Cooperative Housing Specialist (Central and Western MA)

About CDI: The Cooperative Development Institute (CDI, www.cdi.coop) is the Northeast's Center for cooperative business education, training, and technical assistance. CDI was founded in 1994 to help build a cooperative economy in the Northeast.

CDI is a virtually based 501(c)3 non-profit. Our employees enjoy the work and appreciate the flexibility and independence of working from home, the commitment to continuous learning and intentional organizational culture, and the interesting and varied work. Because CDI is transparent, accountable, and participatory, our staff's ideas and opinions count. We are committed to maintaining this culture.

Our mission is to help people in the Northeast create cooperative businesses, housing, and networks that grow a prosperous, equitable economy. We envision a democratically owned and just economy where everyone can fulfill their needs and aspirations. See our website for more!

General Statement of Duties: The Cooperative Housing Specialist works in the New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC) program. NEROC supports manufactured-home communities that are owned and governed by their residents as cooperative businesses known as ROCs (resident owned communities). When parks go up for sale NEROC helps the residents purchase them, and thereafter advises and trains residents to run the business democratically. As a result, residents keep their housing affordable and secure, have a say in decisions, and set the direction for their communities.

The focus of the work is to guide, train, and assist ROCs in Central and Western Massachusetts with the ongoing management and governance of their cooperatives. This includes helping the members of the cooperatives’ boards understand their roles and responsibilities in order to work effectively as resident-owners of a complex business. We also help co-op leaders and members foster a sense of empowerment and community spirit. The work is extremely varied.

Essential Job Functions: Cooperative Housing Specialist

1. Provide “technical assistance” to resident-owned manufactured housing communities, following the business model created by ROC USA. Duties include:
   1. Assist with board meetings and periodic member meetings, including coaching on: agenda preparation, running efficient meetings, parliamentary procedures and democratic dynamics, task management, and minutes and financial reports.
   2. Train and coach boards on using the co-op’s bylaws, community rules and regulations, and business policies related to member applications, committee structures, rules enforcement, management practices, etc.
   3. Help ROCs find the resources they need for the business, and coach on problem-solving.
2. Assist ROCs with all aspects of their financial and loan compliance duties.
3. Collaborate to deliver training on best practices relating to the ROC model, including:
   1. Cooperative principles and democratic processes and the rights, roles, and responsibilities of members and directors.
   2. Communication skills and work systems.
   3. Understanding financials, budgeting, and asset management/capital work
4. Take part in the organizational work of NEROC to help the program run well.
5. Communicate with officials, attorneys, engineers, and other professionals about clients’ needs.
6. Help clients line up the resources for infrastructure and infill projects and liaise with their project managers, or on occasion provide the project management. 
7. Do required internal and external reporting, including to CDI funders and client lenders.
8. As needed, help struggling cooperatives identify problems and develop a plan of action.
9. Assist with acquisition work as needed throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
10. Other tasks and special projects, as assigned.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Flexible availability that includes days, evenings, and occasional weekends.
• Access to reliable transportation.
• Strong relational and interpersonal communication skills, and discerning judgment.
• Highly organized and self-managing. 
• Ability to pay close attention to detail, plan ahead, prioritize, and meet tight deadlines.
• Proven ability to learn quickly, process a lot of information, and apply it on the job.
• Able to work well under pressure and handle difficult interpersonal conflicts skillfully.
• Works collaboratively, self-motivated, flexible, enthusiastic.
• Shows a strong commitment to the cooperative mission of CDI and affordable housing mission of NEROC.

If not present at hire, these skills and abilities must be gained within 3 to 6 months of starting:

• Comfortable working remotely and independently.
• Computer literate and familiar with programs used in remote work including video platforms, cloud storage, and office applications. 
• Culturally sensitive to working with diverse groups of people.
• Experience with meeting facilitation.
• Able to assist and advise clients while developing their leadership skills, meeting people where they are while nurturing self-sufficiency.
• Familiarity and comfort with democratically run organizational structures, management, policies and best practices. 
• Experience in coping skillfully with challenging behaviors or conflict situations.
• Strong grasp of fiscal management, strategic planning, and general business practices.
• Working understanding of budgeting, accounting, and financial reporting.
• Comfort with public speaking.

Preferred Areas of Experience

1. Cooperative business or project management in community or economic development.
2. Group facilitation and coaching groups through autonomous decision-making.
3. Real-estate finance, property management, or contractor negotiations.

Organizational Expectations

1. Responsible for conducting all activities within the prescribed policy and budgetary guidelines as set by the CDI Board and administered by the Executive Director.
2. Participates in CDI's overall team, sharing information effectively for mutual support to do CDI's work. Builds positive and strong relationships with other CDI staff.
3. Demonstrates personal responsibility in job performance.
4. Responsible for modeling professional behavior and is consistently respectful with colleagues, staff, and clients.
5. May be required to perform additional, related duties or functions of lesser or greater responsibility as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

Wages, Benefits, and Hours: Starting hourly wage ranges from $30.24 - $32.64 an hour, based on experience. This is a full-time position with a 40-hour work week. Paid time off includes 3 weeks of vacation, increasing to 4 weeks after two years’ tenure, plus 13 paid holidays/year and a 5-week sabbatical after every five years of employment. Other benefits include: monthly home office stipend, health insurance, family and medical leave, retirement plan, and other benefits. Mileage reimbursed at the IRS rate. 

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

Supervision: Supervised by NEROC’s Regional Manager. This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Geography: Candidate must reside in Central or Western Massachusetts and will work with clients, including attending meetings in person. May sometimes support other work around the Northeast.

Inclusion: We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, age, or disability. CDI is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.

We promote economic prosperity for all through our work with our clients, our hiring and employment practices, and our vigorous commitment to cooperative principles. We strive daily to acknowledge and eliminate all forms of oppression. By examining bias within ourselves and our organization, we work mindfully to make our board and staff more inclusive. We actively fight against racism, classism, gender inequality and all efforts to marginalize anyone. The nature of our work engages us directly with the working poor, the educationally disadvantaged, the elderly, immigrants and refugees. It is our goal to see all of our clients prosper within the cooperative movement.

We welcome applicants from underrepresented identities, and those who have a commitment and track record of bringing an inclusive and equitable approach to their work.

The position will remain open until filled, but applications received by August 21st, 2024 will get priority attention. Please supply a cover letter with your resume.  Three references will be requested before an offer is made.