Community Engagement Consulting Manager

Company Description

A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO) provides leadership on issues of economic justice by advancing racial equity and inclusive growth to ensure that all Philadelphians share in the city’s prosperous future and by alleviating the immediate impact of poverty on individuals, families and communities. CEO is Philadelphia’s Community Action Agency (CAA); CAAs are private or public agencies created by the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act and federally designated to receive Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding.

Guiding Principles (We believe…)

• The people of Philadelphia deserve the opportunity to live happy, healthy, full lives.
• City Government should both recognize its culpability in creating and sustaining inequity and aspire to its responsibility to provide opportunities, represent the best interests, and promote the well-being of all residents.
• People can offer meaningful insights into both personal experiences and how systems around them function.
• Poverty is a deliberately created systemic issue and city government can lead in calling for justice and dismantling the barriers that often prevent opportunities.

Values (How we work)

• Dignity: We actively respect our individual colleagues and people in the community.
• Inclusivity: Our work is more beneficial, valuable, and valid when our full range of experiences, knowledge, and skills can contribute.
• Persistence: We recognize the challenges inherent in this work, and when we get discouraged, we find ways to be resilient, lift each other up, and push forward.
• Accountability: We are transparent and honest about our plans, our actions, and our results.
• Honesty: We create a space to have healthy, honest dialogues about systems, people, and misconceptions and then communicate truthfully.

Job Description

Position Summary

Community engagement is the foundational way government opens its doors to connect communities to programs and services, better understand community needs, share decision-making, and honor work already occurring in neighborhoods.  To advance community engagement practices, there has been the development of the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit in collaboration with City engagement staff, community groups, and Philadelphia residents. The Toolkit is a Citywide initiative that transforms how the City of Philadelphia thinks about, plans for, and facilitates engagement with the communities we serve. It includes guiding principles, strategies and tools, evaluation resources, training, and a cultivated community of practitioners made up of City engagement staff and community members. Guidance and trainings are accessible online within the phila.gov platform and during in person workshops trainings.

About your position: Community Engagement Consulting Manager is responsible for developing and implementing the Equitable Engagement Initiative, guided by the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit (ECET) and supporting the overall goals of the Racial Equity unit within CEO. The Equitable Engagement Initiative, includes stewardship of the City’s department-wide Equitable Engagement Collaborative, through shared principles, tactics and tools for both internal City staff and community-based engagement practitioners conduct equitable community engagement work across Philadelphia.

Essential Functions

Lead the management of consulting and trainings with external and internal partners around equitable engagement strategies and a community of learning collaborative that has both an online presence and conducts in-person convenings.

• Develop a strategy and standard materials for consultations with external and internal partners using the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit guides and trainings including delivering tailored guidance on building place-based engagement strategies and performance measurement approaches.
• Develop standards for recording partners’ needs and requests for support to the vertical leads and department leadership so that a comprehensive and department aligned strategy can be crafted.
• Develop user guides and content that align with the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit while making it accessible to different audiences and linguistic communities.
• Develop systems that record partners’ engagement feedback working closely and collaboratively with leadership and data team.
• Plan for partner retention, reengagement, and escalation.
• Manage high-priority requests from partners and city in a timely manner, may call for scheduling flexibility.
• Develop systems and regular summary reports that document consulting and educational engagement
• Connect consulting partners to additional CEO staff and programs to advance service delivery to residents.
• Develop and communicate expectations for partners in setting up consulting agreements and work with CEO teams to manage related formal contracts or MOUs.
• Track progress/status of consulting projects across the Racial Equity team.
• Oversee the strategy of engagement of NGP VAN and peer to peer texting tool and communicate strategy with CEO’s data team in the context of the partner consulting work.
• Connect City partners who wish to engage with VAN and peer-to-peer texting services with CEO’s specialized staff and direct services units.
• Develop long term strategy, best practices, comparative assessments and partnerships opportunities around the sustainability and content of equitable engagement consulting work. Draft additional resources and trainings and presentations that enhance educational resources and training materials.
• Develop relationships and building partnerships that support equitable engagement practices across public, non-profit, and community audiences and serves emerging communities in a changing city.
• Develop and maintain relationships with potential partners/funders.
• Write materials concerning upcoming trainings or recap convenings and events that chronical the work and builds community awareness.
• Manage a city-wide Equitable Engagement Collaborative (EEC) community of practice. Lead and coordinate twice monthly meetings, presentations, guest speakers. Conduct in-person convenings and workshops implementing Equitable Engagement practices and implementation tools.
• Create technological tools that track community and city engagement of services to identify participation gaps and inform a growth strategy and outreach and tailor engagement efforts across city departments.
• Support Director of Racial Equity Storytelling and Community Impact with cross-departmental racial equity trainings and technical assistance to CEO staff and City departments.
• Develop partnerships and additional resources to support and expand volunteer efforts and Americorps Financial Empowerment Services.
• Other duties as assigned

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Required:

• Bachelor degree in related fields
• Three to five years of full-time or equivalent part-time experience managing equity-centered culture change projects in complex community-based or institutional organizations.
• Three to five years of experience with community engagement or organizing experience.
• Ability to operationalize the shared vision of CEO.
• Excellent time management skills with capacity to work simultaneously on multiple tasks and projects and deliver on deadline.
• Excellent writing ability for a variety of audience including governmental partners, nonprofits, and community members.
• Comfort working with data and digital systems and learning and integrating new systems.
• Experience and ability to effectively give presentations, lead workshops, and facilitate trainings.

Preferred but not required:

• • Bilingual (Spanish and/or Mandarin Chinese preferred).
  • Experience with community-based and participatory design.
  • Experience managing a repository of guides, tools, templates to advance equitable practices.
  • Experience working in the social impact space or complex service environments.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years experience in project/program management.
• 3-5 years experience with community engagement or organizing.
• Experience, familiarity and comfort with collaboratively starting new projects/initiatives.
• Experience launching and managing new programs.

Additional Information

TO APPLY: Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume.

Salary Range: $65,000 - $75,000

Discover the Perks of Being a City of Philadelphia Employee:

• Transportation: City employees get unlimited FREE public transportation all year long through SEPTA’s Key Advantage program. Employees can ride on SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and regional rail for their daily commute and more.
• Parental Benefits: The City offers its employees 8 weeks of paid parental leave.
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents.
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available
• Pay off your student loans faster - As a qualifying employer, City of Philadelphia employees are eligible to participate in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Join the ranks of hundreds of employees who have already benefited from this program and achieved student loan forgiveness.
• Unlock Tuition Discounts and Scholarships - The City of Philadelphia has forged partnerships with over a dozen esteemed colleges and universities in the area, ensuring that our employees have access to a wide range of tuition discounts and scholarships. Experience savings of 10% to 40% on your educational expenses, extending not only to City employees but in some cases, spouse and dependents too!

Join the City of Philadelphia team today and seize these incredible benefits designed to enhance your financial well-being and personal growth!

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Effective May 22, 2023, vaccinations are no longer required for new employees that work in non-medical, non-emergency or patient facing positions with the City of Philadelphia. As a result, only employees in positions providing services that  are patient-facing medical care (ex: Nurses, doctors, emergency medical personnel), must be fully vaccinated.

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to faqpchr@phila.gov.

For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx