Overview

Overview Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) invites a visionary, community-rooted, relationship-driven leader to serve as its next Executive Director (ED) and guide the organization into its third decade of service to Mattapan. For 20 years, MFFC has worked to make Mattapan a healthier place to live, grow up, and grow older. What began with a group of residents and a farmers market with one tent is now a professionally staffed organization making impacts in food access, active living, youth development, and advocacy. When hospitals, city agencies, and funders talk about Mattapan, MFFC is often the first organization they name. The next ED will inherit a strong foundation: a trusted reputation, impactful programs, a highly effective staff, a committed board consisting of long-tenured and newly-recruited members, loyal community partners, a stable financial position, and the accounting, human resources, and legal support that comes with being a fiscally sponsored project of TSNE. The work ahead is to build on what works while imagining what comes next: using equity as a guiding principal, setting a long-term vision, diversifying funding, growing a strong Advisory Board, investing in staff, and finding new ways to serve the community, with community voice at the center of every decision. ORGANIZATION MFFC was founded in 2006 by Mattapan residents concerned about high rates of diabetes, hypertension, and other diet-related illness in their neighborhood, and about how few places there were to buy fresh food or be active. From the start, MFFC was built on the belief that the community knows what it needs. Its first programs came straight out of resident focus groups and conversations, and programs still start with what residents say. Food access and nutrition programs increase the accessibility of healthy and affordable produce and food. The Mattapan Square Farmers Market, now in its 20th year, runs every Saturday in season and brings fresh produce, local vendors, and community resources to the center of the neighborhood. The food access team also helps residents use SNAP and HIP benefits, runs a youth-staffed farm stand at the Mattapan Community Health Center, and works to close the gap in the months when the market is closed. Through its physical activity programs , MFFC offers local opportunities for free walks, hikes, bike rides, fitness classes, and fitness challenges, along with signature events like Mattapan on Wheels, which draws riders from across the region and teaches residents how to ride. Vigorous Youth, MFFC's youth development program , supports MFFC's mission through food access programming, bike education and advocacy, and professional and personal development workshops. Participants enjoy leadership and volunteer opportunities that build their skills as community leaders, putting them in the room at town halls, planning meetings, and partner events. Many alumni stay connected, and some have joined the staff, including MFFC's current Executive Director. MFFC also works to improve the built environment , advocating for parks, trails, gardens, and waterfront spaces that make it easier for residents to be active, eat well, and connect with each other. Past wins include helping complete the Neponset River Greenway Trail. Through its community empowerment work, MFFC puts residents in leadership roles, partners with neighborhood associations, and connects people with help when they face a challenge. Community meetings, community gardens, and volunteer opportunities give residents the tools to advocate for their neighborhood and make them partners in the work. MFFC's programs are free and paired with advocacy for lasting change. It is one of the few organizations in Boston working on food and health at both the policy level and the program level, including the federally funded REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission and membership in coalitions s