Volunteer Opportunities

COBA is always recruiting talented volunteers! Following the July 2019 COBA strategic plan, COBA is focusing on three areas:

1) Remove Breastfeeding Barriers

LEGISLATIVE & ADVOCACY TEAM
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Workplace
​Public Acceptance
  • ​Provide education
  • Explore legislation from other states that promote breastfeeding
  • Be visible to the community and to families that are considering or currently breastfeeding
  • Build relationships with supportive agencies, nonprofits, community leaders, foundations and the public.
  • Deliver the same message in all areas of communication
Are you a perinatal health educator or someone interested in advocating for better policies? We need your help!

2) Be Known

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

​ENGAGEMENT & VISIBILITY TEAM
  • Build a consistent social media presence
  • Form a branding committee and a committee charter
  • Build and sustain partnerships/relationship/outreach
  • Share stories through all media platforms
  • Share expertise in all materials and media platforms
  • Create events to build awareness and tap into funding opportunities
​Have a knack for marketing or social media? We need your help!

3) Build Organizational Structure

GOVERNANCE TEAM
  • Develop committee charters and define committee needs
  • Identify best communication tools
  • Implement best communication tools
  • Restructure board meetings to improve communication, monitoring and dreaming for the future
  • Review diversity matrix consistently throughout the year
Skilled in communications or nonprofit organizational capacity building? We need your help!

Current Team Outlines

The aim of this team outline is to help reorganize COBA’s current committee structure to promote more streamlined communication amongst its leadership and members, identify champions to focus on specific areas of need, and provide achievable tasks that relate to COBA’s current goals, objectives and tactics as detailed in COBA’s 2019 strategic plan.
Goal 1: Remove breastfeeding barriers
Objective: Improve the health of the community

  • Legislative/Advocacy Team
    • Group Task 1: Explore breastfeeding legislation from other states, identify effective legislation, highlight best model for each area of focus. 
      • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Champion: Rose Hurd)
        • Task: Look at the states that have legislation about breastfeeding and incarceration (which has a disproportionate impact on women living in poverty)
      • Workplace (Champions: Nancy Bacon/Amanda Morgan)
        • Task: Look at other states’ workplace laws - does ours need to be strengthened?
      • Public Acceptance (Champion: Rachel Nelson)
        • Task: Look at other states’ breastfeeding in public laws - does ours need to be strengthened?
    • ​​Group Task 2: Review potential partners list from 2015 strategic plan (see list below), add any additional organizations and start making contacts. Draft initial outreach “script” to use when contacting.
      • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Champion: Rose Hurd)
        • Task: Contact 3 organizations that represent/support women/families of color and inform them of COBA’s mission with particular emphasis on barriers for women of color
      • Workplace (Champions: Nancy Bacon/Amanda Morgan)
        • Task: Contact 3 organizations that are also employers and inform them of COBA’s mission with emphasis on Bfdg Friendly Worksite program and other pertinent info (federal break time for nursing mothers)
      • Public Acceptance (Champion: Rachel Nelson)
        • Task: Contact 3 organizations that are family-oriented where mothers have been asked to leave to breastfeed (e.g. city swimming pools, YMCAs, etc) and inform them of COBA’s mission and OK Bfdg in Public law.

Goal 2: Be known
Objective: Promote, protect, and support breastfeeding

  • Development Team
    • Group Task 1: Come up with logo and stylesheet for consistent branding purposes (Champion: April Stuart)
 
  • Engagement and Visibility Team 
    • Group Task 1: Reach out to collect stories of moms’/families’ breastfeeding experiences or challenges in the workplace, in public, in a hospital, in jail/prison, etc and then compile a library of videos, blogs, email. Include stories from dads or other key family members, e.g. grandmothers. (Champion(s): Ruth Piatak and Montika Collins)
    •  Group Task 2: Develop a policy and schedule to build a consistent social media presence that is initially feasible for a volunteer COBA member. (Champion: Alexis Boryca) 


Goal 3: Build and form internal organizational structure
Objective: Create clear lines of communication so that everyone is on the same page

  • Governance Team (Champion: Julia Profit Johnson)
    • Group Task 1: Restructure Board Meetings and develop communication/team meeting schedule (Cheryl Coleman) 
    • Group Task 2: Identify best communication tools… email? Slack? Etc? This is how we’ll internally communicate and how often (Erin Coppenbarger)


Goal 4: Hire an Executive Director
Objective: Promote and implement programs that further the mission, lead to
accomplishment and increased capacity

  • Executive Director Search Team (Champion: Becky Mannel)
    • Group Task 1: Develop a job description and compensation range for a part time executive director (Becky Mannel and Julia Profit Johnson)

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