Community Impact Strategist

Reports To: Senior Program Leadership

Location: Detroit, Michigan / Hybrid

Position Type: Independent Contractor - Project Based

Initial Contract Term: 1 Year

Rate: $39.25 per hour up to 1,920 hours, Max Pay $75,360

The Community Impact Strategist is an experienced housing, community development, public-sector, or policy professional interested in developing through an intensive project-based experience in program design and service delivery.

The position is designed to prepare the strategist to ultimately serve in a leadership position such as a Program Director or Program Manager responsible for managing a housing, small business or economic mobility program in the community development ecosystem or on behalf of one of TOI's clients.

Unlike an entry-level position, the Community Impact Strategist enters TOI with meaningful professional experience and demonstrated leadership potential. The Community Impact Strategist will be expected to apply previous professional experience while also being willing to learn a new way of approaching program development and management.

The individual may already understand housing policy, small business policy, government programs, community development, nonprofit operations, or public administration but wants to develop a deeper understanding of how financial systems influence whether programs actually work.

The position serves as both a leadership development opportunity and a pipeline for the next generation of professionals capable of managing complex housing, small business, and economic mobility programs using The Ownership Initiative’s methodology.

• Work alongside TOI leadership to understand how successful housing, small business, or economic mobility programs are managed and improved.
• Help convert policy and funding requirements into practical program operations.
• Facilitate meetings involving government agencies, financial institutions, nonprofits, foundations, developers, community organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Develop strong working relationships with client leadership and implementation partners.
• Present recommendations and program updates.
• Help develop program manuals, implementation guides, scopes of work, process maps, partner responsibilities, and other operating tools.
• Navigate differing stakeholder priorities while maintaining focus on program objectives.
• Represent TOI's standards and methodology in client-facing environments.

• Participate in program strategy and decision-making for sustainability.
• Assume progressively greater responsibility for managing client programs.
• Identify problems, evaluate options, recommend solutions, and make routine day-to-day program decisions independently.
• Exhibit the willingness to learn practical knowledge of the financial systems that affect TOI programs.
• Manage difficult conversations and implementation challenges professionally.

The Ownership Initiative is looking for someone with a strong foundation, curiosity, and capacity to deliver service with high accountability.

The ideal Community Impact Strategist will already demonstrated that they can be a strong professional who is ready to develop into a well-rounded program leader.

The ideal candidate may understand how government, policy, community development, or nonprofit programs operate but should recognizes that effective program leadership requires more. Candidates must have a foundational understanding of the financial system, but direct lending and banking experience is not required for this position.

The Community Impact Strategist should generally havefive or more years of relevant professional experience, preferably with someexposure to financial services or community policy making.

A college degree may be helpful but is not required whena candidate has relevant professional experience and demonstrates the abilityto succeed in the position.

Successful candidates should demonstrate:

• Foundational understanding of banking, lending, housing, or financial services
• Significant professional experience in housing, small business, community development, government, policy, economic mobility, or a related field
• Experience managing projects, initiatives, or significant workstreams
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Ability to facilitate meetings involving multiple stakeholders
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines
• Strong professional judgment
• Comfort working with senior leaders and external partners
• Ability to understand complex systems
• Willingness to learn deeper financial and technical concepts
• Ability to receive feedback and adapt
• Leadership potential and interest in ultimately assuming responsibility for a major program

During the term, a successful Community Impact Strategist will demonstrate increasing ability to:

• Develop the ability to assess whether a program can function effectively within existing financial, regulatory, administrative, and market systems.
• Analyze to understand operational, financial, regulatory, policy, community, and stakeholder dimensions of a program.
• Lead a program with appropriate independence to make programmatic decisions based on both their intended policy outcome and their real-world operational impact.
• Effectively manage a program from strategy through day-to-day implementation with the capacity to identify when an issue requires escalation.
• Work effectively with financial institutions, government officials, community organizations, and program participants.