Community Organizer: Housing & Community Development, TRP, Chicago

Community Organizer: Housing & Community Development
The Organization
The Resurrection Project (TRP) seeks to transform its success in building healthy communities into a formal, methodical, national model that can be leveraged in order to transform some of the most troubled neighborhoods into communities of promise. As such, TRP assessed all of its operations and devised a structured, methodical Community Resurrection Model (CRM) that capitalizes on its core competencies and the existing synergies within and across all of its departments. This model consist of three strategic pillars—Stewardship of Community Assets (SCA), Community Wealth Building (CWB) and Community Ownership (CO)—working together in a transformative adaptable process that strengthens public, private and community stakeholders to provide the sustainable foundation that gives rise to healthy communities.
The Strategic Pillar: Community Ownership
Community Ownership empowers individuals by awakening their sense of ownership and pride, and then arming them with the tools, skills, knowledge and resources they need in order to become effective catalysts of change.
The Community Ownership strategic pillar incorporates:

•   Community Organizing through leadership development whereby individuals are trained on how to organize around their self-interest and the interests of the community in which they live.
  
•   Immigration Legal Services in order to eliminate a barrier to community ownership, legal status. Individuals must feel that they have a stake in their community in order to rise to protect it.
  
•   Neighborhood Planning and Educational Programs objective is to forge alliances with community based organizations to create community Quality of Life Plans that seek to improve community environments to breaking the cycle of ‘missed-opportunities’ to provide a healthy, safe, supportive community for students and residents to successfully transition from one stage of lifecycle to the next.
  
•   La Casa Student Housing aims to address the many challenges Hispanic students face in their educational endeavors though it’s unique community based live, learn and thrive residence hall and resource center.
  
•   San Jose Obrero Mission aims to provide homeless individuals and families with transitional housing so that they can continue to live a dignified life during difficult times, yet arm them with trainings, resources and care that enable them to get back on the path of an independent, contributing member of our society.
  The Community Organizer for Housing and Community Development
  The Community Organizer for Housing and Community Development reports to the Collective Impact Director (CID) and is responsible for engaging and mobilizing individual residents, community leaders, organizations and other stakeholders into action to achieve housing and environmental justice in communities served by The Resurrection Project.
  

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Primary Responsibilities

•   Leads TRP’s Housing and Community Development Organizing efforts in Pilsen, and other communities as assigned.
  
•   Recruits, trains and supports community members to help them develop the confidence and skills needed to become active leaders in the communities in which they live.
  
•   Works with TRP’s Property Management team to identify, engage and support resident leaders in TRP’s buildings.
  
•   Organizes TRP staff, leaders and volunteers to identify, research, plan, execute and evaluate action campaigns that promote housing justice, including but not limited to access to quality affordable housing, renters rights, foreclosure prevention, homelessness prevention, and more. Provides strategic input to issue campaigns. Also facilitates the development of projects and programs related to these campaigns with other divisions within the organization.
  
•   Collaborates with the Pilsen Planning Committee, local businesses, city officials and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of community impact plans.
  
•   Develops an individual yearly work plan with clear goals, outcomes and milestones to help create accountability in advancing community impact.
  
•   Coordinates with TRP organizing staff to devise action plans with the goal of creating broader social change.
  
•   Drives community participation to TRP programs and services, including but not limited to TRP Housing, Financial Wellness trainings, Small Business workshops, DACA and Citizenship workshops, etc.
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•   Works with the TRP’s Institutional Advancement team to identify new funding opportunities; cultivate relationships with key funders and volunteers; and provides funding reports and updates as needed to satisfy funder requirements.
  
•   Maintains required job skills and core professional competencies. 
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  Performance Measures
  

•   Number of resident leaders developed and partners engaged.
  
•   Ensure program outcomes are tracked and reviewed regularly for improvements in programs.
  
•   Achievement of goals laid out in TRP’s current strategic plan.
  
•   Effective coordination within the pillar and with other pillars to achieve organizational goals.
  
•   Effective management of assigned budget(s).
  Essential Skills and Knowledge
  

•   A bachelor’s degree in a social science, community development or related discipline.
  
•   At least three years of experience in community organizing, affordable housing advocacy, and/or similar
  experience preferred.
  
•   A commitment to social justice, and experience working with and in diverse low-income communities and
  communities of color.
  
•   Grassroots organizing experience, particularly with campaign planning and execution, power analysis,
  strategic planning, community engagement, including but not limited to door knocking, phone banking,
  canvassing, and voter registration.
  
•   Experience with leadership development programs, facilitating meetings and trainings, developing
  educational materials, and organizing community events.
  
•   Bilingual (particularly Spanish) and bicultural strongly preferred.
  

In collaboration with TRP’s Public Relations and Marketing team, uses traditional and new media to

promote community projects/programs and grow TRP’s visibility in the communities it serves.

Attends relevant committee and board meetings to provide updates on community programs as needed.

erform other duties as assigned.

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•   Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to work as part of a team and on multiple projects.
  
•   Demonstrated ability to build relationships and work effectively with people of diverse social, faith, economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds.
  
•   Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
  
•   Strong computer skills, including word-processing, Internet, and on-line research and communications.
  Graphic design a plus.
  
•   Must be able to work evenings and weekends.
  
•   Must have a valid Illinois driver’s license and access to a vehicle during working hours, and at minimum
  liability insurance as required by state law.
  
•   Ability to travel within city and state. May need to travel out of state occasionally.
  Supervisory Relationship:
  Collective Impact Director
  Position Classification
  Full-time, Exempt
  Preparation Date
  7/2016
  Statement of Equal Opportunity
  The Resurrection Project is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation (including gender identity), military status, disability, or language (any language use not related to job duties).
  How to Apply
  Please submit a cover letter detailing your relevant experience and a resume to trpjobs@resurrectionproject.org.