Executive Director, Brownsville Partnership

The Opportunity

The Brownsville Partnership convenes community stakeholders to harness their collective power to advance the health, safety, and prosperity of the storied Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. Our team brings residents, not-for-profits, government, local businesses, and philanthropy together under the Partnership to work collectively on priorities set by Brownsville families.

Brownsville is a culturally rich neighborhood in east Brooklyn with an overall population of roughly 90,000. It is challenged by the effects of decades of systemic racism and disinvestment resulting in low employment rates, poor health outcomes, violence, and poor-quality housing. It contains the largest concentration of public housing in the country.

While many initiatives center on fixing Brownsville’s deficits, the BP is dedicated to solving problems from within using the community’s greatest asset – its residents and their long history of mutual support. We are seeking an Executive Director who embraces community-based, place-based action as a springboard to improve outcomes for all residents in the neighborhood they call home.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director stewards BP’s collective impact approach centered on resident participation while providing team leadership and sound operational oversight. You will champion and advance data-driven improvement strategies that advance health, housing, and economic opportunity and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families across Brownsville. You will be joining BP at a pivotal and exciting time. Launched as a project of Community Solutions in 2008, the Brownsville Partnership became a separate, affiliated not-for-profit in 2019. You will not only work with residents, local partners, and the Board to steward existing projects underway you will be a facilitator of opportunities to transform aspirations into action at the neighborhood level.

A successful candidate will:

• Embrace and lead a community organizing ethos that puts residents in the driver's seat of identifying and implementing solutions to shared problems and opportunities
• Identify faltering public systems and increase their efficacy for residents through collaborative action
• Lead and inspire staff, volunteers, and partners to collaborate, learn, and propel systemic change[HP3] in population-level health, safety, and economic prosperity, with a particular focus on outcomes for children and youth
• Look for, work with, and support organizations in the neighborhood that share the values of resident leadership and collective action and a steadfast commitment to achieving racial justice
• Create and respond to feedback loops to assess and advance progress toward measurable, time-bound, neighborhood improvement goals
• Look past commonly accepted system flaws and find new opportunities to leapfrog the neighborhood to new heights
• Work with partners and residents to develop common tools and resources to speed the design, adoption, and scaling up of collective neighborhood initiatives

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (further outlined in the attached Detailed Overview)

• Strategic leadership and local/state/national linkages and advancement.
• Community engagement and leadership that includes multiple avenues for engagement with the organization’s mission at the forefront
• Oversight of organizational operations, including leading a team of seven full-time staff and ensuring programmatic and operational success at our Community Hub, the Greg Jackson Center.
• Managing and evaluating programs with a data-centered transparent approach the fosters improvement.
• Fundraising and financial management that supports the development and expansion of the BP.
• Maintaining a strong relationship with the Board of Directors that leverage their knowledge and skills.

Professional Experience and Qualifications

The successful candidate will have:

• At least 10 years of experience in community development, public space management, arts management, or a related field.
• Passion for the mission, vision, and values of the Brownsville Partnership
• Demonstrated results working with and leading teams to achieve common goals
• Demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion, including in the power of policy and practice to tackle structural racism; experience working with Black or Latinx majority neighborhoods is desired
• Practical experience with financial management including managing budgets, generating revenues, fundraising, and tracking expenditures
• A track record of working effectively with colleagues both inside and outside their organization, with a reputation for building strong professional networks and the flexibility and finesse to "manage by influence”
• Achieved results as a problem-solver using data to drive decision making
• Ability to bridge leading strategy with sleeve-rolling on the ground
• Strategic thinking and decision-making skills, strong analytical capabilities, and a stakeholder-oriented mindset
• Effective communicator
• Strong management skills tracking progress and challenges across projects in different domains
• Brings a spirit of celebration and a sense of humor to work every day

A bachelor’s degree is required. An advanced degree in a related field is preferred.

Salary: $115,000-$140,000

Diversity and Inclusion: We strive to attract extraordinary people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to be part of an all-star team who vary by their race and ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, age, culture, religion, veteran status, and physical and mental abilities. We promote equal opportunity in the recruitment, selection, training, compensation, promotion, and benefits of all employees.

Software/Apps Used

• Google drive and business applications
• Microsoft Office, in particular, Microsoft Excel
• Asana
• Zoom Video Conferencing
• Salesforce CRM software

Travel Requirements: Occasional travel within the US to participate in conferences; travel within New York City.

Work Environment: This position is currently remote but will include working regularly from the Greg Jackson Center in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and a cover letter to [email protected]

COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate:

COVID-19 vaccination is mandatory for all Community Solutions staff—full-time, part-time, and contracted. Vaccination documentation must be provided to Community Solutions. Vaccination information is completely confidential between the staff member and HR.