Careers

Summary

Arlington EATS seeks experienced consultants to conduct a comprehensive community needs assessment that will:

• Identify current and emerging food needs among Arlington residents, with a focus on underserved and food‑insecure populations.
• Evaluate the reach, effectiveness, and accessibility of existing Arlington EATS programs.
• Produce clear findings and prioritized recommendations to inform organizational strategy and future program development.

Scope of Work

The consultants will lead a four‑phase mixed‑methods assessment: discovery and planning, community surveys, qualitative research, and analysis and reporting. The assessment should address the following core questions:

1. Unmet Needs: What are the most significant unmet or underserved food needs in Arlington, particularly among residents not currently accessing EATS services?
2. Service Gaps: Where are gaps in service by population, geography, language, disability, transportation, or other relevant characteristics?
3. Barriers to Access: What prevents residents from accessing EATS programs or other food resources?
4. Program Effectiveness: How well do current EATS programs reach intended populations, and how do they align with community priorities?
5. Current & Future Food Insecurity: What does food insecurity look like today—by income, demographics, geography, disability, housing, and transportation—and how is it likely to change over the next 5–10 years?
6. Future Planning: How should EATS prepare for anticipated changes in demand, languages spoken, mobility needs, and other demographic shifts?

Deliverables

The selected consultants will provide:

• Research plan outlining methods, sampling strategy, instruments, and timeline.
• Clean survey dataset with documentation.
• Final Written Report including:
  • Executive summary
  • Methodology
  • Key findings
  • Program evaluation
  • Future needs analysis
  • Prioritized recommendations

Consultants Qualifications

The ideal consultants will demonstrate:

• Proven experience conducting community needs assessments or similar applied research for nonprofits or community‑based organizations, ideally in food security or human services.
• Expertise in mixed‑methods research design, including surveys, qualitative research, and secondary data analysis.
• Experience engaging diverse and underserved populations using culturally responsive, DEI‑informed practices.
• Strong facilitation, communication, and analytical skills.
• Ability to meet in person in Arlington, MA for key milestones and stakeholder engagements.
• Capacity to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable findings.

Proposal Requirements

Interested applicants should submit:

1. Staff profiles or resumes
2. Cover letter (maximum 2 pages) including:
   • Proposed approach and methodology
   • Relevant past projects
   • Experience applying DEI principles in research
   • Availability to begin the engagement
   • Fee structure

Selection Process

Proposals will be reviewed by Arlington EATS staff and leadership. Selection will be based on:

• Demonstrated track record conducting community needs assessments or similar research
• Experience with mixed‑methods design and community engagement
• Ability to work effectively with diverse and underserved populations
• Strength of proposed methodology and communication skills
• DEI mindset and demonstrated experience
• Ability to meet in person in Arlington, MA
• Approval by the Arlington EATS Board

Applicants who are invited to move on to round two will be notified of next steps.

Timelines

• Letters of Intent due June 15, 2026 at 12:00 pm to Andi Doane, Executive Director, via email at info@arlingtoneats.org.
• Preferred start date is July 1, 2026, but can be flexible, with anticipated completion date of 4-5 months

About Arlington EATS

Arlington EATS’ mission is to engage the community in eliminating food insecurity and hunger in Arlington. We envision a community where everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious food and understands the causes and impacts of food insecurity.

In FY2025, EATS distributed approximately 1,000,000 pounds of food—roughly 800,000 meals—to nearly 550 families per week, more than double the number served four years ago. Our programs include:

• The Market (food pantry)
• Home delivery for medically frail neighbors
• A satellite market at a low‑income senior housing complex
• Provision of snacks in the schools
• Supplemental food to families during long school breaks
• Operation of the Arlington Farmers’ Market
• Fresh Bucks, a SNAP-match voucher program at the Arlington Farmers’ Market
• Emergency food closets across town

More information about Arlington EATS is available at www.arlingtoneats.org.

FAQs

Q: Is this a fractional position or project-based?

A: This is not a staff position (fractional or otherwise). It’s a project-based consulting engagement being procured through an RFP process. We are seeking a consultant or consulting firm to conduct a defined community needs assessment, with a specific scope of work, deliverables, and timeline as outlined in the RFP.

Q: Can you clarify the timeline and when applicants will hear back?

A: Finalists will be notified during the week of June 15 to set-up an interview and decisions will be made before July 1. With this timeline, we are flexible for the start date but we would prefer the project to start sometime in the summer.

Q: Scope vs Timeline, which is more important?

A: We would prefer to maintain the scope of work over the timeline. We put 4-5 months in our RFP as that is what we heard from other organizations who have done similar work. However, we will accept proposals that have longer timelines in order to maintain the scope of work.

Q. Why is Arlington EATS doing this now?

A: There are a few reasons we want to do this now:

• Data available to us suggests we are not fully meeting the food insecure population in Arlington.
• As we consider expansion opportunities in the future, both programmatic and facilities, we want to make sure that any decision we make helps us expand our reach to those who are food insecure in Arlington.

Q. What are the biggest questions you would like to answer in this needs assessment?

1. Who are we not serving (or, of secondary importance, underserving)
2. Why is our current programming not meeting their needs (i.e. barriers)?
3. What programming would they like (how do they want to be served)?

Q. Does the organization have any internal capacity to assist with logistics, outreach, incentives, translation needs?

A: We have staff time that can be available to assist with logistics, scheduling, etc. We also have a staff member who speaks Mandarin and can assist with translation services. We also have a number of volunteers available to translate written materials into Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, Russian, and Spanish.

EATS has an internal budget for guest incentives for participation.

Finally, our Board Impact Committee is available to provide oversight and support to the consulting engagement, as appropriate.

Q. What data do you already collect on those you serve?

A: On the EATS guest registration for we require: address, household size, gender, and ages of household members, income range (for USDA attestation)

Optional info on the registration form includes: preferred language, race, disability status, SNAP, veteran status, how did you hear about EATS?

Q. What is the geographic scope? Is this all Arlington residents, those accessing resources, recent immigrants or others who may not yet be connected to services?

A: The geographic scope is Arlington. We have a good handle on who we currently serve, but need help identifying who we don’t serve.

Q: What is your budget?

A: We have budgeted between $20k-$30k for this project.