PROGRAMME COORDINATOR (Social Clubs)

Salary £25,000 + monthly travel card zones 1-3

Permanent, full time role (40 hours per week) 


ABOUT THE CHARITY 


North London Cares is a community network of young professionals and older

neighbours hanging out and helping one another in our rapidly changing capital city.

Our objectives are to tackle the growing plight of isolation and loneliness not just
amongst older people but also amongst young Londoners; to help improve the
confidence, resilience, skills, connection and power of all participants so that older and
younger neighbours alike can better navigate the modern world; and to bring people
together to bridge widening social, generational, digital and attitudinal divides.

We do this because in the context of globalisation, gentrification, digitisation, migration

and the housing bubble London has become a place of social extremes. The boroughs
in which we work – Camden and Islington – contain some of the best connected people
in Britain – high flying graduates working in law, PR, media and finance – living directly
alongside some of the most isolated, with particular challenges to do with ageing,
loneliness, depression and anxiety.

The result is that older people often have deep roots in their communities, but few
connections, while young professionals often have hundreds of connections but no
roots. That disconnect wastes human potential, perpetuates social division, entrenches
isolation and is ultimately corrosive for our society.

In a dynamic city like ours, clearly these two groups have so much to gain from one
another – in shared time, laughter, new experiences and, especially, friendship.

The “Cares” model therefore seeks to harness the people and places around us and to
mobilise a new generation of young professionals to build relationships and share
experiences with our older neighbours in a variety of fun, authentic ways. We speak the
language of younger and older people alike – and make interaction on a personal level
mutually accessible, sociable and rewarding.

We achieve that vision through the constant development of programmes that people
can relate to and enjoy. At the cross-section of the public, private and community sectors
we work with local authorities, voluntary and community groups, businesses and
individuals to identify isolation where it occurs and to create new opportunities for older

North London Cares is the public name for NL Cares Limited, company no. 07737818; charity, no.
1153137.
and younger neighbours to share time. The majority of the older people who are part of
our network live alone, may not naturally have wide social networks, and love and look
forward to new experiences with their younger friends.

Specifically, we operate four programmes. Our Social Clubs are group activities bringing
people together in community centres, cafes, libraries, pubs and local businesses to
share time, laughter and cultural exchange. We run around 25 of these events a month.
Regular clubs include men’s cooking classes, photography workshops, yoga classes,
technology clinics, ‘back to work’ business visits and themed get-togethers like our
Valentine’s Day dance and World Cup parties.

Meanwhile, our Love Your Neighbour programme matches young professionals and
older neighbours to spend time together one-to-one, often in people's homes, to
improve the life experiences of all parties. Neighbours build relationships on their own
terms, enjoy meals together, and often become long-standing friends.

Our Outreach work identifies isolation in our communities pro-actively through

innovative ongoing campaigns. Our Winter Wellbeing project, for example, supports
older neighbours through multiple interactions and interventions to stay warm, active,
healthy and connected through the most isolating time of the year.

And finally, our Community Fundraising offers another chance for younger and older
neighbours to contribute to their community network. Through individual physical
challenges including marathons, triathlons and in the case of one 82-year-old, a 5k run,
as well as events, corporate partnerships, digital campaigns, regular donations and
more, local people support the charity in a variety of exciting ways.

North London Cares is a young and rapidly developing organisation with the benefits
of the security, support and platform provided by major backers including Nesta and
the Big Lottery, international corporations and our partner councils.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Our new Programme Coordinator at North London Cares will work closely with our
Programme Coordinator (Social Clubs), who together form a unit responsible for
designing and delivering around 25 social clubs every month across Camden and
Islington – from trips to the London Symphony Orchestra to podcast and film clubs. You
will be managed by our Head of Programmes and work closely with our small but mighty
team.

This job requires a combination of creativity, perseverance, patience, leadership and

positivity. The ideal candidate will be able to confidently lead a room, give instructions
in a friendly (and occasionally firm!) way, bring together many diverse elements and
moving parts into a coherent whole, and facilitate conversations and ultimately
relationships between people who may not normally interact. It’s those elements and that
variety that makes this role, and North London Cares as an organisation, such a
North London Cares is the public name for NL Cares Limited, company no. 07737818; charity, no.
1153137.
challenging and exciting place to be.

Our new Programme Coordinator will also liaise with community partners, using their
creativity, determination and partnership-building skills to collaborate on exciting events.
You will work predominantly from our private office in a vibrant, shared office complex
in the heart of Camden – with large parts of the week spent leading events in our partner
venues across Islington and Camden.

ABOUT YOU

The ideal candidate will have a track record of supporting creative community projects,
and experience dealing with multiple tasks and challenges at the same time. You will be
confident and full of energy, with an organised approach, a clear, authentic
communication style and an intrinsic understanding of the power of networks and digital
media. You will be a real people-person, able to build trust, talk to and relate to people
from all backgrounds and ages.

You will understand and be motivated by the demographics and social challenges of our
home boroughs and the issues we work on. And you will also be a self-starter: someone
committed, tough, and focused working alone as well as in a team; who is passionate
about further developing and sustaining North London Cares over the coming years.

LOGISTICS 


To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to

laura.desouza@northlondoncares.org.uk, demonstrating why you are interested in –
and right for – this role.

• Applications should be received no later than 5pm on Tuesday 3rd July 2018.
• First round interviews will take place on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th July with
call backs for second interviews on Monday 16th July and a start as soon as
possible thereafter.

Please read the full job specification below for further information. 


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES


• Designing and delivering between three and four social clubs per week, including on

average 6 evenings and 2 weekends per month (with time off in lieu);

• Leading on community engagement for social clubs by building and managing

relationships with volunteers and older neighbours, arts organisations, businesses,
local authorities and community centres; 


North London Cares is the public name for NL Cares Limited, company no. 07737818; charity, no.
1153137.
• Leading on the practical details and considerations that make a successful North
London Cares social club: from welcoming and facilitating conversations between older
neighbours and young professionals, to making refreshments and planning activities in
order to create fun and energetic sessions; 


• Taking social club groups to visit partnership sites such as workplace or cultural visits,
as part of our relationships with corporations and local businesses; 


• Adhering to our core policies and best practice guidelines and working to consistently
high standards;

• Working closely with North London Cares’ existing Programme Coordinator (Social
Clubs) to design our monthly programme of social clubs which operate successfully
within our budgets;

• Working towards meeting North London Cares’ funding targets for social clubs, which
include attracting new older neighbours and engaging older, isolated men;

• Contributing innovative ideas for North London Cares’ regular social clubs which are
held weekly, fortnightly and monthly, researching and planning trips, approaching
businesses and skilled practitioners for support in kind;

• Writing a monthly newsletter for our older neighbours interested in attending social
clubs and which will encourage and entice new neighbours into our network;

• Working with our Outreach Coordinator to scout new locations for social clubs and
sustain an outreach strategy. This may include practical support as well as speaking to
local community spaces to promote new or existing clubs;

• Communicating regularly with volunteers and older neighbours, by email, post and
telephone to inspire, enable and organise people to participate in the North London
Cares network and to thank them for their contribution;

• Creating vivid, powerful, fun communications – digital content including blogs,

YouTube videos, Instagram images, Facebook and Twitter posts – to tell the story of
your social clubs and the neighbours who are part of them;

• Interviewing older neighbours and volunteers who attend social clubs and produce
case studies for use in funding proposals and evaluation reports;

• Administering our comprehensive and vital registers and records which track the
number of attendances, interactions, relationships and group activities North London
Cares creates as well as collecting demographic information – and creating and
analysing data sets to offer new insights into the success and value of our social clubs;

North London Cares is the public name for NL Cares Limited, company no. 07737818; charity, no.
1153137.
• Using our Customer Relationship Management systems and data tools to ensure
records are kept up to date, relevant and targeted – and report back to the rest of the
team;

• Representing North London Cares at induction evenings for new volunteers and at
community events, talking passionately about our social clubs and the rest of our work
to promote the charity and our programmes.

DESIRABLE SKILLS

• You are charismatic, fun, warm, approachable, self-starting, confident, outgoing,

creative, sensitive, determined, ambitious, flexible, resilient, organised and
professional;

• You have experience working in a small or medium sized organisation and are
comfortable working alone as well as in a team;

• You have a good understanding of the culture and socio-economic challenges facing
North London – and can relate to and build relationships with people from all
backgrounds;

• You have excellent skills and knowledge of various common online and office tools to
enhance efficiency and improve results.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• You’re an authentic, high-quality communicator and storyteller – with the ability to build
relationships with diverse groups and individuals effectively and appropriately, from
young professionals to older neighbours, and key local and national partners (through
written as well as verbal communications);

• You have high standards and aspirations for your work and career, and want to make
a lasting contribution to your city on some of the defining issues of our time;

• You are professionally agile and motivated, and able to adapt to the rapidly changing
needs of a small but growing charity;

• You have high quality written and verbal skills, and are confident creating social
media posts to promote North London Cares’ work externally;

• You have the flexibility to work an average of eight evenings and two weekend days
per month in order to deliver your work, with time off provided in lieu;

• You are able to obtain a clear CRB/DBS certification (provided).

North London Cares is the public name for NL Cares Limited, company no. 07737818; charity, no.
1153137.