Community Development Advisor

The Lupton Center is the Training and Consulting division of FCS | Focused Community Strategies. The work of The Lupton Center is to support FCS by exporting FCS’s practices and principles on Holistic Neighborhood Development to communities around the globe. FCS focuses on place-based, impact-oriented, long-term development. Our training and consulting division is looking to partner with other place-based leaders and organizations to equip them to empower their communities to thrive.

The Director of The Lupton Center is looking for a Community Development Advisor to strengthen the Lupton Center’s Lead Consultants’ ability to exceed the expectations of our clients and enhance our ability to scale our tools and services.

The primary work of the Community Development Advisor (CDA) is two-fold: to serve as the project manager for the internal team on each contract they are assigned to, and to provide consulting services to our external clients. The CDA will serve as a support to the Lead Consultant(s) on any and all client contracts to which they are assigned. The CDA will provide consulting, training, and teaching to clients under the guidance of the Lead Consultants. The services a CDA provides will be rooted in the place-based development model of FCS and guided by the tools created by the FCS Training and Consulting team.

The CDA provides core consulting and project management services to our clients working in communities around the country. Relying on principles and practices developed by FCS, the CDA ensures that our clients and our internal team have all they need to deliver services that lead to impact in our clients’ communities. The CDA works closely with the Consultant(s) throughout the life of a contract: onboarding, educating, training, consulting, analyzing data, writing reports, etc.

A CDA will work on a diverse and highly collaborative team that is committed to offering high support and high challenge to one another. A CDA must manage internal and external relationships as well as multiple projects simultaneously.

CDAs should have expertise in one or more fields related to community development, poverty alleviation, economic development, urban planning, or nonprofit leadership. 

The CDA will directly report to FCS’s Director of Training and Consulting and will follow the leadership of the Lead Consultant on the contracts to which they are assigned.

Reports To:    Director of Training and Consulting

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

​​The ideal CDA will possess and/or demonstrate the following attributes, achievements, and/or skills:

• Bachelor’s degree required, master’s degree in a related field preferred 
• Highly organized, detail oriented with a love for and competency in operations and project management
• Demonstrated commitment to create inclusive and equitable environments within FCS and alongside clients
• Demonstrated passion and commitment to helping address one of society’s most pressing challenges: breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty
• A minimum of five years of leadership experience managing people and projects
• Excellent interpersonal skills with people of diverse backgrounds
• Proven excellent communication skills, written and verbal
• Ability to convey complex ideas through brief, simple materials
• Experience in managing multiple, complex projects
• Able to identify priorities and an appropriate next action to make timely progress towards goals
• Capacity to build strong relationships with clients 
• Works effectively in a team environment and facilitates joint problem solving with the client and the internal team
• Independently motivated with a high level of self-accountability
• Able to work effectively in a team environment as well as independently
• Able to analyze broad amount of data and information and condense into clearly written reports for our clients
• A love and skill for research and learning about  best practices in our field
• Able to travel once a month (once COVID protocols allow for it)

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Project Management
  • The CDA will be assigned to multiple client contracts serving under Lead Consultants on that contract. The CDA will ensure that a clear roadmap exists with dates, details, roles, and responsibilities to ensure every aspect of the contract is executed with excellence.
  • Utilizing Monday.com the CDA will give sustained attention to every detail required to fulfill out contracts in ways that exceed client expectations
• Training and Consulting 
  • The CDA will offer guidance and leadership to a wide range of clients based on the FCS philosophy and framework of Holistic Neighborhood Development
  • The CDA will teach and train clients on core content and tools developed by FCS
• Analysis and Reporting
  • The CDA will analyze data gathered from FCS assessment tools and processes and write reports for our team and clients 
  • The CDA will follow up after crucial meetings with clients with a clearly written report regarding the meeting’s main ideas and next steps
• Relationship Management
  • The CDA will work to ensure that the team is aligned on common projects 
  • The CDA will work to ensure that our relationships with clients are strong and healthy
• Team Alignment and Growth
  • The CDA will be an active participant in a team that is growing and developing a healthy culture where leaders can flourish
  • The CDA will offer and receive support to the team
  • The CDA will offer and receive challenges to help the team mature and grow
• Technology 
  • Qualtrics familiarity is preferred
  • Keynote and Pages familiarity is preferred 
  • Google Suite familiarity is preferred 
  • Monday.com familiarity is preferred

The Community Development Advisor role will be based out of Atlanta. We are currently working in our offices two days a week and remotely the remainder of the week.    
This is a full-time salaried position with employer paid benefits.

Start Date: As soon as available
 

No phone calls please. Please submit a Cover Letter and Resumé to Alexei@fcsministries.org