Overview:
Havenly is hiring a Small Business Specialist in order to facilitate the development of a thriving network of small businesses among the Havenly participant and alumni community. This staff member will develop upon work that we have been doing at Havenly to a.) provide 1-on-1 support for women in our community who are pursuing their own businesses, b.) continuously search for existing resources that can meaningfully support our community’s small businesses, and connect our community to those resources, and c.) work with our community of women entrepreneurs to problem-solve and bring creative solutions to the systemic barriers that immigrant women face when trying to open and maintain thriving businesses.

To begin with, this is an hourly, part-time position, with a general expectation of working 15 to 20 hours per week. These hours may fluctuate depending on the needs of the program. Start date: June 1st.

Tasks:

• Get to know the women in Havenly’s community who are currently running their own businesses or who show interest in starting their own businesses. Through continued active listening and conversation with them, get to know the visions of women in our community and the systemic challenges that they face in executing these visions.
• Provide individualized support for women as it relates to their businesses. For example, this can entail accompanying women to apply for a loan at a bank, helping to fill out grant applications, finding a physical location for their businesses, connecting them to legal services, accelerator or educational programs, or other services.
• Identify opportunities to facilitate connections among women in our community and their businesses while doing this work. For example, connect women who express very similar or complementary business ideas and skill sets to see if there is room for collaboration.
• Identify strategic partners outside of Havenly (i.e. accessible loan funds, small business legal clinics, organizations that offer grants or classes for people seeking to start businesses) and cultivate relationships with them that can serve our community.
• In conversation with Havenly Co-Directors, identify opportunities for Havenly to fill gaps in the existing system of local support to entrepreneurs/small business owners
• Support Havenly’s Co-Director of Growth (Caterina Passoni) in writing grants specific to supporting the development of small businesses.

Qualifications:

• A clearly demonstrated understanding of Havenly’s mission and theory of change;
• A clearly demonstrated understanding of the specific barriers faced by undocumented immigrants in accessing capital and services;
• Prior experience working with immigrant communities and marginalized communities, either through lived or professional experience;
• Strong creative thinking skills: ability to imagine and work towards possibilities that exist beyond established rules and systems;
• Confidence sending professional emails and speaking with small business investors, government officials, bank representatives, and others in a range of professional settings;
• Ability to thrive in a varied work environment, ease working across cultural, linguistic, and educational differences;
• High level of integrity and ability to take ownership of a project and see it through to completion;
• High degree of emotional intelligence, and demonstrated ability to patiently and actively listen to others;
• Strong communication skills and ability to create and maintain strong relationships with partners;
• Experience in/knowledge of the landscape of New Haven entrepreneurship/small business opportunities.

Fluency in Spanish is strongly preferredfor this position.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $25.00 per hour

Expected hours: 15 – 20 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• On-the-job training
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• 4 hour shift
• Choose your own hours
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Work setting:

• In-person

Ability to Relocate:

• New Haven, CT 06510: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person