Job Details
Employment Type: Part-time, Fixed term (20 hours per week/12 months)
Location: Centrala CIC, Birmingham
Salary: £13,988 - £14,500 per annum
Start Date: July 2026
Purpose of the Role
The Repair Cafe Coordinator will coordinate and deliver the “Repair for Change” project, a community-based Clothing Repair initiative focused on reducing textile waste, improving practical repair skills, and supporting local residents affected by the cost of living crisis.
The role will involve organising and delivering fortnightly repair sessions, supporting monthly upcycling workshops, engaging local residents and volunteers, and ensuring the project achieves its environmental and community outcomes.
Main Duties and ResponsibilitiesProject Delivery
- Coordinate the day-to-day delivery of the Repair for Change project.
- Organise and deliver fortnightly hands-on clothing repair and redesign sessions, supporting participants to mend damaged garments, replace buttons and zips, repair seams and tears, patch worn areas, alter sizing, hem clothing, carry out visible mending, and creatively redesign or upcycle garments and soft household items to extend their usable life and reduce textile waste.
- Coordinate monthly upcycling workshops with freelance facilitators.
- Prepare materials, tools, sewing machines, and workshop space.
- Ensure activities are welcoming, inclusive, safe, and accessible.
Community Engagement and Outreach
- Promote activities through social media, flyers, posters, and community networks.
- Engage local residents, particularly people experiencing financial hardship or exclusion.
- Build relationships with participants, volunteers, and local partners.
- Support participant recruitment and encourage repeat attendance.
Volunteer Coordination
- Help recruit, support, and supervise volunteers.
- Provide inductions and basic guidance during sessions.
- Help build long-term community capacity around repair and reuse activities.
Monitoring and Evaluation
- Maintain attendance records and project monitoring data.
- Collect participant feedback, case studies, and outcomes.
- Support evaluation, reporting, and documentation of project impact.
- Assist with production of project updates, final reports, and promotional content.
Health, Safety and Safeguarding
- Ensure sessions operate safely and in line with risk assessments.
- Support safe use of sewing machines, hand tools, and equipment.
- Follow safeguarding, equality, diversity, and inclusion policies at all times.
Events and Promotion
- Support planning and delivery of the final Repair Festival.
- Contribute to promotional activity celebrating project achievements.
- Assist with dissemination of learning and environmental awareness messages
Person SpecificationEssential
- Experience delivering community or creative projects.
- Strong organisational and communication skills.
- Ability to engage diverse communities in an inclusive and supportive way.
- Experience working with volunteers or community participants.
- Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks.
- Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
- Basic digital skills including social media and record keeping.
- Experience in sewing, textiles, repair, fashion, or upcycling.
- Experience delivering workshops or informal learning activities.
- Practical experience using sewing machines, overlockers, heat presses, 3D printers, and other hand tools to carry out clothing repairs, alterations, garment redesign, textile upcycling, and basic fabrication work safely and confidently.
- Experience repairing garments such as replacing zips and buttons, repairing seams and tears, patching holes, altering clothing, hemming garments, and using visible mending and creative repair techniques.
Desirable
- Knowledge of community engagement in Birmingham or Solihull.
- Experience collecting monitoring and evaluation data.
- Understanding of sustainability, circular economy, and waste reduction issues.
Expected Outcomes
You will help to:
- Deliver regular repair and upcycling activities.
- Support at least 150 participants.
- Contribute to the repair, redesign, or upcycling of 400+ garments.
- Increase local awareness of repair, reuse, and sustainable living.
- Build a small network of trained volunteers and peer helpers.
Pay: £13,988.00-£14,500.00 per year
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
