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SalaryABOUT LIVING CITIES
Founded in 1991, Living Cities is a collaborative of prominent philanthropic foundations and financial institutions. Living Cities fosters transformational relationships across sectors and connects leaders, stakeholders, and policy influencers committed to closing racial income and wealth gaps in America’s cities. They partner with cross-sector leaders in cities across the country to imagine and create an America in which all people are economically secure, building wealth, and living abundant, dignified, and connected lives. Living Cities’ staff, investments, convenings, and networks support efforts that operationalize racial equity and inclusion in local government, create inclusive narratives, bring communities together to strategically address systemic racial inequities, and build wealth among BIPOC communities through specific tactical pathways such as entrepreneurship, homeownership, and access to capital. Living Cities’ core values—the ones they believe are fundamental to the organization’s success in achieving its mission—are collaboration, innovation, leadership, impact, and racial equity and inclusion. These organizational values guide their everyday decisions about how, why, and what they do. For additional information about Living Cities, please visit https://www.livingcities.org.
THE POSITION
Reporting to the Chief Impact Officer (CIO), the Director of the RacialWealth Equity Center of Excellence (Center) will play a pivotal role in driving collective action to address Racial Wealth inequity by curating, creating, and catalyzing efforts from across the field. They will build, launch, and lead the Center, intended to serve as the vital entity that will aggregate, synthesize, and disseminate actionable information, best practices, and innovative strategies to advance Racial Wealth Equity. This person will develop and execute the Center’s strategy, working collaboratively with internal teams, external partners, and key stakeholders to create a hub for knowledge-sharing, insight development, collaboration, and collective impact. Living Cities seeks a professional with expertise in Racial Wealth Equity/economic justice or related discipline, strong analytical and synthesis skills, the capability to envision and articulate a comprehensive strategy for the Center, and the ability to drive collaboration and action to create equitable change.Position Profile: Living Cities, Director of the RacialWealth Equity Center of Excellence.
Strategy Development and Implementation
- Lead the strategic development and implementation of the Center, aligned with the organization’s mission and vision.
- Collaborate with internal teams, partners, and Board members to refine the Center’s focus areas, goals, and objectives.
- Develop a roadmap for curating resources, developing actionable insights, and catalyzing efforts to advance Racial Wealth Equity, ensuring the alignment of all activities with the Center’s mission.
- Aggregate and curate existing research, best practices, data, and insights related to Racial Wealth Equity.
- Conduct meta-analyses to synthesize findings, identify root causes, and develop a common theory of change for the field.
- Organize and maintain a repository of information, making it easily accessible to key audiences.
- Identify the necessary tools, including tech tools, to support this effort.
- Foster collaboration and collective action among diverse stakeholders, including Living Cities Members, cities, and partners, including national organizations.
- Develop and facilitate learning spaces, workshops, and discussion forums to encourage collaboration.
- Identify and promote approaches that involve collective action and have the potential for scalable
- Lead the development of thought leadership content, including reports, presentations, blogs, whitepapers, and toolkits.
- Represent or identify Living Cities representatives to participate in relevant events, conferences, and meetings to share insights and promote collaboration.
- Establish the Center as a trusted source of knowledge and resources on Racial Wealth Equity issues. Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Building
- Cultivate strong relationships with internal teams, members, partners, and external experts in the field of Racial Wealth Equity.
- Collaborate with the Living Cities Board and other stakeholders to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
- Collaborate with CIO to develop metrics and evaluation frameworks to measure the impact of the Center’s initiatives and activities.
- Regularly report progress to internal and external stakeholders, sharing insights and lessons learned.Position Profile: Living Cities, Director of the RacialWealth Equity Center of Excellence
- Manage resources effectively, including a budget, staffing, and technology tools required for the Center’s success.
- Oversee the recruitment, development, and management of dedicated team members to support Center activities.
CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Education: A bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience, with an advanced degree preferred in a relevant field (e.g., applied social sciences, sociology, economics, public policy, or urban planning)
- Ten-plus years of progressive professional experience working in Racial Wealth Equity/economic justice involving applied/action research, technical assistance, program or policy development, or advocacy.
- Strong understanding of the systemic causes of racial income and wealth disparities, with the ability to develop strategies to address them
- Proven track record of leading cross-sectoral collaborations and driving collective action
- Demonstrated ability to build and manage high-performing teams with an inclusive, collaborative leadership style
- Proven ability to build and manage strong relationships across a diverse spectrum of stakeholders
- Experience building new initiatives or working in an entrepreneurial environment is preferred
Ideal candidates will have or be:
- Demonstrated ability to develop, refine, and implement a strategy in a collaborative and timely manner
- Ability to establish measures for success and ensure accountability for required outcomes
- Excellent analytical and research skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into actionable insights; familiarity with relevant data analysis and visualization tools a plus
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills, including the ability to engage diverse audiences
- Excellent interpersonal, relationship-building, and management skills
- Problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze data and metrics to drive decision-making
- A keen sense of responsibility and ability to operate successfully in an environment with multiple demands, shifting priorities, and ambitious goals and deadlines
- Highly motivated, team-oriented and self-directed, strategic and hands-on, and results- and outcomes driven
- Excellent project management skills, with a track record of developing and implementing new or improved systems and processes
- Foundational knowledge and understanding of REI core concepts
- Understands why racial equity is an integral part of Living Cities’ approach, inside and outside the organization
- Displays a clear willingness to learn and apply REI history and concepts, REI Practice and AnalysisPosition Profile: Living Cities, Director of the RacialWealth Equity Center of Excellence
- Engages with curiosity, humility, and openness in discussions about race, equity, and power inside and outside of the organization
- Understands how the construct of race has impacted the distribution of power and resources and recognizes its impact on current and future outcomes across systems
- Applies REI to inform discussions and decision-making
- Upholds racial equity outcomes, goals, and performance measures with the team and on projects
- Able to incorporate REI ideas, concepts, and history into project work and methodology
- Knowledge of philanthropic and nonprofit sectors is a plus
- Passion for social justice, racial equity, and creating systemic change
COMPENSATION AND OTHER INFORMATION
The target salary range for this position is $175,000-$185,000 annually (experience and locality are considered when determining a salary offer), along with a comprehensive benefits package. The position location is Washington, DC, or New York City, where Living Cites has offices and a hybrid work policy, requiring staff to be in the office eight days/month. Moderate national travel is required, approximately once per month.
AAP/EEO POLICY STATEMENT
Living Cities is committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive team at all levels. It is an equal opportunity employer and provides opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. Living Cities has retained Fisher Associates to lead this search exclusively. For additional information about the opportunity or to apply, please contact:
LISA FISHER
Principal
lfisher@lafsearch.net
www.lafsearch.net
