Associate Director, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities

POSITION DESCRIPTION
POSITION: Associate Director, PSPC
DEPARTMENT: Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities
REPORTS TO: Executive Director, PSPC
FLSA: Full Time, Exempt
Grade: 11
PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE AND PEACEFUL COMMUNITIES ORGANIZATION OVERIVEW
The Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) is the vehicle through which a coalition of committed funders
align their funding to urgently and sustainably reduce gun violence in Chicago.
Founded in 2016, PSPC began as five philanthropic funders committed to aligning investments to amplify impact. After
researching best practices, the group agreed to fund a holistic portfolio of proven and promising strategies that could be
implemented quickly. The Partnership has since grown to over 50 private funders, including large national funders,
Chicago-based foundations, family offices, and corporations.
PSPC accomplishes its mission through three levers:
o Collective Learning
 Forum to engage and educate funders and share learnings, resulting in a deeply knowledgeable
and engaged funder community with expertise across the violence reduction landscape making
informed funding decisions.
o Collective Action
 Aligning private investments across evidence-based priorities at the scale of the problem, led by
self-managed groups of funders.
o Collective Voice
 Pursue policy, education, and public messaging with the goal of sufficient and sustained political
will and public investment in evidence-based violence reduction strategies, facilitated by publicfacing communications and a close working partnership with all levels of government.
Since inception, Partnership members have invested nearly $140M across a portfolio of strategies to address the crisis of
gun violence in Chicago and built a solid base of evidence that can be used to give the public sector the confidence
needed to continue to invest at the greater scale required for sustainable, community-level impact.
PSPC funders are committed to sustaining their focus and increasing their investment in community- and evidenceinformed approaches to reducing violence. In late 2022, PSPC hired its first Executive Director and is now focused on
building a team. This role will be instrumental in maximizing leadership’s ability to focus on the most critical activities to
increase impact. In the first year, this role will help to advance and refine an organizational vision and strategy, build
constructive partnerships, sustain and expand funding strategies, and more, all of which will make a difference in
equitably building neighborhood safety across Chicago.
The field of community violence intervention is receiving new focus and greater resources than ever before, and this
position offers an incredible opportunity to work closely and build relationships with some of the largest and most active
philanthropic foundations in Chicago, as well as with public sector partners, practitioners of violence reduction work,
academic researchers, and the business community. To ensure the continuity needed for these relationships, the right
candidate will be able to commit to this role for at least two years.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Associate Director will work closely with and report to the Executive Director. This position will serve as a thought
partner and be at the center of the day-to-day work to help lead and manage the coalition of 50 funders, engage with
community partners, and grow the field of violence reduction. Primary responsibilities will include strategy
implementation, prioritizing opportunities for funding, coordinating across funders and community partners to
effectuate the work, problem-solving on issues, assessing impact, and leading the project management and execution of
PSPC’s goals. As we build a small but mighty team, PSPC seeks an individual that values its mission, is equity-minded, and
has a passion for increasing community and public safety.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
 Project Management:
o Provide project management for a large, complex funder collaborative.
o Coordinate monthly leadership meetings as well as quarterly large group meetings, including developing
agendas and materials, identifying speakers, and securing logistics.
o Ensure effective implementation of PSPC’s portfolio of strategies by working with funder leaders,
grantees, and community partners to organize meetings and maintain workplans and deliverables.
o Keep PSPC leadership apprised of strategy progress through regular check-ins and assess continuously
whether strategy is effective and determine how to adapt; capture outcomes and learnings to inform
the overall work.
o Execute a communications strategy; provide written updates to stakeholders, including via social media,
press releases, newsletters, and reports.
 Grants Management and Fundraising Support:
o Maintain tracking system for funding raised to date, track new and expiring grants, compile and
contribute to grantee reports, provide regular updates to PSPC leadership.
o Collaborate with the Executive Director and grantees to execute on a strategy to raise sufficient funding
to support PSPC’s strategies.
o Develop and maintain materials required for ongoing funding efforts, including maintaining relationships
with existing funder members and community partners.
o Ensure effective communications between funded grantees and PSPC to manage and track overall goals.
 Administrative Support:
o Manage scheduling with the Executive Director and provide basic administrative support, maintain
database of members and community partnerships, organize meetings, event planning and logistics.
o Additional duties as required.
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
Three years of work experience in project/program management as well as experience in philanthropy, community
organizations, fundraising, and/or development.
Preferred qualifications include:
 Familiarity with the Chicago philanthropic and public sector landscape.
 Familiarity with community-based violence reduction initiatives and/or police reform efforts, public funding
streams in Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois, and/or the federal government.
 Experience working with Microsoft Excel, Zoom, Outlook, and social media.
 Ability to travel locally within the region and occasionally overnight.
 Engage in relevant committees, task forces, workgroups, conferences, etc. on behalf of the organization.
 Maintains a wide breadth and depth of knowledge regarding current trends, practices and research (nationally
and locally) pertinent to the public safety and the community violence intervention/reduction community.
 Helps position PSPC as a thought leader in key, violence reduction/justice spaces to catalyze partnerships and
further investments.
 Share and elevate the work of PSPC and its partners.
 Able to work in a hybrid work environment (hoteling in office and remote)
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
The successful candidate will have the following characteristics:
 Highly intelligent problem solver with a proven track record of managing multiple workstreams in a
collaborative and open management structure.
 Strong interpersonal skills including the ability to anticipate workload and effectively cultivate and leverage
relationships with colleagues to meet deadlines
 Displays maturity, good judgment, enthusiasm, and personal motivation
 Superior written and oral communication skills.
 Demonstrated commitment to racial equity and justice; community-minded with a passion for communitybased violence reduction.
 A detail-oriented and proactive person with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, who can build trust and manage
relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders.
 Experience working with at least one of the following industries or sectors: philanthropy, community- or
neighborhood-based organizations, the public sector, researchers, and/or violence prevention service
providers, including fields such as public safety, criminal justice, advocacy, community organizing, and
others in the social service sector.
 The capacity to seek support, welcome and respond to constructive feedback and be open to learning and
adapting to various situations.
 Strong internal and external collaboration capacity, with the ability to work independently, multi-task and
prioritize concurrent projects within a high production and fast-paced environment.
BENEFITS OFFERED:
 Medical, Dental and Vision
 Life and AD&D Insurance
 Disability Leave
 Paid Parental Leave
 Paid Family Leave
 Employee Assistance Program
 401k Plan
 Paid Time Off including: Personal
Time, Sick Time & Paid Holidays
TO APPLY: Candidates must officially apply through our website with a cover letter and resume along with two examples
that best demonstrate their recent work.
The responsibilities listed above are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work required in the role. The above is not intended to be an
exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required. The incumbent may asked to perform other duties as assigned. We believe the term
“diversity” incorporates all the characteristics that make us both alike and unique: our backgrounds, cultures, nationalities, lifestyles, identities,
gender, points of view, approaches to solving problems, ways of working, and views of personal and career success. It is the intent of United Way to
follow both the letter and the spirit of local, state, and federal laws governing Equal Opportunity Employment as those laws exist today and as they
may change in the future