Director, Connecticut Opportunity Collaborative (CUOC)

Summary:

The director will manage a power building initiative to support socio-economic movements focusing on three urban centers in Connecticut -- Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport.  The Changemaker Fund is the product of a unique collaboration of the three largest community foundations in Connecticut, the Connecticut Urban Opportunity Collaborative (CUOC), established in 2021. The role also manages CUOC’s engagement with local, state, and national partnerships and affiliations.

The centerpiece of the Changemaker Fund is an innovative, three-year direct cash assistance project executed in 2024 in collaboration with UpTogether, a national nonprofit dedicated to working with people experiencing financial hardship using guaranteed income strategies, and Changemaker community leaders from Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. The successful candidate will continue to implement the project as well as the CUOC’s overall objectives, tactics, and benchmarks, enhancing its commitment to justice and a robust support system for the Changemaker Fund pilot. 

The director, working closely with senior staff at three foundations, coordinates CUOC’s objectives and organizes periodic working group meetings and executive leadership meetings.

This is a full-time, benefit-eligible, private-grant funded, 2-year position. Continuation beyond 2 years is not guaranteed and contingent on continued funding. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Help manage collaborative/pooled investments made by CUOC (applications, RFPs, monitoring, and reporting), current funding partner commitments, and CUOC’s budget.
• Participate in and represent the Collaborative at relevant external/community coordination tables, including donor collaboratives and networks with nonprofit and public sector partners.
• Support work to influence GBI/direct cash assistance and benefits cliffs mitigation legislative proposals, in collaboration with CUOC foundation staff, Department of Social Services leadership, UpTogether, nonprofits overseeing the pilot, and other partners.
• Develop a broad network of relationships with partners, including and focused on community organizers, public sector, legislators, nonprofits, and others.
• Manage and support a community of practice for current Connecticut direct cash assistance and power building pilots, working with nonprofit partners in the three regions served by CUOC.
• Manage administrative processes for CT ChangeMaker Fund. Ensure compliance with program requirements, communicate information, resources and updates to recipients and stakeholders, working with UpTogether and other nonprofit partners.
• Co-manage and support consultants for a multi-year evaluation of CUOC’s direct cash assistance and community power building pilot, including partner engagement and consultant relationships.
• Working with the communications staff at CUOC members, develop and implement communication strategies to tell the stories of the CUOC’s participating foundations, elevate the partners, organizations, and residents it serves to educate and promote awareness about the impact of direct cash strategies that meet recipients’ self-determined needs and build thriving communities.
• Strategically plan for and manage CUOC’s meetings and agendas.
• Research and make recommendations for opportunities to advance CUOC’s goals.
• Prepare for and represent the CT Urban Opportunity Community Foundation Network along with foundation executives at regular Community Foundation Opportunity Network meetings.
• Document CUOC’s learnings to share with the broader funder community.
• Other related duties.

Competencies and Attributes:

• Knowledge of Connecticut and its cities, including the disparities in opportunity faced by its urban residents.
• Understanding of the legislative process, role of the public sector and public policy in Connecticut or at the state level in another state.
• Deep commitment to the values of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice and the ability to embed those values in all aspects of work.
• Good listening skills and attention to detail.
• A sense of humor, flexibility, and ability to confront and address conflict with a resolution-oriented approach.
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with grantee partners and other community stakeholders.
• Bilingual/multilingual fluency in English and Spanish (the primary languages of program participants) is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience facilitating teams, building diverse coalitions, and gaining consensus among stakeholders; accomplishment leading cross-functional teams, groups/organizations.
• Knowledge of community foundations; knowledge of and experience with any of the three CF a plus.
• Experience working in and knowledge of the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and government partners to advance intersectional strategies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to distill and present complex ideas and concepts.
• Experience in managing grants and working with donors and pooled/collaborative funding a plus.
• Strong project management skills.

Experience and Education:

Degree requirement can be substituted with equivalent practical experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, public administration, public policy, pre-law, or other relevant areas or equivalent relevant experience combined with educational training.
• Five or more years of experience in the nonprofit or public sector, in project management or implementation, or social justice advocacy.
• Experience in a role requiring programmatic activities and/or critical and strategic thinking related to issues of equity and antiracism.
• Grantmaking experience at a philanthropic institution and/or grant writing experience.

Preferred:

• Knowledge of the Connecticut nonprofit landscape and its local communities.
• Experience contributing to collaborative, team-oriented programs, and strategy development.
  Knowledge of outcome-oriented budgetary planning and understanding of nonprofit budgeting.
  

Location and schedule:

This is a hybrid position that includes remote work and in-office work at any of the three Community Foundation locations (Norwalk, New Haven, Hartford). The director will be an employee of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

For more information about the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving visit:

https://www.hfpg.org/

HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER RELYING ON A DIVERSE GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE TALENTS TO ACHIEVE OUR MISSION. 

Salary range will be shared with candidates contacted for interviews or upon request by the applicant.

Any and all offers to applicants are contingent on the candidate’s completion of a comprehensive background and reference check to the satisfaction of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.