Tag Archives: urban upbound

Labor and Community Job Opportunities, Opportunities

Worker’s Cooperative Program Manager at Urban Upbound

Founded in 2004, the mission of Urban Upbound is to provide residents of public housing neighborhoods the tools and resources needed to achieve economic mobility and self-sufficiency, and to break cycles of poverty.

Urban Upbound advances its mission through five integrated programs: employment services, financial counseling, youth development/college and career access, the Urban Upbound Federal Credit Union, and community revitalization services.

In July 2015, Urban Upbound launched its first worker’s cooperative business. After three years of planning and organizing and acting as the incubator, Urban Upbound is looking to transition back office support to Inside Public Housing Ventures (IPHV) that will continue to support and create additional cooperative businesses, leading to jobs, ownership, and stronger financial capabilities in public housing neighborhoods, as well as provide technical support to entrepreneurs seeking to launch their own businesses.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, and working in collaboration with the Chief Financial Officer, Senior Director of Programs and Development, UU Worker’s Cooperative Committee Members, and members and entrepreneurs of the Worker’s Cooperatives, the Program Manager is an innovative, out-of-the-box thinker who supports the formalization of IPHV and three fully operational businesses— OnPoint Security, OnPoint Training Academy and OnPoint Property Management by the end of 2016.

The Program Manager has a high capacity for work and plays a critical role in formalizing the governance/business structure for new cooperative businesses, monitoring and evaluating goals, troubleshooting challenges, finding new opportunities, cultivating stakeholder engagement, liaising with technical assistance providers, reporting outcomes regularly, conducting outreach, scheduling trainings and workshops, connecting members to financial capability services, and coordinating the launch of additional worker’s cooperative businesses.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as key point-of-contact for IHPV and UU cooperative businesses
  • Research, compile, and share best practices on cooperative governance and business operation, and obtaining capital and other business support resources
  • Review scopes of work and develop work plans, goals, and milestones for all members of the cooperative, UU worker’s cooperative committee, and UU program directors as it relates to their portion of contract performance
  • Survey cooperative members and entrepreneurs to identify needs
  • Evaluate and report on performance goals monthly, quarterly, and annually
  • Coordinate trainings for cooperative members on specialized topics
  • Identify resources and opportunities that support growth and development of the worker’s cooperative businesses
  • Participate in weekly committee meetings; preparing the agenda and sending debrief email with actions steps for committee members
  • Schedule and confirm location, dates, guest speakers, agenda, and attendees for entrepreneur trainings
  • Represent UU and IPHV cooperative businesses at events and conferences
  • Other tasks as assigned

Skills

  • B.A. Degree required.
  • Strong skills in business, entrepreneurship development, sales and marketing, leadership development, and fundraising.
  • Strong member relations and community outreach experience with excellent listening skills and ability to build consensus decision making;
    • Strong project management skills, including managing competing priorities and meeting deadlines;
    • Computer proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Internet Research, and social media;
    • Outcomes-driven, strong analytical skills with experience using data to inform programmatic decisions;
    • Highly motivated, with proven capacity to work independently, take initiative, and thrive in high-paced entrepreneurial environment;
    • Flexible, with availability to work a weeknight or weekends as needed;
    • Bi-lingual Spanish preferred; and
    • Sense of humor and passion for social justice.

How to Apply

Urban Upbound is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes candidates of all backgrounds. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to David Miller at dmiller@urbanupbound.org.

Location

12-11 40th Avenue, Long Island City, NY, 11101, US

Home, Student Work, Urban Studies

NYCHA, Representation & Service Provision: A Student’s Perspective

Featured photo via Urban Upbound

By Paula Bonfatti

For the past three months, I have interned in the research department of Urban Upbound, a nonprofit organization that provides services to public housing residents in Queens, New York. Urban Upbound supplies this community with tools and resources needed to achieve economic mobility and self-sufficiency; their vision is to help residents break cycles of poverty. They primarily serve the Queensbridge Housing Development, which — with its 3,142 apartments — is known as America’s largest operating public housing project.

Master of Arts in Urban Studies Candidate Paula Bonfatti Lima
Master of Arts in Urban Studies Candidate Paula Bonfatti Lima

In New York City, there are over 607,000 people living in public housing developments under the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). 110,000 (18.1%) of these residents are children under 18 years old. Historically, public housing developments have been criticized by the mainstream as isolated, low-income urban population. Some critics contend that this housing creates vertical structural poverty in socioeconomically depressed neighborhoods. In addition, critics charge that these concentrated pockets of poverty are subject to high crime rates, unemployment and low turnover. However, NYCHA has 328 public housing units throughout the City’s five boroughs and serves 175,747 families, and has committed itself to playing an important role in fighting urban poverty and leveraging economically vulnerable communities. Continue reading NYCHA, Representation & Service Provision: A Student’s Perspective →