Advocacy Allies Volunteer

About the role

Using your passion for and knowledge of the political sector, you will enable The Mississauga Food Bank to achieve more in its advocacy work! The team of Advocacy Allies volunteers will work together to make each initiative more effective and impactful to better serve our community. The Mississauga Food Bank’s advocacy strategy is outlined below:

Leverage connections with clients to further the advocacy efforts of Feed Ontario and Food Banks Canada. Areas of focus are as follows:
- Protection for Low-Income Renters.
- Minimum Income Floor.
- Affordable Early Learning and Childcare.
- Food Justice and Racial Equity.
Educate, equip, and empower our clients with the knowledge and opportunity to become more civically engaged.

Responsibilities

Executing vote pop-ups (educating food bank clients on how to vote).
Distributing party platforms or voting information to clients.
Planning & executing joint events (e.g. a town hall with elected officials) with representatives from other local non-profits.
Engaging clients with Feed Ontario’s annual Postcard Campaign.
Identifying opportunities for The Mississauga Food Bank to further engage in advocacy in the community.
In quarterly meetings, team members will have the opportunity to learn about upcoming The Mississauga Food Bank advocacy initiatives, priorities, and events, as well as provide input on how to optimize initiatives and discuss ideas for future initiatives.

Qualifications

16+ years of age.
Outgoing personality – warm, friendly, and engaging.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team with a positive attitude.
Comfortable engaging in conversation with others.
Enthusiastic about and/or eager to learn about the democratic process, political activism, and/or poverty reduction initiatives.
Passionate about poverty reduction.
Ability to work effectively unsupervised.
Preferred: Prior work/volunteer experience or education in the democratic process, political activism, and/or poverty reduction initiatives.
Covid-19 Vaccine required.

Training Provided:

Training on the democratic process, political issues and proposed solutions, volunteering instructions, etc. will be provided as needed for each volunteer opportunity that arises.

Benefits:

Making a difference for those experiencing food insecurity.
The chance to meet new people and gain new skills.
Experience in political activism and civic engagement.
A letter of reference once you’ve participated in the committee for a period of time.
The opportunity to network with like-minded volunteers and elected officials.

Apply now

Time commitment

Two-hour virtual meetings quarterly.

Location

Virtually and in-person at: The Mississauga Food Bank, 3121 Universal Drive, Mississauga ON, L4X 2E2

Duration

You may commit to advocacy-related volunteer opportunities according to your availability; this may be anywhere between 5-40 hours per year in addition to the quarterly meetings.

Our Application Process

Complete and submit the application form above.

Complete application

Our Volunteer Coordinator will contact you to chat further about the role and your availability.

If you are confirmed for a role, our Volunteer Coordinator will provide details for training, onboarding and how to create your account in our Volunteer Hub platform.