Community Engagement & Partnerships Coordinator

Community Engagement & Partnerships Coordinator

- Long Term Consulting Engagement -

Citizenship offers significant benefits to both individuals and the broader community. A team led by Dalberg Design & Wellspring Consulting, with funding from Houston Endowment, is seeking to develop a neighborhood-based strategy to significantly increase the number of eligible immigrants who naturalize each year in the Greater Houston area. The project will bring together a diverse network of community-based partners with a long-term commitment to strengthening civic engagement among Houston’s many culturally diverse, immigrant populations. Dalberg would like to sub-contract with a local Houston-area project manager to support on-the-ground community engagement and partnership coordination. 

BACKGROUND

Houston is a city of immigrants, where 1 in 4 residents is foreign-born and 44 percent of children have a foreign-born parent. For decades, immigrants have fueled the region’s economy and contributed to Houston’s uniquely vibrant and diverse culture. Working with a range of local partners, Dalberg & Wellspring aim to increase the number of eligible people who naturalize each year through a collaborative, community-led process over a two-year period.

The project will involve deep engagement with five selected neighborhoods in the Greater Houston area with high eligible-to-naturalize populations through a human-centered design process. The neighborhood strategy will be deeply rooted in the experiences and interests of people and institutional stakeholders in each neighborhood. With your support we will seek to:

• Build trust and understanding among a diverse and representative set of individuals who are eligible to become naturalized citizens in five Greater Houston neighborhoods.
• Engage community members in a co-design process to understand the barriers to naturalization, and to co-create and test potential prototypes that can be deployed to reduce or remove these barriers.
• Learn from naturalization experts and peer metropolitan areas about existing research and proven interventions for increasing naturalization.
• Work directly with community-based organizations to plan for, implement, and learn from pilots, providing support and technical assistance along the way.
• Alongside a third-party evaluator and local stakeholders, develop a clear and actionable understanding of what interventions have proven successful and have potential for broader impact, and in what timeframe and with what level of effort.
• Build a connected and enthusiastic group of community-based organizations, funders, public officials, and other stakeholders that are committed to increasing naturalization in the Greater Houston area.
• Ultimately, align around a set of proven approaches to increased naturalization and work with local partners to develop plans to scale those approaches across the city.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work closely day-to-day with the Dalberg and Wellspring teams throughout the initiative, focusing particularly to help manage and coordinate project activities, particularly with local stakeholders and partners.
• Liaise with local partners, including nonprofits, community institutions (e.g., religious organizations, schools), academics, and grassroots organizations to manage relationships and gather timely input and feedback on emerging hypotheses and planning.
• Help plan, organize and facilitate regular community forums and working sessions including the production and distribution of community outreach materials. Support community partners in identifying, recruiting and compensating research participants.
• Support local partners to develop capacity to participate in piloting recommended interventions to increase naturalization rates, such as by helping them establish data collection and analysis approaches or aligning with intervention tools.
• Maintain a stakeholder engagement work plan and report regularly to the Dalberg and Wellspring teams about the interests, concerns, and capacity of key stakeholders.
• Attend regular team calls and working sessions and provide regular status updates on activities accomplished. Identify and communicate potential projects risks or delays.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• At least three years of related work experience (e.g., in immigration, philanthropy, community engagement, etc.).
• Experience working in direct client service and qualitative, user research settings.
• Experience and comfort facilitating discussions with individuals from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
• Knowledge of and experience with communities in the H