Position Description

Neighborhood Solidarity Partner

Invest STL is seeking a new team member to serve as the primary liaison and “guide on the side” to our neighborhood investee partners. This role serves within a team of Neighborhood Solidarity Partners who each support investment relationships within a distinct set of neighborhoods. Applications will be accepted through June 8, 2023.

Background

Invest STL facilitates investment in the power of people and their neighborhoods to create communities of justice and opportunity in places that continue to endure the legacy of systemic anti-Black racism. We seek to do this by generating trust-based, community-driven, place-based investments; investing in the regional community and economic development system; influencing policies and decision-making that advance equitable development; and reframing prevailing narratives in our region about predominantly Black neighborhoods and the people, power, challenges and dreams that they hold. Catch a glimpse of who we are and how we work here.

The Neighborhood Solidarity Partner (NSP) will report to the Executive Director while also working closely with other Neighborhood Solidarity Partners to monitor and inform our own engagement, partnerships, and accountability in neighborhoods.

The Neighborhood Solidarity Partner will embrace our emerging mindsets of stepping down from the paternalistic hilltop of traditional philanthropy that knows what’s best and rigidly dictating terms; stepping back to watch, learn and take direction from our investment recipient partners as we support their vision for neighborhood transformation; and lifting up the will, work and wonderment of our partners to our regional community.

Position Responsibilities

Grow Investee Partnerships

• Support development of internal methods for identifying and selecting neighborhoods and anchors for investment.
• Observe for opportunities within the region for new investment partnerships.

Support Investee Partnerships to Strengthen Investee Capacity

• Establish and maintain open, honest, dignity-filled relationships with investee partners (traditionally referred to as grantees) and technical assistance contractors.
• Coordinate written agreements with investee partners and contractors including budget, disbursements, and progress assessment schedules.
• Monitor and support accountability of all partners, including Invest STL, to collectively established expectations for each investment neighborhood.
• Build and uphold authentic working relationships and communication with investee partners and their network to understand progress, challenges, learnings, and when you are—or are not—needed for solution building.
• Manage and track budget reallocation and investment extensions and adaptations.
• Extend connections to regional actors, initiatives and resources to support investee partners at their prompting.
• Collaborate with investee partner and contractors to navigate anticipated and unanticipated challenges to support neighborhood-driven transformation.
• Be a listening ear and offer guidance and resources to investees when they are navigating challenges internally and within their neighborhood’s ecosystem.
• Evaluate alignment of progress to shared expectations, milestones and expenditures for each investee partnership and support adaptation of investment terms when needed.

Evolve Investment Initiation Process + Progress Observation

• Monitor existing investee partnership management processes and tools for inefficiencies and undue burden on investee partners and iterate when necessary.
• Support development and integration of new tools and processes to aid neighborhood investment partnerships.

Support Regional Narrative Re-Framing

• Following the lead of and with permission from investee partners, lift up neighborhood narratives of people, place and power to our broader regional community.
• Support our Narrative + Communications team by sharing lessons learned and successes from our partnerships.
• Lifting up observations and learnings from investee partners, inform Invest STL’s priorities and activities for regional policy recommendations and advocacy to advance equitable neighborhood development.

Inform Policy Recommendations and Advocacy

• Lifting up observations and learnings from investee partners, inform Invest STL’s priorities and activities for regional policy recommendations and advocacy to advance equitable neighborhood development.

Other Duties

• Be available for occasional night and weekend work with investee partners.
• Serve as a thought partner by representing and speaking on the NSP role and approach in panels, conferences, and other knowledge sharing settings.
• Carry out special projects as assigned.

Critical Qualifications and Desired Qualities

The chosen candidate will have a notable track record of building and leveraging relationships within and among a diverse group of stakeholders in a community setting with a focus on long term outcomes. To start, the candidate will meet these critical qualifications:

• Operational understanding of and commitment to racial equity and justice.
• Excellent relationship building skills including humility, a listening and learning posture, discretion, trust-building and working through challenges collaboratively to an agreed upon resolve.
• Competency as a strategic thinker who is also nimble and able to adapt to evolving conditions.
• Demonstrable experience as an effective meeting and process facilitator for complex topics and circumstances involving a diverse set of perspectives and participants who are not always aligned on priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to support groups in noticing conflict and navigating it productively.
• Thoughtful, high capacity process designer and implementer.
• Experience effectively managing and being accountable for timelines and deliverables.
• Patience and astuteness for the politics of people-centered work.
• Stamina and will to endeavor in work where success isn’t instantaneous or absolute but progressives over time with small but meaningful wins that you can build on.
• Strong self-awareness of how you show up with others.
• Firm understanding of your personal boundaries for maintaining a work-life balance that is healthy for you and supports you consistently meeting the expectations of the role.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment, initiative, and tact when interacting with colleagues, our community, partners and elected officials.

Additionally, we are seeking out candidates with a combination of at least some of these desired characteristics:

• Experience in community organizing, community power building, or movement building.
• Training in trauma and healing informed service delivery.
• Background in urban/community planning or community and real estate development.
• Working knowledge of equitable development principles and processes.
• Foundation in community-based social work.
• Knowledge of nonprofit management and operations.
• Experience designing and carrying out culturally competent, creative, and effective community engagement efforts.
• Experience with grant management and evaluation.
• Experience managing consultants and agreed upon scopes of work.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range is $68,000-82,000. Starting salary will be based on experience, qualifications, and record of achievement. Candidate salary history will not be requested nor referenced in determining salary. Medical, dental, vision, unlimited PTO, 401k, an individual professional development budget, and additional benefits are part of the total compensation package.

Team Culture

We are a small team growing from startup to stand out. We do our best, and sometimes we fall short. We aim to be thoughtful and courageous in our work. We relish a work environment that inspires and supports us to grow personally and professionally. We understand that our work, which we are deeply committed to, is but one component of our multifaceted lives.

We maintain a hybrid work schedule, operating from our office, homes, and elsewhere as the work permits. We meet as a full team in person on Thursdays. We are a highly collaborative team. Our culture is best suited for team members who are able to receive direction on work scope and expectations, then enjoy having the space to design, manage, and be accountable for their own approach to meeting expectations within an agreed upon timeline. We use Trello, Google Workspace, Outlook, and Teams to manage workflows and progress towards quarterly and annual work plans.

Application and Additional Information

Applications will be accepted through June 8, 2023.

Please submit:

• Your resume.
• A personal narrative on your commitment and practice towards racial equity, justice, and healing in community development.
• Written responses, which can be included in the personal narrative or provided separately, answering the following prompts:
  • How do you show up as a facilitator in a new space?
  • In your experience, what are the early signs of conflict within a group, and how do you approach it?

We will evaluate candidates in three rounds between June 9th and July 19th, with the most aligned candidates for our needs progressing each round. An initial blind review of all applications will occur, followed by two rounds of interviews. Interviews are tentatively scheduled in person for June 22nd-28th (round 1) and July 11th-13th We anticipate our new team member to start on or near August 7th.

Invest STL prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to team members and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Invest STL conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations. Invest STL prioritizes diversity in many forms in the workplace and celebrates it in our community.