Director of Field Building, WJWI

Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) — a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York — seeks an enthusiastic, dedicated, and mission-aligned Director of Field Building with Field Building and Programs, William Julius Wilson Institute.

The Director of Field Building will bring a passion for the mission of Harlem Children’s Zone: break the cycle of intergenerational poverty with comprehensive, on-the-ground programming that builds up opportunities for children and families to thrive in school, work, and life.

William Julius Wilson Institute (WJWI) at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is a national resource for place-based, people-focused solutions that open pathways to social and economic mobility. Led by HCZ Founder and President Geoffrey Canada, WJWI works with on-the-ground collaborators and national partners to deliver comprehensive strategies, support services, and tools that systematically root out poverty and close opportunity gaps in neighborhoods across America. WJWI will build an ecosystem that enables high-impact, place-based work and effective resources and empowers proximate neighborhood leaders as integral to driving sustainable change in the most vulnerable communities.

The Director of Field Building will be responsible for the development of content and materials that define and advance the field of neighborhood-based cradle-to-career. This role requires a savvy and thoughtful professional with expertise in content development, drawing implications from research and policy, and familiarity with the landscape and foundational concepts of the place-based field. The successful candidate will work closely with the Managing Director, Field Building & Programs and Directors of Neighborhood Strategy, K – 12 Initiatives, and Policy to identify and develop products that enhance the field’s capacity and impact.

For more information, check out Want to Work at Harlem Children’s Zone? Here’s 7 Things You Need to Know.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Communications, Public Administration, Public Policy, Education, Sociology, Social Work or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in policy, applied research, education, non-profit communications or a related field.

Who you are

• Impeccable written communication skills and attention to detail.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
• Proven track record of project management and timely completion of deliverables; ability to manage and adapt a multi-month workplan to produce deliverables amid shifting priorities; appreciation for political, field, and partnership dynamics that may impact the evolution of priorities.
• Proficiency in interpreting research reports and policy statements.
• Ability to quickly learn the foundational concepts, theoretical and empirical underpinnings, relevant policy landscape, and dynamics within the field of place-based work.

What you’ll do

• Work across the WJWI team to identify best practices and potential case studies; innovations, developments, and gaps in knowledge with relevance to the field and related policies; and emerging trends to inform content development.
• Develop and maintain an editorial calendar of briefs, blog posts, white papers, a newsletter and other materials to be developed and circulated on a regular cadence to address emerging needs and areas of interest across the field.
• Lead the development of editorial content: work closely with the Managing Director, Field Building & Programs, external consultants, and team members across WJWI to develop products, including the creation and circulation of a limited series podcast.
• Provide project management support to see projects from conception through publication and circulation.
• Monitor academic research and policy discussions to identify developments that are relevant to the field of place-based cradle-to-career and support the development of rapid response materials.
• Collaborate with Managing Director, Field Building & Programs and Assistant Director, Event Management to shape the content and support execution of WJWI’s annual Power of Place convening.
• Propose strategies for disseminating content to key stakeholder groups, including other field actors, leaders in the K – 12 education sector, public sector leadership, and adjacent fields; collaborate with HCZ’s Communications team to circulate materials.
• Support the development of proposals and materials for conference presentations and other opportuniti