Manager, Community Solutions

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Mission: JobsFirstNYC is a New York City-based intermediary that creates and advances solutions to break down barriers and transform the systems supporting young adults and their communities in the pursuit of economic opportunities.

Vision: JobsFirstNYC seeks to create a dynamic, inclusive New York City that advances economic mobility for all young adults and the communities they call home.

Impact: JobsFirstNYC has a proven record working across multi-stakeholder systems to reduce the number of young adults who are out of school and out of work and to strengthen the workforce development capacity in communities. We are a leading voice on policies and best practices, advancing awareness and garnering support for systems change to benefit young people.

JobsFirstNYC’s achievements are demonstrated through our initiatives which successfully challenge the status quo, develop new models and partnerships that produce better outcomes, increase and leverage resources, and drive a larger discourse that can implicitly and explicitly transform entire systems. We work with more than 200 organizations and institutions across New York City and State. Our partnerships have reconnected more than 16,000 young adults to economic opportunities. Our solutions have collectively raised and leveraged more than $35 million of public and private investment and developed new models for place-based solutions that have been replicated and integrated across the workforce system.

ABOUT THE MANAGER OF COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS

The Manager of Community Solutions leads the portfolio of JobsFirstNYC’s place-based partnerships, focused on creating localized solutions that respond to the unique needs of neighborhood communities with high numbers of young adults who are out of school and out of work. The Manager works with the Vice President - and the JobsFirstNYC team - to develop and manage place-based partnership initiatives. This includes project development and design, partnership development, communication, technical assistance and supportive services, community cultivation and external engagements, coordination of related consultants and other critical relationships, and administrative responsibilities. The Manager provides strategic, forward-looking/thinking cultivation and management of the organization’s place-based solutions strategies as it relates to community partnership cultivation, economic opportunities, expanding engagement with practitioners, and promoting sustainable partnership development and sustainability practices to accelerate and advance JobsFirstNYC’s mission.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Community Solutions/Emerging Initiatives

• Develop, lead, and manage partnerships, partnership engagement, and emerging place-based solutions initiatives.
• Identify and develop resources related to partnership, community engagement, and strategic place-based initiatives.
• Assist with creating related procedures and communication strategy, document and report on activities and progress, and provide direct technical assistance as needed.
• Create and lead related processes and procedures to operationalize work plans.
• Foster partnership development and opportunities that will enhance partnership effectiveness and expansion.
• Collaborate with place-based and technical assistance consultants to manage timely and cost-effective work deliverables.
• Develop or assist with the development and standardization of partnerships outcomes matrix and alignment with JobsFirstNYC’s Impact Framework.

Partner/Community Engagement

• Collaborate with Work and Education Solutions projects to advise, support and integrate relevant strategies into community solutions strategy.
• Engage local constituent communities to build relationships and partnerships to advance JobsFirstNYC’s Place-Based partnership initiatives.
• Build ongoing relationships to create a common understanding for collective, community-level solutions.
• Coordinate and lead public engagement, practitioners’ forums, and other related place-based project stakeholder convenings to raise awareness of policy and practice.

Learning Integration and Reporting

• Work with Evaluation & Learning teams to develop and standardize place-based initiatives outcomes and align to JobsFirstNYC Impact Framework.
• Track outcomes and produce progress reports as needed.
• Communicate with partners, policy makers, key stakeholders and with the internal team to elicit feedback to aggregate and disseminate lessons learned.

Policy/Communication/Product Development

• Create and/or support original research inspired by community solutions projects, goals and learnings, and the mission and vision of the organization and its practice work.
• Assist in researching emerging trends – locally and nationally – that impact young adult employment and economic security. Analyze and synthesize information and create presentations, and other materials to communicate trends and best practices to support community solutions projects and organizational needs.
• Seek and foster new opportunities for product development.

Projects and Special Initiatives

• Assist with technical assistance deliverables and track outcomes for projects/initiatives.
• Represent the organization externally as requested.
• Perform other duties as required.

Required Skills and Qualification

Specific requirements include:

• Five to seven years of experience showing progressive professional growth in the nonprofit and public sector in a similar capacity as outlined above.
• Effective leadership experience garnered by routinely developing and implementing successful strategic initiatives or other nonprofit projects.
• Knowledgeable about evaluation methodologies such as surveys interviewing and focus groups; data collection.
• Highly collaborative style and sincere commitment to working with diverse constituents. Be adaptable and possess the ability to think strategically within a constantly changing, high-pressure environment.
• Excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills, including writing, editing and interpersonal relations.
• A strong track record as an implementer and relationship builder who thrives on managing a variety of key initiatives concurrently and has the finesse to "manage by influence."
• Maturity and leadership skills with the ability to serve as a unifying force and to position one-on-one to large-group discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.
• Self-starter, able to work independently, and entrepreneurial; enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives.
• Based in New York City and willing to travel to all communities where JobsFirstNYC supports place-based partnerships.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is preferred but not required.
• Previous experience working in partnership development and management, community organizing, project management, workforce and economic development, think tanks, research centers, and intermediary organizations is highly beneficial.
• Strong background and skills in facilitation, communication, project and data management.
• Experience with project management systems.
• Strong knowledge of the New York City workforce, economic development and political systems, notably as it pertains to young adult employment, industry partnerships, and neighborhood development is preferred.

This position at JobsFirstNYC comes at an exciting period of growth in the organization’s history and is an ideal fit for someone interested in designing and implementing more effective place-based/community development approaches at scale that result in equitable economic opportunity for all people and committed to driving efforts of larger systems change.