is to develop and implement a comprehensive programme of activities (the Activity Plan) which engages a wide audience with the Leas Lift and thus contributes to greater well-being, skills development, place-making and the local economy. The CEM focuses the heritage engagement activities on the following priority audiences:
- Residents who have physical and learning disabilities, long term illness or financial barriers preventing them from independently accessing Leas Lift
- Children at primary Schools in Folkestone with a higher-than-average eligibility for free school meals
- Young people (18 to 24 years) studying in Folkestone and at local colleges and Universities in the south-east.
The CEM forges and nurtures partnerships with local organisations such as the Beacon School, Age UK, MIND, the Nepalese Centre, Touchbase, a day centre for adults with learning and physical disabilities, local schools, Folkestone Museum, and the Library service.
Engagement activities include:
- Recruiting and managing Research and Oral history volunteers to develop content for the interpretation scheme and resources
- Outreach projects with four Folkestone schools prior to opening
- A touring puppet show to schools and care homes
- The development of a school offer in partnership with Folkestone Town Museum
- A Leas Lift themed carnival in 2025 delivered by Strange Cargo, a local arts participatory company
- Outreach workshops with older people in the community, led by freelancers
- Developing heritage talks, tours, and trails for the public with interpretation and graphic designers
- A set of internships, apprenticeships and work experience opportunities with local colleges, and universities
- Organising regular Youth, Access, and Teacher Advisory groups
- Recruiting, inducting, and managing a new volunteer corps
Once funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund expires on 31/12/2026 the role will become part time (0.5 FTE) as community engagement is embedded into the organisation. The focus at this point will be ensuring that Leas Lift remains inclusive, volunteering is sustained, partnerships continue and as project funding becomes available, projects which enable deeper engagement with target audiences are developed and delivered.
Salary
£36,250 pro rata (0.8FTE = £29,000) as agreed with the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Key Responsibilities
To further develop and deliver a 3-year Activity Plan which includes:
- The recruitment and management of oral history volunteers and researchers to ensure the interpretation designers have content on time
- Liaising with local 6th forms, colleges, and universities to enable on-site visits, deliver internships, apprenticeships, work experience and work shadowing opportunities
- Working with Strange Cargo to deliver a themed Leas Lift Charivari
- Working with freelancers to develop and tour a puppet show
- Organising, and promoting the delivery of onsite and virtual events, talks and walks
- Working with four local schools to deliver a series of outreach events and co-create four teacher’s packs (professional support will help design and develop the content)
- Recruiting young people to a Youth Advisory Group
- Re-engaging stakeholders and participants from the Development Phase to form an Access Advisory Group
- Re-engaging a group of teachers who have volunteered to sit on a Teacher’s Advisory Group
- Recruiting, inducting and rota volunteers to support the delivery of the Activity Plan and provide volunteer management support across the operation
- Organising a programme of volunteer training
- Line-managing the Marketing and Events Officer once in place
- Working with the external Evaluation Consultant to ensure evaluation improves performance and monitors progress against targets. Input where required into quarterly reports for the National Lottery Heritage Fund
- Managing deadlines and communicate these with line manager
- Planning and prioritising workload to ensure the programme of heritage activities are delivered on time and within budget.
- Undertaking such other duties as required
Essential Criteria
Experience
- Proven experience delivering a community engagement programme, in a heritage, arts or similar setting
- Creative thinker with a passion for audience development
- Experience of project, volunteer and staff management, along with experience of commissioning and managing freelancers
- Experience of working with groups with physical and/or learning disabilities
- Experience of events management
Skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate and present comfortably and confidently with a variety of audiences
- Highly organised with good attention to detail
- Excellent IT skills
- You will be proactive, self-motivated, independent, collaborative and able to prioritise own workload.
Desirable experience
- Knowledge and experience of delivering a National Lottery Heritage Fund or Big Lottery Fund project
- Experience of working on a heritage project or in a heritage setting
For All Applicants:
Safeguarding Regulations: Leas Lift is committed to the safeguarding and protection of all young people and adults and we and other schools and partners will need to undertake an enhanced DBS check on you. A condition of your employment will be that you complete such applications whenever requested to do so and that the checks confirm that there are no reasons why you should not work with children or vulnerable adults.
Appraisal: There will be an appraisal after three months, to confirm the probationary period, and each year thereafter.
Review of roles: The role will be reviewed at the annual appraisal. Leas Lift CIO have the right to alter duties in accordance with the needs of the project.
If you wish to apply for this role, please send your CV with a cover letter to: hello@leaslift.co.uk by Sunday 8 September 2024 00:00hrs (midnight) latest. Interviews will be planned between 11-13 September 2024.
Please send all queries about the role to hello@leaslift.co.uk, or give us a call on 01303 761892.
