Position & Description:

If you are seeking an opportunity to utilize your strategic and implementation skills to make lasting
systems change in socio-economic mobility, this role is for you.

After 10-years of growth and leaning, CityLink is positioned to approach systemic issues through
tangible projects to elevate our mission within our walls and beyond. The Strategic Initiatives
Manager will support special projects related to an Affiliate Network, a peer learning network
with other centers across the country in order to improve services and outcomes for our
neighbors. This role will be responsible for managing the relationships and activities that help
the Affiliate Network come to life and drive the connections that result in actual impact. This
role will also support special projects within CityLink Center that have a direct impact on our
operations and potential to impact the Network as a whole.

The Strategic Initiatives Manager is responsible for creating and cultivating a network focused
on sharing best practices, making improvements through evaluating current performance,
supporting adjustments to maximize opportunities, and managing projects to take new ground.

The Strategic Initiatives Manager will manage and support additional special projects chartered
by leadership to take new ground focused on sector funding, local expansion, and other areas.

The role is cross-functional in nature, looking across various aspects of the organization to help
the team understand current performance and opportunity areas. To achieve these outcomes, the role will need to coordinate efforts of team members and third-party contractors, volunteers, or consultants in order to deliver projects according to plan.

Mission and Vision Support:

The Strategic Initiatives Manager directly supports CityLink’s vision and mission through helping
us to connect, learn, and grow. The ability for the role to understand context for our work, situations in other communities, opportunities for shared learning and growth will enable long-term success for the center and the network.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned as appropriate):
Develop the Affiliate Network:
• Connect with existing leaders of centers interested in network, solicit input and input
• Reconnect with historic leads and sites interested in model
• Continue to facilitate process for organizations interested in model, continue to build
upon modules and approach of web-based platform
• Incorporate additional affiliates information into web-based platform and determine
their desire to support or outsource replication support for their respective inquiries
Drive Connectivity & Learning in Affiliate Network:
• Identify and prioritize learning opportunities in regards to aspects of operating center
(programming, partnership, volunteer engagement, fundraising, etc).
• Facilitate intentional connectivity and learning with different functional areas in centers.
• Facilitate quarterly leadership calls with agendas, information, and approach to drive
learning and improvement opportunities.
• Facilitate annual gathering for peer to peer learning at Affiliate Site
Lead Evaluation and Continuous Improvement:
• For Affiliate Partners, support data aggregation and evaluation with 3rd party analyst
• Summarize information and identify areas of differentiated performance to understand
any best practices and share within the network
• Support interest in sharing and adoption of programs and partners throughout network
by summarizing opportunities and facilitating exploration
Manage Special Initiatives:
• Assist in identifying, then coordinate and manage special initiative development from
beginning to end which are short-term in nature but key projects to extend impact
locally or nationally
• Define project scope, goals and deliverables that support organization goals in
collaboration with key stakeholders, develop full-scale project plans and
communications documents.
• Effectively communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders
• Track project milestones and deliverables, develop and deliver progress reports,
proposals, requirements documentation, and presentations
• Determine the frequency and content of status reports from the project team, analyze
results, and troubleshoot problem areas
• Conduct project post mortems and create a recommendations report in order to
identify successful and unsuccessful project elements
• Develop best practices and tools for project execution and management

CityLink Mission: To show God’s love to those in need by providing an integrated path to holistic life change.

Position Qualifications
• Mature in faith and committed to continuous growth
• People Person – interest in connecting with others and facilitating connections
• Strategic – Ability to think strategically across multiple priorities and initiatives
• Solution Focused – high initiative as self-starter and focused on what is possible, and willing to role up sleeves in order to get the job done
• Organized – High organizational skills and follow-through
• Flexible yet Focused – ability to work through ambiguous and challenging situations

Education and Experience
• Possess a bachelor’s degree in applicable field
• Experience working cross-functionally
• Preference for experience in change management or continuous improvement
• Experience in working in highly collaborative environment with multiple partners

Capabilities
• Action orientation, demonstrated ability to go from idea to implementation
• Demonstrated capability to effectively communicate orally and in writing
• Ability to work well with a diverse group of staff and volunteers
• Willingness to adjust hours to accommodate the needs of the job
• Ability to effectively manage a wide array of tasks, projects, and responsibilities
• Ability to work productively in an unstructured environment

Time Commitments
• Hours are generally Monday through Friday during workday
• Role may require some travel (<10%) to site visits to other centers

Time Commitment: 40 hours /week
Reports To: Johnmark Oudersluys, Executive Director of CityLink Center