Northside Initiative Director

Join The Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet

Northside Initiative Director

About This Opportunity

This is a rare opportunity to help shape one of the Hudson Valley's most ambitious neighborhood transformation efforts at a formative stage. Working closely with private and public stakeholders and long-term residents of the Northside neighborhood in the City of Poughkeepsie, the successful candidate will have the opportunity to influence strategy, capital investment, and development decisions that could impact the neighborhood for generations. The Northside Initiative Director is a senior leadership position responsible for advancing the implementation of the Northside housing and neighborhood development strategy. Working closely with the Executive Director, local government, development partners, lenders, philanthropic investors, and residents, the Director will lead efforts to identify, finance, and advance mixed-income housing and neighborhood revitalization opportunities that support long-term economic mobility for Northside families. We believe that stable housing within a thriving neighborhood is critical to youth success and achieving our North Star Goal: socioeconomic mobility.

This position is designed for an experienced real estate development, community development finance, or neighborhood revitalization professional who can translate community priorities into executable development strategies to achieve the long-term vision for the Northside.

About the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet

Children's Cabinets are a collective impact model that reimagines youth development systems through cross-sector collaboration that centers youth and families' needs across education, economic, health, the built environment, and broader community context. The Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet was formed in 2020, an outcome of a gathering of over 20 civic leaders at Harvard University to discuss longstanding issues of educational disparities and intergenerational poverty that impact the lives of children, youth, and families in Poughkeepsie. At the conclusion of the summit, the Mayor and the Superintendent of the Poughkeepsie City School District agreed to launch and co-chair the Cabinet Leadership Council. A first-of-its-kind partnership and social compact was formed between the city government, public school system and key public and private anchor institutions.

We are guided by our North Star, that by 2033 over 5,000 City of Poughkeepsie young people and their families will be connected annually to transformative cradle-to-career opportunities that place them on pathways to postsecondary completion and socioeconomic mobility. A key part of the Cabinet's growth has been its ability to attract national partners to help rapidly scale its capacity and impact. Those partners include: Purpose Built Communities, The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education; StriveTogether; William Julius Wilson at Harlem Children’s Zone; The Wallace Foundation; and others.

At the intersection of education and community, The Northside Initiative is the Cabinet’s long-term project to support a thriving City of Poughkeepsie Northside community guided by a Neighborhood Transformation Plan that incorporates mixed-income housing, economic development, and access to health and well-being supports, along with the educational services built across the full Cradle-to-Career continuum. The Northside Initiative follows the Purpose Built Communities model, a national approach to neighborhood revitalization that coordinates mixed-income housing, a cradle-to-career education pipeline, and community wellbeing through a single local lead organization, known in the model as the 'community quarterback.'

As a prospective member of the Purpose Built Communities Network, the Cabinet will serve in that quarterback role, keeping residents at the center of decisions about their own neighborhood. This work is already underway: the Cabinet is a key partner in the City of Poughkeepsie's federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program supporting comprehensive neighborhood transformation planning, where the Cabinet has helped organize resident engagement and the community needs assessment.

Essential Responsibilities:

Community Quarterback & Partnership Leadership (25%)

• Convene and coordinate housing, development, public-sector, and community partners around a shared neighborhood vision.
• Align development initiatives with broader cradle-to-career outcomes and neighborhood transformation goals.
• Build and maintain relationships with residents, neighborhood leaders, public agencies, and institutional partners.
• Facilitate implementation planning among cross-sector stakeholders.
• Represent the Cabinet in neighborhood revitalization, housing, and economic development initiatives.

Strategic Planning, Evaluation & Communications (15%)

• Continuously assess neighborhood development opportunities and emerging market conditions.
• Establish implementation benchmarks and performance measures.
• Track progress toward housing and neighborhood transformation goals.
• Prepare reports, presentations, and recommendations for leadership, funders, and community stakeholders.

Strategic Real Estate Development & Acquisition (30%)

• Identify and evaluate acquisition opportunities aligned with the Northside Neighborhood Transformation Plan.
• Conduct market analysis and development feasibility assessments.
• Coordinate and manage acquisition and transaction processes with legal counsel, brokers, and development partners.
• Manage relationships with development consultants, brokers, legal counsel, and development partners.
• Support negotiation and structuring of acquisition and development transactions.

Development Finance & Capital Strategy (30%)

• Develop fund development and financing strategies for catalytic neighborhood development projects with technical assistance/consultants as required.
• Structure layered financing approaches utilizing public, private, and philanthropic capital.
• Build relationships with lenders, CDFIs, housing finance agencies, philanthropic investors, and mission-driven capital providers.
• Identify funding opportunities that support land acquisition, predevelopment, infrastructure, and mixed-income housing development.
• Support preparation of development pro formas and investment analyses.

*All other duties and responsibilities as assigned by Executive Director

Experience and Background Required:

• Bachelor's degree in finance, urban planning, public administration, economic development, or related field; master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum 7–10 years of experience in real estate development, community development finance, affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, or related field.
• Demonstrated experience structuring or supporting complex real estate transactions.
• Technical skills and experience working with real estate financial modeling, development feasibility analysis, and/or layered capital stacks.
• Experience managing multiple stakeholders with competing interests.
• Strong project management experience.
• Experience with mixed-income housing development.
• Familiarity with LIHTC, HUD, CDBG, HOME, New York State housing programs, and other community development financing tools.

Preferred:

• Experience working in Choice Neighborhoods, Promise Neighborhoods, Purpose Built Communities, or similar place-based initiatives.
• Experience working with municipal governments and housing authorities.
• Knowledge of the Hudson Valley housing market.
• Understanding of sustainable development principles and resilience
• Lived experience in communities similar to those served by the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet

Essential Competencies:

• Systems Thinking: Sees how housing, education, health, and economic mobility connect, and designs strategies that address root causes rather than isolated problems.
• Relationship-oriented: Natural ability to build trust, maintain connections, and foster collaborative relationships across diverse organizations and individuals
• Organized and detail-oriented: Exceptional ability to manage multiple projects, track commitments, and follow through on details
• Proactive communicator: Takes initiative to keep partners informed, addresses issues before they escalate, and ensures clarity in all communications
• Culturally responsive: Demonstrates respect for diverse perspectives, experiences, and organizational cultures; committed to equity and inclusion
• Problem-solver: Identifies challenges and works creatively with partners to find solutions
• Adaptable: Comfortable working in a dynamic environment with shifting priorities and evolving initiatives
• Team player: Collaborates effectively with supervisor and colleagues while also working independently

Role Details:

Compensation and Schedule:

• Reports to: Executive Director
• Employment Status: Full-time, exempt (regularly scheduled hours: 9 AM - 5 PM Monday - Friday), requires both remote and in-person activities
• Location: Poughkeepsie, NY: Hybrid position requiring in-office presence on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and as-required other days for in-person meetings.
• Compensation: $110,000; Benefits and PTO Package
• Office environment: Professional, collaborative nonprofit setting
• Physical requirements: Ability to sit for extended periods, lift up to 25 pounds, and operate standard office and presentation equipment
• Travel: Regular local travel required for meetings and site visits; occasional national travel (2-3 times per year) for conferences and professional development

Application Process:

Open until filled; priority interviews given to applications received prior to June 26th; afterward applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Please email resume and cover letter as detailed below to jobs@pkchildren.org. Applications without a responsive cover letter will not be reviewed.

In your cover letter, please respond to the following questions:

• Describe a real estate development, housing, or community development project that you helped advance from concept to implementation. What was your role, what financing or partnership structures were involved, and what were the outcomes?

• Share an example of how you have worked with residents, community stakeholders, public agencies, or other partners to shape a development or neighborhood revitalization initiative. How did community priorities influence the final strategy or project?

• The Northside Initiative seeks to align mixed-income housing, neighborhood development, and long-term economic mobility for families. What excites you about this opportunity, and how do you see real estate and housing contributing to broader community outcomes?

Experienced, qualified applicants that do not meet 100% of listed qualifications, skills, or experience are encouraged to apply.

The Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established by applicable law. We seek to build a diverse staff representative of the communities we serve.

Health & Wellness

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Time Off

Birthday PTO, Regular PTO, and Sick Time

10–12 paid holidays

Sick leave, Bereavement leave

Work-Life & Mission

Hybrid Work

Proficiency in English required; Bilingual skills (Spanish/English) preferred