Description

The Opportunity

The D-JEDI will join Piedmont Housing at a pivotal moment in the organization’s trajectory in a role of significant influence.  For the last three years, the organization has deepened its commitment to establishing racial equity as a central lens through which it evaluates all of its work.  This practice has evolved into striving to becoming an anti-racist organization, recognizing that, in the face of the persistence of white supremacy culture and structures, this process must be ceaseless.

Anti-racism is a practice – a continual, iterative, active effort to identify, evaluate, and dismantle the beliefs and structures that perpetuate racism. 

As a key figure on the Leadership Team, the D-JEDI will engage and partner within every aspect of the organization.  The D-JEDI will co-develop and co-implement strategic efforts focused on transforming three overall facets of the organization’s work:

• Interior Process – staff and Board culture; policies and procedures; staff and Board education
• Program Efficacy – from housing counseling to rental housing development; from community building to resident leadership; from client lending to wealth building initiatives
• External Influence – anti-racist practice mandates that our focus extends beyond the boundary of our own work; we must build allies and influence to tackle entrenched, systemic hurdles

The D-JEDI will be part of Piedmont Housing’s Leadership Team whose purpose is to deliberate on strategic directions and lead organizational change through an anti-racist lens, collaborative visioning, and by stewarding organizational success and community impact.

The Organization

Since 1983, Piedmont Housing Alliance’s mission has been to create affordable housing opportunities and foster community through education, lending, and development.  We work amidst a regional housing crisis with rapidly escalating housing costs placing disproportionate burden on low-wealth families.  Relatedly, there is a critical need to redress the historical economic, social and educational barriers faced by these same families.

Over the last three years, our organizational focus has pivoted to redressing the historical racialized barriers in housing, and the resulting inequities in financial assets, wealth, and homeownership carried down across generations.  We believe that Piedmont Housing – as a nonprofit housing organization expanding access to homeownership, household financial capacity, and affordable housing – is uniquely situated to address racial equity in housing and community-building across the region.

Job Duties

Ideal Candidate

Piedmont Housing Alliance’s new D-JEDI is passionate about the organizational mission, bringing optimism and enthusiasm to the mission-driven work of anti-racist transformation.  The ideal candidate is excited by the opportunity to play an influential leadership role in one of the community’s most highly regarded housing organizations, sharing the staff and board’s belief that housing is a foundational social and racial justice issue.

High emotional intelligence is essential for this role.  The ideal candidate is an effective and confident communicator and relationship builder; someone who leads by influence and is sensitive to team dynamics.  The D-JEDI’s responsibilities will touch every level of the organization; strong emotional and cultural intelligence is crucial to engaging compassionately and respectfully with residents, staff, board members and community partners.

Insightful and innovative, the ideal candidate is a true partner to the staff, instinctively knowing the right questions to ask and when to lean in with support at critical moments.  Candidates must be masterful in communicating strategic vision and organizational priorities and motivating others to achieve these goals.

Balancing both humility and the drive to have positive impact, the ideal candidate embraces the servant-leader spirit.

Creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial, the ideal candidate will bring the best of who they are to our work together, and will expect the same from the rest of the team in return.  Candidates will be able to operate both independently and interdependently.

Essentials

• Lead the development of and implementation of the Framework for Transformation to an Anti-racist Organization, a guide and planning document with clear goals, strategies and outcomes. The Framework will be a living document interconnected with the organization’s Strategic Plan. The Framework will be both an internal guide and an external statement of purpose.
• Internal Process
• The D-JEDI will play a vital role in transforming the culture and practices of Piedmont Housing Alliance to help realize an antiracist vision.
• Co-guide a thriving, resilient staff culture that centers racial equity and attracts, develops, retains, and promotes BIPOC at all levels of the organization.
• Responsible for guiding and evaluating internal policies and procedures to ensure alignment with antiracist principles and goals.
• Design, guide and implement internal JEDI training and dialogue for staff and Board.
• Participate in Leadership Team meetings as co-creator and participant.
• Work closely with staff across the organization to guide ownership, accountability, and sustainability of JEDI initiatives.
• Establish key performance metrics to assess, measure and track impact and effectiveness of in achieving anti-racist goals and outcomes.
• Coordinates/leads the work of the joint staff-Board Racial Equity Steering Committee (or equivalent) to guide organizational progress towards an antiracist vision.
• Provide day-to-day management of any JEDI-related consultants.
• In partnership with HR, provide coaching to key staff and leaders needing support in engaging in and supporting JEDI-related efforts.
• Collaborate with Development and Communications team to seek outside funding (grants or otherwise) to support JEDI-related work and provide content for regular internal and external communications.
• Lead and/or supervise staff, as well as interns or scholars, as needed.
• Program Efficacy
• Work with each organizational department to evaluate each individual program through an antiracist lens with the goal of aligning principles and outcomes.
• Assist in analyzing outcomes and performance measures through an antiracist lens, guiding improvements to program design, outreach, service delivery and progress towards stated outcomes.
• Co-develop and co-deliver behavior- and culture-changing learning experiences and facilitated dialogues.
• External Influence
• Along with other staff leadership, act as an ambassador by representing Piedmont Housing in JEDI-related spaces, meetings, events, and trainings.
• Collaborate with communication staff on external communications to clients, residents and the broader public.
• Participate in strategic collaborations with partner organizations, city/county/state staff, and other external cohorts to guide, accelerate, and proliferate antiracist analysis and/or impact.
• Oversee development of programs, processes, coaching, and resources to support external stakeholders in embedding JEDI-related principles and practices in their work.
• Develop and grow JEDI engagement/training “line of business” to offer to other organizations/cohorts as a fee-for-service.

Skills Required

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Ability to:

• Thrive in building and maintaining collaborative relationships
• Strong facilitation skills, including the ability to create and guide learning and supportive spaces for dialogue
• Engage in and lead courageous and difficult conversations about race, antiracism, racial justice as well as other forms of intersectional oppression, including classism, sexism, and others
• Comfort and experience collaborating and coaching at all levels, including staff leadership and Board members
• Strong emotional intelligence and judgement; demonstrated ability to build strong relationships across lines of difference and points of view
• Inspires others at Piedmont Housing who do not have a formal reporting relationship to them to seek out opportunities to work with them
• Is willing and able to switch gracefully between acting as an individual contributor and overseeing larger initiatives, providing support and guidance
• Maintain standards of confidentiality
• Strong self-starter, and enthusiastic toward creation of new initiatives and interest and ability to drive organizational change
• Create, learn, listen, prioritize, and reorganize
• An excellent communicator, able to listen for understanding and speak with confidence, diplomacy and tact.

Education/Experience

• A minimum of three (3) years of directly related experience facilitating, leading or managing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion programs and/or initiatives. Direct experience engaged in not-for profit organizations is a plus.
• Holds a deep understanding the history of racism and has a thorough analysis of types racism (systemic, institutional, interpersonal, personal) in ways that can be applied to leading effective dialogue and co-leading change.
• Being an experienced and visionary practitioner in leading transformative, organizational change through a JEDI-lens
• Skill in leading a cross-functional teams through difficult conversations and making sound, JEDI-based recommendations on complex interpersonal and administrative issues.
• Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, and comfort with public speaking.
• Proactive, self-directed and able to multitask effectively
• Seeks out advice, counsel, and permission appropriately, but is not afraid to act independently when necessary to be effective

Additional Info

Salary Range

Base salary is $80,000 – $100,000, commensurate with experience. Additional opportunities for bonuses up to 30% of base salary.

To Be Considered

Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to careers@piedmonthousing.org by August 1, 2021.  Interviews with strong candidates will be scheduled on a rolling basis.

Piedmont Housing Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We are committed to building a team that uplifts and values inclusive policies and equitable practices.  Candidates of all races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities are encouraged to apply.