A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service (OCEVS) is committed to increasing long term, sustainable civic engagement throughout the city. To support this goal, we offer a variety of training opportunities for community members, nonprofit partners and City agencies. In addition, we support internal and cross-sector convening and collaboration to reduce silos and increase efficiency and efficacy of engagement and volunteer programs and tactics.  OCEVS is housed within the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement (OPE).

About the project you’ll be working on:

Community engagement is the foundational way government opens its doors to connect communities to programs and services, better understand community need, share decision-making, and honor work already occurring in neighborhoods. However, many communities won’t and can’t interact with government because we’ve either broken their trust or haven’t created the conditions for their engagement.

To address these realities, the PHL Service Design Studio and the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service have been working on an Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit in collaboration with City engagement staff, community groups, and Philadelphia residents. The Toolkit is a Citywide initiative that will transform how the City of Philadelphia thinks about, plans for, and facilitates engagement with the communities we serve. It’ll include a vision and guiding principles, strategies and tools, evaluation resources, training, and a cultivated community of practitioners made up of City engagement staff and community members. All guidance will be accessible online within the phila.gov platform. Read this blog post to learn more about the Toolkit project.

About your position:

The Equitable Engagement Manager will be responsible for developing and implementing the Equitable Engagement Initiative, guided by the Equitable Community Engagement (ECE) Toolkit, a project led by the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service (MOCEVS), Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement (OPE), and the Service Design Studio (SDS) at the Chief Administrative Office (CAO).

The Equitable Engagement Initiative aims to envision what equitable community engagement can look like for the City of Philadelphia, through shared principles, tactics and tools for both internal City staff and community based engagement practitioners conduct equitable community engagement work across Philadelphia.

Essential Functions

In this role, you will:

Lead the management of Toolkit standards, guidance, and tools.

• Work closely with the PHL Service Design Studio to write and finish Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit guidance and tools.
• Manage, maintain, and evolve all Toolkit vision, guidance, and tools on phila.gov.
• Work with the Toolkit Equitable Community Engagement Trainer and Equitable Engagement Director to identify opportunities to strengthen and evolve existing Toolkit strategy and resources with stakeholder feedback. 
• Lead the development of new guides and tools and ensure said content follows the City of Philadelphia content standards (https://standards.phila.gov), e.g., content is written in plain language and uses inclusive terminology.
• Proactively manage self and project to ensure deadlines are met. 
• Communicate the status of work, challenges, and successes clearly and honestly. 
• Problem-solve through ambiguity and when challenges arise. 
• Contribute to ongoing governance of the Toolkit.

Cultivate, grow, and support a community of equitable community engagement practitioners.

• Model, advocate, and serve as an engagement expert for  City staff seeking to practice equitable community engagement.
• Build strategies for how the City can engage more equitably.
• Disseminate lessons learned, tools, and best practices.
• Establish and nourish a community of practice where engagement practitioners from different departments can support peers and share resources that lead to advancing equity-centered engagement City-wide.
• Manage the curation and distribution of the bi-monthly ECET newsletter to share upcoming training, resources, and Toolkit opportunities.

Manage, coordinate, and facilitate Toolkit pilots.

• Coordinate, manage, and convene an existing internal cross-agency advisory board to support, guide, and evaluate how pilot agencies and City practitioners are using the Toolkit.
• Set up, coordinate, and convene an external community-based advisory board to support, guide, and evaluate how pilot agencies are using the Toolkit.
• Provide strategic support to assist with pilot community engagement efforts.
• Work with the PHL Service Design Studio to test, evaluate, and assess the efficacy of the Toolkit through pilots with partner agencies.
• Manage, disseminate, and collect evaluation surveys and data to assess pilots and stakeholder engagement.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Candidates should have: 

• Three to five years of full-time or equivalent part-time experience managing equity-centered culture change projects in complex community-based or institutional organizations.
• Three to five years of experience with community engagement or organizing experience.
• Experience, familiarity, and comfort with launching and managing new programs.
• Experience evaluating the efficacy of programs and resources.

Nice-to-have skills: 

• Bilingual (Spanish and/or Mandarin Chinese preferred)
• Experience with community-based and participatory design 
• Experience managing a repository of guides, tools, templates to advance equitable practices.
• Experience working in the social impact space or complex service environments

• 3-5 years experience in project/program management
• 3-5 years experience with community engagement or organizing
• Experience, familiarity and comfort with starting new projects/initiatives
• Experience launching and managing new programs

TO APPLY: Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume.

Salary

The salary for this position is $65,000 ending June 30, 2023. Because this is a full-time position, employees will receive benefits.

Hybrid work schedule

Currently, the team works on a hybrid schedule with some days from home and some in the office. The specifics of this schedule may change depending on the status of COVID-19.

Did you know?

• We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer
• 25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Please note that effective September 1, 2021 the City of Philadelphia is requiring all new employees to present proof of vaccination against COVID-19. 

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to [email protected].

For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx