Jenn Yates Email & Phone Number

As Executive Director of Real Food for Kids, I led the organization's day-to-day efforts to address food insecurity and childhood obesity by increasing access to healthy school meals.From day one, I focused on the growth and long-term sustainability of the organization by emphasizing four priority areas: strategic planning, diversified funding streams, stakeholder engagement, and multichannel communication. I led the board in a landscape analysis and collaborative strategic planning process to identify organizational strengths and opportunities. I streamlined Real Food for Kids’ programming to focus on high-impact initiatives with the greatest potential for fundraising and stakeholder engagement, while institutionalizing best practices to guide fundraising, accounting, communications, and advocacy.Key accomplishments include:◆ Conceiving and launching a fundraising plan to diversity funding streams. I increased individual donors by 1,474% in 18 months; sold-out the organization’s first fundraising event; and exceeded targets for Giving Tuesday and end-of-year campaigns.◆ Launching and directing Chefs Feeding Families, a partnership with DC-area restaurants to provide free meals to students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic; distributed 30,000+ meals and raised $250,000 from foundation, corporate, and individual sources in first 10 weeks.◆ Developed and executed an integrated communications strategy to increase engagement with key audiences via email, social media, a redesigned website, thought leadership, and press outreach, yielding up to 213% increase in social media followers.◆ Secured regular press coverage, including interviews for over a dozen television, radio, podcast, print, and digital stories to advance the organization’s mission and programs; recognized as one of “Harris’ Heroes” in Dec. 2019.◆ Built diverse coalition of government officials, school leaders, and other stakeholders working to overcome barriers to healthy food in schools.

◆ Crafted speech concepts, themes, and talking points for Fortune 500 company executives◆ Developed internal blog posts, fact sheets, and presentations designed to increase and foster employee engagement◆ Planned stakeholder engagement event for Fortune 500 company, identifying and vetting participants and developing event content and positioning◆ Developed and contributed to strategic proposals and presentations for a variety of clients, including brand positioning and communication strategies

◆ Managed launch of multi-million-dollar celebrity advertising campaign in coordination with pro bono agency partners◆ Wrote and executed strategic communications plan◆ Directed digital strategy, including social media engagement◆ Led weekly coalition meetings and regular communication with campaign stakeholders◆ Drafted fundraising proposals and reports◆ Managed vendors

Washington, Dc

As a senior member of the Food and Environment Program, I developed policy positions, wrote and implemented yearly campaign plans, and incorporated message research into public-facing communications. I supervised advocacy staff and consultants, directing lobbying, digital strategy, email programming, and offline engagement of key audiences. I spearheaded successful UCS campaigns on the Farm Bill, Child Nutrition Act, and other legislative and regulatory initiatives favoring healthy, affordable, sustainably produced food.I collaborated with partner organizations to launch Plate of the Union, a campaign to elevate food and farm issues in the 2016 presidential campaign. I led all aspects of this campaign for UCS, including message research and development of key talking points; giving speeches, presentations, and interviews; and managing UCS’s staff and budget. When the campaign concluded, we had secured dozens of press hits in mainstream and trade publications, gathered over 100,000 petition signatures, and held meetings with top advisers to several presidential campaigns.In addition, I wrote for and managed development of policy briefs, select scientific reports, and other publications. I led the program’s adoption of project management tools, increasing adherence to project deadlines. I worked with organizational leadership to launch the UCS Cultural Competency Committee.

Washington, Dc

Washington, Dc

Los Angeles, Ca

Master Of Science, Environmental Science And Policy

Concentration in Ecological Management Coursework highlights: Wetlands Ecology, Environmental Law, Soil Science, Oceanic and Atmospheric.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Political Science And Mass Communications

President, Cal Berkeley Democrats. Editor and Co-founder, The Smart Ass.