St Paul's Cathedral - Community Development Worker - Hackney Choral

Overview

St Paul’s draws together a very diverse set of activities, projections and aspirations.  It is the Cathedral of the Diocese of London and the seat of its Bishop, a national church and an international spiritual focus, a space for worship and holiness, a place of debate and challenge, an icon of resilience in the face of adversity, an architectural heritage centre, a partner in the City of London, and a commercial enterprise.  In addition to holding four services every day (five on Sundays), St Paul’s is open for sight-seeing six days a week, and in 2018 welcomed over 850,000 paying visitors.

Introduction

This exciting new post is part of a three-year project, funded by the Greater London Authority, known as ‘Hackney Choral’.

The heart of this project is the creation of a new Senior Choir for 12-18 year olds in the borough of Hackney and the delivery of a series of holiday choral courses. The project aims to encourage excellent citizenship, address social isolation and increase personal aspiration and achievement.

The Community Development Worker will immerse themselves proactively in the local community, working among young people, their families, schools and local organisations.

The post-holder will be based remotely at St Paul’s Church, West Hackney, where the choir will meet on Mondays from 15:30-18:00.

Main Responsibilities

Recruiting Young People

Work with the Hackney Choral team to:

• Establish a brand new choir of 12-18 year-olds meeting weekly, recruited from local schools and community groups and the Hackney Children’s Choir.

• Deliver school holiday choral courses, open to children and young people from across the borough. Easter (1 day), summer (5 days) and at Christmas (1 day).
   
• This will involve an initial mapping exercise of community groups and local organisations from which young people might be recruited.

Relationship Building

Work with the Hackney Choral team to:

• Build strong links with young people aged 12-18 and their families in Hackney.
• Establish a youth steering group with 5 young people, meeting twice a term.
• Build upon existing partnerships with local schools and organisations.

This will involve conducting approximately three 45-minute one-to-one conversations each week across these groups.

Administration

• Keep accurate records of encounters, meetings and discussions.
• Be a part of regular steering group meetings, and a brief weekly meeting.
• Work with the Outreach Administrator to ensure best practice around GDPR.
• Work with an external evaluator to report on progress each quarter and at the end of the year.

In addition to the above, the role may involve other appropriate duties that the line manager, senior management or Chapter may request from time-to-time.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone with the following skills:

Essential:

• Experience of community building and development
• Passion to see young people thrive and achieve their ambitions
• A love of inner-city life
• Enthusiasm for working with young people from a variety of backgrounds
• Gifted communicator able to relate to diverse groups
• Ability to work independently and flexibly
• Familiarity with best safeguarding practice
• Ability to thrive in a close-knit team
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite

Desirable:

• Appreciation of a wide variety of musical styles
• Understanding of schools and local authorities

The successful candidate will be in sympathy with and, in their work, support the aims and mission of St Paul’s Cathedral.

About us

Our Mission Statement

St Paul’s Cathedral seeks to enable people in all their diversity to encounter the transforming presence of God in Jesus Christ.

Our Vision

• St Paul’s is seen primarily as a living Christian Church
• We will be a centre for welcome, worship and learning, and though our care and imagination, will inspire successive generations to engage with the richness of the Christian faith and its heritage.
• Working with the Bishop and Diocese of London and the wider Church, we will be a spiritual focus for people across London, the nation and a broader international audience.
• Our work will promote dignity and justice for everyone.

Our Values

Welcome – we all offer a warm inclusive welcome to everyone: our colleagues, volunteers and each and every visitor

Responsible – we are all responsible for each other and for part of the whole of the Cathedral’s work, not the whole of a part

Effective – we are professional and do what we say we are going to do

Nourish – we have a learning culture, not a blame culture