The Organization
At Coro, we believe that meaningful change comes from collaboration: people in business and communities, schools and unions, government and nonprofits, working together to find creative solutions and strengthen our democracy.
Our mission is to train, support, and connect leaders to foster a thriving democracy and tackle society’s biggest challenges together.
Coro graduates gain a deeper understanding of how the world works, the leadership skills to improve it, and a network of engaged and influential peers to help them reach their goals. Working together, we fuel positive change across the country.
YOUR OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPACT
Position Overview:
Affordable housing is one of the Bay Area’s most foundational challenges — and opportunities. A new generation of housing policy leaders can have a transformative impact, helping to create a more equitable and sustainable region. The Partnership for the Bay’s Future Fellowship equips housing leaders to move the needle on equity-focused affordable housing production and preservation. Fellows work with one selected local jurisdiction and a community organization committed to working collaboratively on the adoption of equitable and inclusive affordable housing policy.
The Partnership for the Bay’s Future Fellowship is a two-year, full-time, cohort-based, and salaried position for experienced, entrepreneurial, and equity-minded affordable housing professionals interested in leading collaborative policy making efforts in selected Bay Area cities. Fellows are embedded with one government jurisdiction and a community organization for the duration of their two-year tenure through a matching process, while benefiting from the Fellowship’s ongoing training, mentorship, technical assistance, professional development, and networking.
Fellows gain access to sector experts and influencers while also developing a network of leaders with the capacity to effect substantive and lasting change in the housing landscape. In this unique program, Fellows are positioned as learners and practitioners. As such they are provided with leadership and technical skills needed to help create a region where everyone can thrive, largely through advocating inclusive and innovative housing policies.
The Partnership for the Bay’s Future Fellowship is managed through a collaboration between Coro Northern California, The San Francisco Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners, and Informing Change. Coro Northern California brings expertise in administering esteemed Fellowship programs and its nationally recognized leadership development programming focused on training, supporting, and connecting leaders to foster a thriving democracy and tackle society’s biggest challenges together. Enterprise Community Partners provides direct housing policy technical assistance and access to consultative expertise. Informing Change provides both developmental and summative evaluation.
This initiative is guided by the Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF), an innovative and collaborative effort of the philanthropic, private, nonprofit, and public sectors. The initiative advocates for racial equity and economic inclusion to protect people already living in affordable homes while preserving and producing affordable homes to meet the region’s needs. PBF is managed by The San Francisco Foundation, which also funds this Fellowship.
What You’ll Experience:
Partnership for the Bay’s Future Fellows are matched and embedded with one government jurisdiction and a community organization for the duration of the two-year Fellowship. Their role is to provide additional expertise and serve as a grounding anchor, project manager, and catalyst for policy innovation alongside their city and community partners.
To set up each Fellow for success, they will receive the following training, structure, and support:
• Convene monthly as a cohort to participate in Coro’s proprietary leadership development training and Enterprise Community Partners’ technical expertise and mentorship.
• Receive 1:1 coaching to support individual professional development and leadership growth needs.
• Convene with jurisdictional and community partners monthly in support of building relational trust and ongoing project-level clarity.
• Convene with the broader community of core Fellowship teams 2 – 3 times per month, to cultivate a network of innovative and equity-minded housing policy makers, share key project updates, and learn from one other.
• Have access to a bench of expert technical assistants and a fund of financial resources to support the creation of innovative affordable housing policy solutions.
Timeline:
The Fellowship is a full-time, two-year commitment. Applications are due on March 9, 2022; early applications are strongly encouraged. Candidate interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis between February 2 – March 25. Fellowship invitations will be sent by April 18. The Fellowship will launch in June 2022 and conclude in May 2024.
Key Leadership Roles and Responsibilities:
• Influence through policy making: Demonstrate the belief that government is an integral part of affecting change and addressing the intractable problem of affordable housing, and implement, manage, and coordinate activities related to advancing a housing policy initiative within a given jurisdiction.
• Listen to understand: Engage directly with community members through various techniques in service of identifying core needs and interests of people currently living in affordable housing and people most at risk of housing insecurity stemming from housing policies in the region.
• Bridge interests: Serve as a collaborative bridge builder between and within jurisdictions and communities, as multiple and competing interests emerge during the process of developing an affordable housing policy suited for a given municipality.
• Create opportunities: Bring your knowledge of affordable housing preservation and/or production, and interest in using policy as a lever for increasing affordable housing in the region.
• Wear multiple hats: Manage multiple aspects of a project with multiple stakeholders, and exercise a high degree of independence, motivation, collaboration, and accountability.
• Storytell for change: Effectively communicate and represent the project vision to audiences with similar and competing interests.
• Center residents: Prioritize the needs and center the experiences of the people who will ultimately call the housing you help to create “home.”
• Embrace inquiry: Lead with questions as you work to find solutions, think strategically, and analyze the landscape within which you will be working.
• Be professionally empowered: with an acute sense of self- and situational awareness as you identify what is needed most; articulate how you provide added value, if possible, in a given situation.
• Build teams: Demonstrate entrepreneurial and creative approaches to solution-finding in the field of real estate development; enthusiasm and team building spirit.
WHO WILL THRIVE IN THIS ROLE
You should apply if you are a(n)…
• Affordable housing expert: You have 5 – 10+ years of experience in the affordable housing sector. This experience can be a combination of education and professional experience, and encompasses areas of affordable housing development, finance, policy, research, or coalition building related to housing production and/or preservation.
• Community engager and facilitator: You know the distinction and have familiarity in shifting between driving change through direct action (on your part) and creating space for change to be co-created by many (sometimes including your input, but not always).
• Committed to operationalizing racial equity: You have an interest in and are aware of how to explicitly consider racial equity in decisions, including policies, practices, programs, and budgets.
• Leadership enthusiast: You love leadership and regularly think about how to help people recognize their agency and influence outcomes regardless of positional authority.
• Holder of the “both/and”: Able to hold apparently conflicting ideas and embrace our non-partisan approach to prepare individuals, diverse in thought and background, to be leaders.
• Innovator: You think creatively, and see opportunities to create value and increase our impact.
• Collaborator: You play well with others and thrive in contexts where you are bringing people together to achieve common goals.
• Belonging creator: You understand and are aware that creating psychological safety allows all people to feel welcome, able to take risks, and able to shape and influence the group.
• Autonomous worker: You exercise judgment to prioritize your work and hold ownership of moving toward your goals while welcoming advice and input from stakeholders.
• Lifelong learner: You consistently seek out new information to stay current with best practices; you welcome feedback and can integrate it into your work.
• Impact seeker: Your values and life experiences connect you to our work at Coro to foster a thriving democracy and tackle society’s biggest challenges together.
• Culturally adaptive: You understand, articulate, and navigate the differences and similarities across work cultures. As an employee of Coro working in a jurisdiction, you will “dance” with many types of peoples and within varying systems.
These skills are required:
• Related to preserving and producing affordable housing:
◦ Familiarity with policies and programs, funding and financial structures, and the development process for affordable housing production and preservation.
◦ Expertise in one or more of the following: affordable housing development and/or finance, affordable housing program design and delivery; training and technical assistance; research and data analysis.
◦ Excellent written skills including experience preparing policy memos and reports, and performing research.
◦ Strong oral communication skills with a range of stakeholder types, including community members, government staff, elected officials, nonprofits, banks, etc.
◦ Demonstrated ability to manage multiple initiatives and assignments, meet deadlines, promptly follow-up with stakeholders, and coordinate effectively among widely dispersed partners.
◦ Ability to operate independently and successfully navigate new situations and environments.
◦ Excellent computer skills including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
• Related to leading collaboratively:
◦ Ability to work well with stakeholders
◦ Interpersonal savvy
◦ Comfort in dealing with ambiguity
◦ Compassion, empathy, and deep listening skills
◦ Ability to create environments where people’s differences are represented and respected
◦ Time management
◦ Analysis and synthesis of proposed policy solutions
◦ Excellent public presentation/speaking skills
POSITION LOGISTICS
The Work:
This is a full-time, salaried role and requires a 2-year commitment. Eleven fellows will be selected from a competitive pool. Jurisdictions will be assigned during each applicant’s interview process.
You will physically work with a government partner at their location in a full-time capacity. A two-way matching process will pair Fellows with their government and community partner assignments.
The day-to-day work will include, but not be limited to:
• Create housing policies and programs that meet the needs of the local community.
• Develop program guidelines, policy memos, best practices, etc. Draft legislation as needed.
• Identify/align efforts with other state and regional housing programs/funding sources and loan products. As appropriate, create housing funding policies and proposals to secure funding.
• Engage technical assistants to support the creation of innovative affordable housing policy solutions, including financial analysis.
• Build political support by convening government and community partners on a regular basis to develop trust and co-create policy and programs.
• Meet with the broader community of core teams intermittently to cultivate a network of innovative and equity-minded housing policy makers, share key project updates, and learn from one other.
Salary and Benefits:
Fellows will be employed and provided with the following benefits by Coro Northern California:
• Health insurance (medical, dental, and vision)
• Paid time off
• Flexible scheduling
• Parental leaves
• Professional development
• Transportation reimbursement
The anticipated annual salary for this position is $125,000.
COVID-19 Vaccination Policy:
On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a public health emergency. Coro Northern California has adopted a policy that requires all employees, in-person program participants in Coro owned and operated programs, faculty, independent contractors, board members, and temporary workers (“Covered Individuals”) to have received FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccinations and be considered fully vaccinated, as defined by current CDC guidelines, before in-person, indoor interaction and before coming to Coro offices or in-person indoor training premises, as permitted by law and based upon guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health authorities, unless an individual is eligible for and has received a written exemption from Coro.
This policy has been established to minimize exposure to and transmission of COVID-19 among, and thereby safeguard the health and well-being of Covered Individuals, their families, and visitors, as well as the community at large. These purposes are accomplished through the requirement that all Covered Individuals receive an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccination. This policy will be enforced in compliance with all applicable laws and guidance, and as such, if any terms of this policy are contradicted by any applicable laws or guidance from California or federal public health authorities, then those shall govern.
Diversity Statement:
Coro is an equal opportunity employer. We STRONGLY encourage and seek applications from women-identifying individuals, BIPOC, bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ communities. Read more about Coro’s Approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
YOUR LEGACY
When you look back on this experience…
Because of your efforts, the vision of secure and affordable housing will become a reality for more individuals and families within the jurisdiction you will have worked within for two years. Moreover, you will be an experienced, skilled thought leader in strategizing and developing innovative, equitable, and inclusive housing policy. Reflecting on your time in the Partnerships for the Bay’s Future Fellowship, you will have answers to key questions such as:
• How do I best empathize with, understand, and mirror back the interests of affordable housing stakeholders?
• What does it take to cultivate deep relationships when seeking to build innovative and inclusive housing solutions?
• Who now can call this jurisdiction “home” because of the alleviation of the housing crisis?
• What is most required of me and my stakeholders, respectively and collectively, to fully embrace an entrepreneurial and innovative approach to policy making?
• What have I learned about working within one particular jurisdiction while also thinking critically about affordable housing across the whole of the Bay Area?
• Where is the government best and least equipped to effect change as it relates to affordable housing?
• Who did I need to be – for my core team of government and community partners – to develop and effectively create an implementable affordable housing policy?
How To Apply
Have questions? Visit our website (https://coronorcal.org/program/the-partnership-for-the-bays-future-fellowship/) to register for an informational session or contact program staff.
To apply, please complete the application form. Only applications submitted through this form will be considered.
https://coro.smapply.io/prog/the_partnership_for_the_bays_future_fellowship_application/
Applications are due on March 9, 2022. Early applications are strongly encouraged. The Fellowship is a full-time, two-year commitment. Candidate interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis between February 2 – March 25. Fellowship invitations will be sent by April 18. The Fellowship will launch in June 2022 and conclude in May 2024.