Early Childhood Nutritionist

Description

CCAP Mission Statement - To empower all people and communities, challenged by poverty as well as social and cultural barriers, through advocacy, education, and access to high quality health and human services.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Nutritionist will be responsible for all aspects of the nutrition component within our Early Childhood Programming. Nutritionist will be required to work with colleagues, children and families. The Nutritionist should have knowledge of feeding practices and nutritional guidelines for children birth to age 5, along with potentially working with pregnant or post partem mothers. Employee will also be involved in Family Engagement activities and working with families to help them understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their children.

WORK SCHEDULE DEMANDS:

Full-time 30 hours per week, evenings as needed. 

May be required to work at any CCAP location (Cranston, RI Child Development locations)

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Identify children’s nutritional needs through a nutritional assessment. Implementing nutritional care plans when needed and as appropriate 
2. Provide staff, teachers, and health manager with a list of food allergies, intolerances, and/or food preference ensuring meals and snacks are modified to meet individual nutritional needs 
3. Evaluate and perform hemoglobin, height, and weight checks to provide appropriate nutritional education for medical conditions such as obesity, anemia, and failure to thrive, etc.
4. Counsel clients on nutritional needs of children and pregnant women while providing information on best practice and breast feeding  
5. Document and track nutritional interventions that are provided for children and their families
6. Facilitate nutrition trainings and/or activities for staff, parents, and students
7. Ensure that both USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Head Start Performance Standards are met by overseeing program implementation and addressing needs
8. Perform all CACFP related duties to ensure compliance with program
9. Collaborate with health manager and health advisory committee in formulating nutritional policies and procedures if needed
10. Train and oversee kitchen and classroom staff in safe food handling and sanitation procedures including safe handling of breast milk
11. Provide monthly reports to Health Manager regarding the children with nutritional problems/concerns and interventions being implemented
12. Report to Health Manager any concerns relating to caterer, kitchen staff, and cooking equipment
13. Attend all staff in-service trainings and or trainings pertinent to your position 
14. Act as a liaison with community food/nutrition agencies including but not limited to; WIC, SNAP-Ed and USDA’s CACFP 
15. Organizational Skills
16. Assist in completion of self-assessment and PIR annually

Requirements

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

General:

1. Degree in Nutrition
2. Ability to work with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, prenatal women, and their families
3. Ability to educate staff, parents, children, and prenatal women on nutrition
4. Must provide physical exam prior to hire and an annual Mantoux test
5. Provide/maintain all required immunizations and/or vaccinations
6. Provide/maintain all required certifications
7. Provide/maintain all required background checks

Skills:

1. Knowledge of Head Start Philosophy
2. Knowledge of nutritional component as related to Head Start
3. Ability to assess and evaluate a child and pre-natal women’s nutritional status
4. Ability to communicate effectively with staff, parents, pre-natal women, and health professionals in the community
5. Must be well versed in Microsoft Office including Excel

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, talk, and hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands and fingers to handle or feel objects, tools, or controls and reach with arms and hands. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, sit, stand, and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and /or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus. Potential exposure to significant amount of blood borne pathogens, respiratory disease, and other infectious diseases, and biohazard material requiring universal standards precautions for medical practitioners. 

CCAP strives to cultivate and sustain a workforce devoted to providing compassionate and respectful care to all patients and clients. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, familial status, military status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Our Benefits

Our comprehensive benefits package includes 403(b), health insurance, vision and dental insurance, life insurance, long term disability, flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, tuition reimbursement up to $1,000 annually, Employee Assistance Program, generous vacation, sick and personal days, and up to 13 available paid holidays for full-time employees and some benefits are included for part-time employees.