Current Employment Opportunities:

Initiatives Director

OVERVIEW

The Katahdin Collaborative (the Collaborative) seeks an innovative leader to build and strengthen communication, coordination, and collaboration among individuals and organizations who are working to revitalize the Katahdin Region. Guided by the Collaborative’s mission of “creating a positive environment to facilitate communication, leverage resources, connect the dots and foster collaboration,” the Initiatives Director will help build, activate, and maintain a framework to support the actions and outcomes of the Katahdin Gazetteer.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Collaborative Leadership

• Build a stronger collaborative network by coordinating and connecting individuals, collectives, communities, and groups across projects and actions.
• Lead the Collaborative to design and implement ideas that work to change systems.
• Participate in Big Idea Team and workgroup meetings, as needed, to help ensure work plans progress and to serve as a point of connection between collaborators.
• Manage the consultants, staff and volunteers working to support the Collaborative.
• Support the Operations Team and Resource Committee in their governance.
• Ensure inclusion of individuals and organizations from diverse backgrounds.
• Create more ways for individuals and organizations to get involved in the Collaborative, through volunteer recruitment, committee development, and public engagement.

Project Management and Operations

• Revise and facilitate implementation of the Collaborative’s multi-year work plan including incorporation of WCC grant work in coordination with collaborators and contractors.
• Manage work flows to ensure alignment with Katahdin Gazetteer goals.
• Coordinate with and support the Big Idea Team Facilitator and Work Group leaders.
• Design and facilitate Collaborative meetings, Big Idea Team meetings, and other meetings, as necessary.

Communications

• Oversee the development and implementation of a communications plan to meet the needs of the Collaborative, including highlighting successes and supporting connections.
• Coordinate and deliver regional and statewide communication opportunities, including lifting up stories about Gazetteer Action Items and shared opportunities for collaboration.
• Foster engagement in and ownership of the Collaborative by facilitating communication, among all collaborators.

Financial

• Support the Resource Team in development and tracking of annual and project budgets, funding opportunities and grant reports
• Assess, coordinate, and implement grant making opportunities that support the needs of the collaborative network (vs. individual projects or programs).
• Oversee the Collaborative’s budget, including providing oversight of contracts and invoicing.
• Oversee Katahdin Collaborative community grant making, including working together to clarify and refine a process that meets the needs of the region.

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

Essential Skills

• Demonstrated ability to partner with other organizations and creatively leverage resources
• Strong interpersonal abilities, with a willingness to cross boundaries and work with people from diverse backgrounds
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to give public presentations, facilitate meetings, and advocate for the Collaborative in a variety of settings
• Exceptional attention to detail, organization skills, and time management skills
• Dynamic problem-solving skills
• Comfortable with and highly motivated to use technology across many platforms such as the Google suite, online meetings, and spreadsheets

Ideal Skills

• Experience making strategic, data-driven decisions
• Ability to keep accurate financial records and manage a budget
• Grant-writing and grant management experience

Desired Qualities

• Passion for building a more livable and vibrant community
• Flexible, humble, and comfortable learning while doing
• Able to ask for and accept help
• Innovative and self-directed
• Able to understand the big picture and larger context of the work; systems thinker
• Commitment to working collaboratively across organizations, systems, and communities
• Patient; stays cool under pressure
• Passion and/or curiosity for the Katahdin Region

PHYSICAL WORK REQUIREMENTS

• Regularly travel around the Katahdin Region and the state, with occasional national travel
• Regularly attend screen-based work and online meetings

TERMS

Expected compensation will be based on skills and experience, with a salary range of $50,000-$70,000 per year. The position is full time and includes a comprehensive benefits package. The guaranteed scope of this position is three years, with the intention to continue it beyond that time period as additional funding is secured.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three professional references to Katahdin Collaborative Coordinator, Michele McInnis, at coordinator@katahdincollaborative.org. The position will remain open until filled, and preference will be given to applications that are submitted by January 17, 2023.

ABOUT THE KATAHDIN COLLABORATIVE

The Collaborative started in 2015 as an informal roundtable of interested Katahdin area individuals and community groups including local town representatives. Its intent is not to duplicate or replace the unique work of any individual group but to encourage collaboration, engagement and creatively leverage resources. Participation is open to all individuals and groups living and working in the Katahdin Region to increase communication and collaboration towards the revitalization of the region.

In 2017, the Collaborative launched a visioning process to create a community-led vision and action plan. The result is the Katahdin Gazetteer: A Roadmap to the Future, which was released in April 2019 and serves as the guidepost for grounding, coordinating and implementing future work.

The Collaborative currently hosts quarterly open meetings and monthly huddles for organizations, businesses and individuals in the region to share updates, discuss opportunities, successes, learnings, gaps, upcoming events, challenges, and ask for help. These are positive spaces to share ideas and information and provide a platform for collaboration and support.

In 2022 the Collaborative was awarded a three-year Working Communities Challenge (WCC) grant, systems change grant effort distributed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to advance local collaborative efforts that build strong communities, healthy economies, and address economic growth, while reducing the inequity of opportunities tied to race, ethnicity, education, and other aspects of identity. The Initiatives Director will work on behalf of the Collaborative to support the individuals and organizations who are implementing the Katahdin Gazetteer’s six big ideas.