2 Job Openings at CDI: Housing Program Organizers

The Cooperative Development Institute is hiring for two part-time positions: housing program organizers in Maine and in Southeast New England. See job description below.

Cooperative Development Institute (www.cdi.coop) is seeking a new hire to join its New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC) Program (www.cdi.coop/manufacturedhousing.html). The main work of the program is to assist the residents in the nearly 1200 manufactured home parks in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine to purchase their communities and manage them as resident-owned cooperatives. The program is part of the highly successful ROC USA Network (www.rocusa.org).

These two positions will focus primarily on providing technical assistance to manufactured housing communities throughout Maine and Southeast New England. The successful candidate will be enthusiastic, a good communicator, a self-starter, ready to learn, able to travel and work on some evenings and weekends. The housing program work is currently part-time (20 hrs/week), but is hoped to become full time within a year. A new hire may also have the option of supplementing this part-time work by taking on fee-for-service cooperative development projects that the Cooperative Development Institute is working on outside of the NEROC program.

See job description below. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume with references to info@cdi.coop. This position will remain open until filled.

Job Title: Housing Program Organizer (Part Time).

Reports to: Executive Director, Housing Program Manager

Base Salary Compensation: $18-22/hour in Maine, $20-25/hour in Mass., plus benefits (some paid time off and some reimbursement of health insurance) (Salaried/Exempt)

Part-time Position: 20 hours/week

Approximate Start Date: May 2012

Position Overview: Aids the Housing Program Manager in organizing manufactured home park residents to form cooperatives to purchase and manage their communities; provides training and assistance to existing resident-owned manufactured home communities, both individually and in groups; helps members understand their roles and responsibilities in order to more effectively manage their resident owned community; fosters a sense of empowerment and community spirit.

Essential Job Functions:

1. Assists Housing Program Manager with community organizing; includes door-to-door canvassing, community meetings and presentations, mailings, and incorporation assistance.
2. Provides organizational and administrative assistance to the Housing Program Manager to ensure that the various elements of the Housing Program are running smoothly; includes meeting facilitation, fundraising assistance, and fulfilling reporting requirements.
3. Provides direct support and organizational training to cooperative board members, committees and residents.
4. In each developing co-op,
• trains committee and facilitates the production of Bylaws.
• trains committee and facilitates the production of Community Rules.
• trains committee and facilitates the approval of membership committee policies and procedures.
5. Contributes to the development and implementation of workshops for board and community members on range of topics including: board and members’ roles and responsibilities, working in teams, infrastructure and planning for the future, community building, motivating volunteers, corporate finances and communication.
6. Coordinates support for and monitors progress of resident-owned communities, as assigned by the Program Manager, including monthly review of cooperative minutes and budget reports.
7. Assists both established and developing resident-owned communities with all aspects of their financial and loan compliance responsibilities.
8. As needed, assists struggling cooperatives to assess their organizational health, identify problems, and develop goals and a plan of action.
9. Other tasks and special projects, as assigned by the Program Manager.

Organizational Expectations:

1. Responsible for conducting all activities within the prescribed policy and budgetary guidelines as set by the Board and administered by the Executive Director.
2. Functions as a participant in CDI’s Cooperative Development Team, sharing information effectively to assist others in doing CDI’s work. Builds positive and strong relationships with other CDI staff.
3. Demonstrates personal responsibility in job performance.
4. Responsible for role modeling professional standard of behavior. Takes this role within the organization, is consistently respectful and professional with staff and clients.
5. May be required to perform additional, related duties or functions of lesser or greater responsibility as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

Minimum Requirements

1. 3 to 5 years of cooperative business experience, including project management experience in for-profit, non-profit community or economic development organizations.
2. Experience with group facilitation, coaching a group through an autonomous decision-making process, and coping with conflict situations.

Knowledge Skills/Abilities

1. Advanced degree in related field welcomed, minimum of Bachelors degree or equivalent.
2. Strong knowledge of fiscal management, strategic planning and general business practices.
3. Strong knowledge of and commitment to cooperatives and cooperative development.
4. Well-developed partnership, process development and integration and planning skills.
5. Experience with cooperative governance structures and working with boards of directors preferred.
6. Familiarity with public policy process and development.
7. Excellent communication skills, including public speaking, consensus-building and facilitation skills.
8. Proactive and team-oriented leadership required.
9. Ability to think critically and solve problems creatively with small and large groups.
10. Demonstrated experience working effectively on a team.
11. Demonstrated success in community building and organizing.
12. Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
13. Computer literacy required.
14. Ability to work with diverse groups of residents as well as town and state officials, attorneys, engineers, and other professionals.
15. Working understanding of budgeting, real estate and financing.
16. Available evenings and occasional weekends.
17. Ability to travel.

Characteristics

1. Well spoken and articulate.
2. Calm demeanor; able to perform under pressure during difficult interpersonal conflict.
3. Plans ahead, able to complete tasks and meet tight deadlines.
4. Able to understand and manage multiple complex tasks.
5. Works collaboratively, self-motivated, flexible, enthusiastic.

In accordance with Federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the base of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (voice and TDD).