Company Name
TakeRoot Justice
Company City
New York
Company State
NY
Job Location
New York, NY
Company Information
TakeRoot Justice (TakeRoot) provides legal, participatory research and policy support to strengthen the work of grassroots and community-based groups in New York City to dismantle racial, economic, and social oppression. Originally founded in 2001 as the Community Development Project (CDP), an initiative of the Urban Justice Center (UJC), TakeRoot launched as an independent organization in July of 2019. Leveraging its $7 million annual operating budget and 40+ staff members, TakeRoot employs a unique model of partnership with grassroots and community-based organizations that builds leadership and power within New York City’s low-income communities, particularly those comprised of immigrant populations, people of color, and those traditionally excluded from policymaking.
Job Description
TakeRoot Justice seeks a visionary and passionate leader to serve as its next Executive Director. Following a tumultuous yet ultimately successful first two years as an independent entity, the new Executive Director will be tasked with building the organization’s internal capacity to ensure the sustainability of its work and seeking out opportunities for TakeRoot to scale its impact. This is an exciting role for an organization development-minded and financially literate leader who is passionate about social justice and fighting oppression.
Success in this role will require someone who is:
•A dynamic, emotionally intelligent, and democratic leader with the skills to mobilize and bolster the long-term financial sustainability of a multifaceted, growing organization;
•An exceptional relationship manager who can build rapport, trust, and transparency across a diverse and growing community of passionate, talented stakeholders, including staff, policymakers, elected officials, and community partners;
•A strong listener, public communicator, and storyteller who can articulate and amplify the values, lived experiences, and lessons that demonstrate the potential and impact of the work; and
•A long-term thoughtful leader who will partner with the communities and organizations most impacted by the organizations’ work to elevate their voices, make space for collaborative impact, and work towards a shared vision.
A minimum salary of $150,000 will be provided to the successful candidate along with a generous benefits plan that includes medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and a 401(k).
Job Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have a true passion for supporting community-based groups and a personal and professional commitment to racial, social, and economic justice. The Executive Director will have experience building consensus and working collaboratively with various partners, funders, government and elected officials, and community members to create systemic change. While no one candidate will embody all the qualifications enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:
Strategic Leadership and Core Knowledge of the Field
•Passionate, accomplished leader with practical and substantive experience in community-based, grassroots movements; knowledge and expertise regarding the movements for economic, racial, and social justice in New York and beyond.
•Ideal candidates will be familiar with New York governance, politics, policy-making and legal services, have a working knowledge of organizing, and have meaningful relationships with local and regional leaders.
•Ability to think across systems, sectors, and movements to identify opportunities for collaboration and shared outcomes.
•Demonstrated ability to align vision, strategy, and execution.
•Demonstrated passion for and investment in advancing justice and equity. Highly developed critical consciousness and a combination of professional and lived experience aligned with TakeRoot’s mission and values.
Systems and Management
•Commitment to creating a strong and healthy workplace that reflects internally the values TakeRoot advocates for externally and that centers diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
•Ability to develop agile organizational structures and strategies that can be both responsive in a dynamic context and strategic in anticipating future needs and opportunities; experience working a participatory governing model is preferred.
•Demonstrated skills in organizational design and management; a willingness to rethink or improve upon established systems and processes.
•Experience mentoring, developing, and providing leadership to high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams and partners that engages staff, members, and sub-recipients/contractors to achieve project/program goals.
•A leader who prioritizes a relational work environment that builds trust and seeks to foster a culture of transparency, accountability, and integrity.
•Experience working in a highly collaborative unionized workplace, preferred.
•Experience working in partnership with a board of directors and leveraging a board’s resources.
Relationship Stewardship and Cultivation
•A natural and deliberate consensus-builder who is skilled at building and sustaining relationships across all levels, including with management and staff, the Board of Directors, community partners, funders, donors, and government officials and agencies.
•Demonstrated ability to have authentic dialogue around sensitive issues including funder expectations, grantee priorities, and community and movement concerns; highly developed emotional intelligence and active listening skills, and the ability to use interpersonal skills in collaborative, diplomatic ways.
•Superb communication and external relations skills and demonstrated success in building an organization’s profile and reputation in local, regional, national, and professional communities.
•Demonstrated ability to serve as public spokesperson for the organization at high-level functions and across media platforms that lift up the work of TakeRoot.
How to Apply
More information about TakeRoot Justice may be found at: takerootjustice.org
This search is being led by Julian Jackson, Jess Powers, and Andres Marcuse-Gonzalez of NPAG. Candidates may submit their cover letter, outlining their interest and qualifications, along with their resume via NPAG’s website.
TakeRoot Justice is an equal opportunity employer and proudly values diversity.
Candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.