Cooperative Housing Specialist

Position Summary - Western Washington Area

This position is focused on assisting homeowner cooperatives through the transactional process of purchasing the land underneath their homes and providing ongoing organizational development and technical assistance training to the boards of directors, committees and members of resident owned manufactured housing communities (ROCs) across 
Western Washington State
. Expertise and experience necessary for success in this position include community organizing, organizational development, adult education, project management, and resource development and management. Additional responsibilities include developing and presenting large and small group training in many different environments. Ability to travel within Washington State is inherent in building relationships and delivering services. This position is remote and in the field across locations in Western Washington.

Desired Traits

• Highly effective communicator who is able to connect with a variety of audiences and diverse groups
• Personable and inclusive with the ability to manage social behavior for different groups, empathetic to the social needs of others, tolerant and generous, willing to include levity and humor when necessary
• Team orientated in the pursuit of solving problems and dedicated to building and maintaining a positive, preemptive and productive collaborative environment
• Optimistic and goal oriented, organized and systematic
• Self-motivated, with little oversight needed
• Understanding of cooperative systems and their role in affordable housing preservation
• Able to travel and work some evenings and weekends; valid driver's license necessary
• Spanish language fluency HIGHLY desirable
• Effective communicator who is able to connect with diverse groups
• Ability to read, interpret, and analyze budgets and financial documents and reports
• Fluent in both Microsoft Office and Google Suite platforms
• Familiarity with member-run, democratic, or cooperative governance structures

Key Responsibilities

• Facilitate the resident purchase of their manufactured housing community, providing supportive services to ensure residential cooperative is established according to State and model requirements. Ability to manage key objectives on a projected course with both set and variable timelines.
• Lead on the resident organizing effort associated with community acquisition. These activities include door knocking, community meetings, working groups, and conflict resolution as needed.
• Ensure that all cooperative members have a good understanding of the process, procedures and technical aspects necessary for incorporation and property purchase.
• Conduct a wide variety of adult education and training/coaching sessions including working with large groups of residents, committees, boards of directors and one-on-one meetings with community leaders.
• Review and analyze financial statements and documents, communicate information to committees and boards of directors as needed. Facilitate business financial learning sessions.
• Maintain and create cooperative business documents and policies.
• Support housing cooperative residents, committees and board of directors through on-going technical assistance including conflict resolution, vendor management, annual meetings, business management, volunteer management and community engagement.

Organization Information

Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) is a 501c3 non-profit that provides education and technical assistance to workers, producers, and consumers to support their efforts to start, support and/or expand cooperatives. NWCDC promotes cooperatives as a vibrant business model to address the economic and social needs of communities. NWCDC fulfills this mission by:

• Educating the public, community institutions and government agencies to foster and promote an understanding of cooperatives
• Identifying and disseminating information about successful practices and models for cooperatives
• Providing technical assistance and education for the development of cooperatives to best address economic and social needs

Cultivating a staff team that embodies the diverse experiences of Northwest communities is essential to these aspirations. We strongly and sincerely encourage applications from people of color; immigrant, bilingual, and multicultural individuals; deaf people and people with disabilities; members of LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming communities; and people with other diverse backgrounds and lived experiences.

Submitting a cover letter is strongly encouraged

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $64,250.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Application Question(s):

• Are you located in (or relocating to) Western Washington?

Language:

• Spanish (Required)

Work Location: On the road