Community Wealth Building Manager
Hybrid - DTLA & Remote
Community Impact – Community Prosperity /
Full-Time/Project /
Hybrid
WHO WE ARE
United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) is home to the change makers and justice seekers. We're individuals from various walks of life making collective steps towards a better future for our community. Our focus is on bringing about real and sustainable change by unleashing the collective power of people to open minds, unite diverse communities, and convert compassion into action for a more just, inclusive, and thriving L.A. County. Together, we make tangible impact on some of our toughest community issues including poverty, homelessness, education equity, and economic mobility. For us, being 'united' isn't just in reference to our organization but to our hope for the future of Los Angeles. Regardless of race, gender, orientation, or self-identification - we do our part as one by making room for all.
WHAT WE DO
Our Community Impact department advances UWGLA’s mission by generating advocacy, awareness, and accessibility in support of LA’s most vulnerable populations. We’re equally as passionate as we are efficient – tackling poverty at its root and leveraging our collective creative talents to innovate impactful solutions where others see insurmountable odds. We’re the people’s ‘people’, building influential coalitions across communities, industries, and political coalitions that allow us to expand the realm of possibilities for those who have historically been marginalized.
The Women’s Investment Network (WIN) is a pooled investment fund & mutual aid network for Black and Latina women to accrue valuable financial assets, invest in their communities, and increase their personal wealth by pooling their funding in United Way’s affordable housing and community development investments. This allows participants to receive double-digit returns on their contributions while supporting the production of affordable housing and other vital resources in their neighborhoods.
Using the framework of solidarity economics, United Way is launching new initiatives to build community care and power with the end goal of interrupting the cycle of generational poverty and moving towards building community prosperity in key BIPOC communities within LA County. We are doing this by building and resourcing Neighborhood Networks - neighborhood focused networks composed of anchor organizations, mutual aid organizations and community members - with the north star goals of supporting community prosperity and ownership and ultimately creating an ecosystem that showcases a new way forward.
WHY WE NEED YOU
We are inviting highly self-motivated, creative, and accountable relationship-centered leaders with a passion for building and scaling alternative economy initiatives and projects to apply for our Community Wealth Building Manager role.
You will contribute to the expansion of Neighborhood Networks by successfully nurturing meaningful relationships with community residents and institutional partners, creatively and proactively engineering collective efforts for community wealth building, including but not limited to, creating an eco-system of worker co-ops, residential & commercial rent-to-own funds/trusts, and market/maker spaces that anchor these efforts.
You will have the unique opportunity to bring community wealth building efforts to scale across Los Angeles County with the ability to shape and innovate through a brand-new initiative. This position is ideal for someone excited by building a community resource from the ground up and thrives in the ambiguity of creating something innovative and new.
HOW YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE
- Women’s Investment Network (WIN) Program Management
- Community Wealth Building Expertise & Strategy
- Neighborhood Network Economic Initiatives Project Management
- Relationship Building & Communications
- Operations & Budget Tracking
o Connect with community partners to identify and recruit WIN program participants, utilizing learning from the pilot cohort to expand and scale the program.
o Develop and execute a participant engagement plan that includes quarterly investment/wealth building trainings, cohort community building, and incorporation of participant input.
o Based on participant feedback, develop financial education, asset building, and leadership development curriculum that will most impact the participant’s short- and long-term success.
o Identify collaborative opportunities to bring corporate partners into WIN’s programmatic work (e.g., hosting trainings, providing donations, or mentoring participants) and partner with the Strategic Partnerships department to secure appropriate partners.
o Identify Neighborhood Networks ready for their own Women’s Investment Network with the goal of launching a WIN for every neighborhood in our network.
o Drive the creation of a Women’s Investment Network Advisory group, utilizing connections identified facilitated by the Strategic Partnerships development.
o Accurately track and effectively manage the program’s budget.
o Serve as an internal and external thought leader on community wealth building, activating the United Way network to build an alternative economic eco-system within designated neighborhood networks that include resident participation through membership models, greater profit sharing, and distributed ownership opportunities.
o Build out new data measures and processes that capture progress and outcomes related to community wealth building.
o Outline commitments needed for progressive procurement contracts at United Way partner/anchor institutions & corporations that jumpstart cooperative enterprises & job pipelines in construction, food, hospitality, social services, utilities, and healthcare.
o Identify and direct program opportunities that can leverage the Community Capital team’s technical expertise to channel financing and create debt and equity funds toward growing collaborative enterprises.
o Facilitate high-level, complex and dynamic meetings and projects as needed with the ability to seamlessly build relationships with partners of all levels and backgrounds.
o Serve as an agile, adaptable utility player able to step into a wide range of projects and initiatives, in various capacities from support to leadership roles, and find commonalities to unify and align multiple streams of work towards UWGLA’s highest level mission goals.
o Project manage the launch of community wealth building efforts in & across a network of 6 neighborhoods in LA County.
o Identify opportunities, gaps, and challenges emerging from the neighborhood networks that can inform ongoing strategy, solutions, activities, and investments.
o Establish long-term partnerships with community, government, and philanthropic partners to execute community wealth building efforts.
o Identify opportunities for expansion aligned with the Women’s Investment Network.
o Partner cross-departmentally to communicate the value and impact of United Way’s community prosperity work effectively to stakeholders, and to execute high-quality engagement activities and events for United Way’s partners.
o Build and maintain ongoing relationships with other thought leaders, practitioners, advocates, technical assistance providers, community members and other organizations as needed to advance initiatives, work plans and programs.
o Build authentic relationships by consistently following through on commitments with multiple stakeholders across communities, from neighborhood advocates to elected officials, to ensure success of the projects.
o Consistently and proactively communicate via all available channels including in-person visits, calls, emails, hosting exploration meetings, weekly or bi-weekly meetings and related events for wealth building efforts as needed.
o Ensure program funding is received by United Way as scheduled and initiate accounts payable process by receiving invoices and submitting documentation to Finance department.
o Identify initiative outputs (e.g., jobs created; changes to community member’s debt & wealth ratios; community wealth building opportunities created) ensuring they are measurable and tracked, adjusting strategies as necessary to improve program performance.
o Facilitate requests for impact metrics to inform program performance dashboards, and follow-up with community members and partners to ensure high response rates.
o Identify necessary assets (e.g., marketing materials, documentation, etc.) and execute their development in order to successfully reach out to agencies and other organizational partners regarding programs.
o Advise Strategic Investments grantmaking team in the creation, execution, and management of United Way’s outgoing grants for community wealth building initiatives.
o Support fundraising efforts for community wealth building initiatives by acting a subject matter expert, persuasively explaining the vision and goals of United Way’s community wealth building initiatives to prospective donors and supporting the grant writing process as necessary.
WHAT 1 YEAR OF SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Advance the Women’s Investment Network from pilot to full implementation, scaling up from 13 participants to 200 participants by June 2025.
- Work with our Strategic Partnership department to launch an Advisory Council that supports and helps provide programing for WIN and an Investors Launch event for members and council members.
- Work with our Community Capital team to identify other investments that could become future projects for WIN.
- Explore how WIN could be launched in multiple neighborhood hubs in support of local community development projects.
- Within the first 90 days, conduct outreach to begin relationship building with at least 10-15 partners and set timeline to pitch and recruit women for the WIN program.
SKILLS YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED (The Must-Haves)
- Education & Experience
- Personal Qualities
o High school diploma or GED required; Higher education degrees in social sciences, public policy or related areas are a plus
o Minimum 5 years of experience in facilitating, project managing, and advancing the goals of networks, coalitions, collectives or campaigns is required
o Fluency in Spanish is strongly preferred
o You enjoy a hybrid environment that includes both in-person and remote work styles and are able to work from our DTLA office on Tuesdays and Thursdays
o You are able to provide documentation of your status as fully vaccinated with primary series of COVID-19 vaccine upon being hired.
o You understand the value of racial equity as an organizational operating principle and are committed to continued learning on issues related to race, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
o From Lancaster to Long Beach, you’re able to travel and engage with neighborhoods across LA County.
o You don’t mind flexing your schedule to meet neighborhood partners where they are at for late night, early morning, or weekend meetings and events
HOW TO KNOW IF YOU’RE A FIT (The Nice-to-Haves)
- You are an action-oriented and proactive self-starter when it comes to managing your workload.
- You are solutions-oriented and your approach to managing difficult political situations or personalities is based on empathy and finding common ground
- You are an active listener able to synthesize different interests and perspectives into a cohesive, compelling strategy.
- You can project manage, project management! From the blueprint of an idea to outlining and seeing through actionable next steps - you love when a plan comes together.
- You understand the power of working in coalitions to address complex issues and - most importantly - know how to build a collaborative unit that possesses the skills to advocate, articulate and persuade key stakeholders on important causes that affect the community.
- You can communicate the complexities of impact work in an authentic and engaging manner that solidifies commitment from prospective donors.
- You are a social butterfly who can build and navigate relationships confidently with individuals and groups at all levels including community leaders, elected offices, clients, corporations and faith institutions.
- You rarely drop the ball when it comes to following through and getting the job done.
- You know how to build a plane while you fly it and thrive in the face of ambiguous situations.
- You are familiar with all the channels and we're not talking about TV - using multiple communication channels to connect with partners comes as second nature to you, and you don’t shy away from phone calls, texts, emails or in person visits
- You believe in restorative justice and know how to resolve conflicts to move progress forward.
- Your visionary mindset can see the potential in any objective and inspires you to bring big community wealth building ideas to life.
- You have previous experience supervising, coaching, and developing direct reports, or you’d like to gain that experience in the future.
- You know your way around the Microsoft Windows operating systems and all it's essential programs including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams; Zoom and Google docs are a plus.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
- Hiring Salary Range: $78,000-$83,500 dependent on internal equity and a variety of job-related factors including, but not limited to, experience, training, education, and market demands.
- The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 403(b) plan, pension, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, paid holidays, and paid time off.
- Please note: This position is grant-funded for two years. Extended employment opportunities are likely, but contingent upon the continued funding of the grant.
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, and Veteran status.
We will consider for employment all qualified Applicants, including those with Criminal Histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.
