Overview
The Program Director will serve as the lead project manager for Forward Cities’ SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program, a ‘hub and spoke’ network designed to increase connectivity, counseling services, and capital access for underrepresented entrepreneurs in Durham/Durham County, NC. This role reports to the Senior Director of Learning Networks. In this capacity, the role will also coordinate a cross-functional team in support of the SBA-funded project. More information about the project can be found here.
The full-time position is based in Durham and will work from the Forward Cities office and/or a network partner location a minimum of 3 days per week, including one weekday evening per week. This position is funded exclusively through a federal grant; the duration of the position is 24 months and will begin December 2021.
Job Responsibilities Include:
Program Management
- Serving as the forward-facing community lead of the project supporting Forward Cities’ role as the hub of the engagement network;
- Overseeing ‘spoke’ organizations that deploy trusted messengers to work with businesses in designated communities;
- Coordinating with the Senior Director of Learning Networks to ensure all assigned engagement milestones are on schedule and within the prescribed budgets;
- Coordinating with the Marketing and Communications team to provide any necessary departmental inputs and multimedia content for events, web, print, and social media;
- Producing minutes, actions, and follow-up after meetings and scheduling future meetings;
- Training and helping ‘spoke’ organizations with document preparation and data collection;
- Preparing reports for the SBA in a timely manner;
- Overseeing the translation of hub-produced documents and materials into languages required by communities served;
- Working with the marketing department to ensure that data and performance metrics are translated into English for submission to SBA;
- Maintaining, tracking, and updating the engagement calendar, action plans, and project management boards for the project;
- Identifying opportunities to improve our work and impact within our programs as well as our broader team;
- Identifying potential issues and risks and providing timely recommendations
Community Engagement & Events
- Leveraging business development expertise and knowledge of local business support resources to better connect business owners in underserved communities with critical services and assistance programs;
- Collaborating and coordinating with ‘spoke’ organizations to plan entrepreneur outreach strategies, activities, and events;
- Producing and curating content for the weekly engagement gatherings;
- Serving as host, recruiting, and overseeing volunteers for the weekly engagement gatherings;
- Serving as the community manager for the ‘hub and spoke’ digital community platform (Mighty Networks);
- Working with ‘spokes’ to emerge stories to communicate the impact of the engagement
Capacity-Building
As guided by Forward Cities staff:
- Implementing communication strategies with SBA district office;
- Developing training curricula to prepare ‘spokes’ to engage with businesses at various touch-points throughout the pilot pilot program
- Emerging and sharing best practices on outreach, education, and 1:1 counseling;
- Distributing technical knowledge and updates received from SBA
The ideal candidate will have:
- 5+ years of operational experience in program management for corporations and/or non-profits
- Existing relationships and trust within the Durham community among predominantly Black, Hispanic, indigenous, and/or immigrant business communities
- Demonstrated experience in entrepreneurial support and ecosystem building
- Start-up experience as part of an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial team
- A strong and confident presence and aptitude for live presentations and meeting/event facilitation
- Experience developing, delivering, and/or codifying training programs
- A demonstrated commitment to the mission and work of Forward Cities
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
- The ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment
- Spanish-speaking a plus
Salary and Benefits
The salary for this position is $70,000 annually in addition to benefits including health insurance, 403(b) Plan matching, unlimited paid time off, and paid holidays. The start date for this position is no later than mid-December 2021.