Emergency Relief Fund Manager

Emergency Relief Fund Manager

The New York City office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) seeks a professional to fill the position of Emergency Relief Fund Manager. This is a temporary position that is currently funded for 24 months. This position reports to the Managing Director.

Background

LISC is a national nonprofit organization, which provides financial and technical assistance to neighborhood-based nonprofit community development corporations (CDCs) working to improve housing and economic conditions in distressed neighborhoods. The New York City program works with CDCs and community-based entrepreneurs throughout the city to develop affordable multi-family rental housing, homeownership opportunities, commercial enterprises and community facilities.

Hurricane Sandy has caused widespread damage in the New York area and will have long-term impacts. Thousands of people have been displaced and are in need of immediate housing and other resources that will aid their stabilization and recovery. Many of those people are in neighborhoods where LISC and its community partners already have a strong presence and infrastructure. In order to address critical needs, LISC has created the LISC Emergency Relief Fund to support the work of our community partners to move quickly to bring aid to the most vulnerable residents -- the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

In New York City, the LISC Emergency Relief Fund will offer support to homeowners in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The local New York City office will assist with the moderate rehabilitation of small homes (1-4 unit residential buildings). We will also offer grants to our local community-based partners to support their work to provide outreach and services to residents in affected communities.

Responsibilities

• Manage the LISC Emergency Relief Fund's program activities in New York City on a day-to-day basis, reporting to the LISC NYC Managing Director.
• Provide and monitor capacity building grants to enable LISC's partner Community Development Corporations (CDCs) to conduct outreach to residents in affected areas and connect them with public and private services and financial support; conduct neighborhood assessments; strengthen partnerships with local government agencies, federal agencies, and other first responders and service delivery agencies; and address housing and other neighborhood needs.
• Create and manage a formal peer mentoring program for CDCs with more nascent or emerging capacity to undertake this work with more mature/advanced organizations to encourage learning and growth.
• Provide technical assistance to LISC's partners in navigating the government and private sector relief and recovery system.
• Help LISC's community-based partners to identify a supply of affordable vacancies for temporary and permanent relocation of residents in affected areas and act as a conduit between residents and the local housing agency to match residents with temporary or permanent relocation units.
• Work closely with groups on the ground to identify programmatic and regulatory issues as they arise during the recovery effort, bring them to the attention of relevant government agencies and civic groups, and help develop strategies for resolving them.
• Work with LISC's community development partners to advocate around critical recovery issues, and to help develop an effective long-term recovery strategy in low-income neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy.
• Manage consultants who will conduct building assessments, particularly of 1-4 family residential buildings, and arrange for financing and contractor services necessary for rehabilitation and infrastructure restoration.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree required.
• Some knowledge of community development and affordable housing. Familiarity with impacted neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island is a plus. Bi-lingual preferred.
• Prior experience with advocacy and tenant outreach preferred.
• Ability to quickly gain expertise and navigate the emerging system of relief being created by government agencies such as FEMA in New York City.
• Ability to collaborate with local partners and multiple teams to get resources to impacted areas and people quickly.
• Flexibility to interact with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds.
• Experience in policy and advocacy around issues that affect low-income neighborhoods.
• Self-directed, independent worker who takes initiative and is interested in helping to create systems and processes to support this position.
• Capacity to simultaneously work on multiple tasks and set priorities for a challenging workload.
• Demonstrated commitment to working in the nonprofit sector.

Please send cover letter and resume via e-mail to:

Denise Scott

Managing Director

LISC NYC

501 Seventh Avenue, 7^th Floor

New York, NY 10018

resumes@lisc.org

LISC IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER