Communications & Community Engagement Consultant

EdVestors

Job Description

New Skills Boston (NSB) seeks a consultant to drive strategy on communications for the initiative and stakeholder engagement with support from a cross-partner working group focused on stakeholder engagement. The working group will be composed of stakeholders across the 8 partners organizations in NSB: Boston Public Schools, Boston Private Industry Council Bunker Hill Community College, The City of Boston, Office of Workforce Development, Massachusetts Executive Office of Education, UMass Boston, The Boston Foundation, and facilitating partner, EdVestors. The consultant will facilitate and support the working group to discuss and complete coordinated, collaborative actions aligned with the NSB Vision and Action Plan and provide timely updates that can be shared with the New Skills Boston Leadership Team. The consultant will also be integral in developing community relations related to the initiative that will inform strategy and grow the network that supports NSB.

Responsibilities:
  • Guide and drive the strategy for Communications and Community Engagement in collaboration with the Stakeholder Engagement working group in order to ensure conversations, tasks, and products meet the stated objectives of the working group, complete articulated actions steps within the NSB initiative, and achieve timely milestones
  • Manage the day-to-day tasks of the working group to prepare agendas, co-facilitate meetings and communicate with working group members to make progress on key deliverables. This work will be supported by and done in collaboration with EdVestors staff and an NSB Leadership Team member, but the consultant is an important driver of implementation
  • Prepare updates on group decisions, next steps, and areas of needed feedback that can be shared with the Leadership Team
  • Coordinate with EdVestors around project management, cross working group connections, and technical assistance needs.
  • Undertake other duties or special projects as assigned. This posting is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities.

Time Commitment: 8-12 hrs a month/ per working group for 12 months
  • Materials development; meeting preps and follow ups; working group updates and deliverable development (approx. 4-6 hrs per month)
  • Meetings with working group, a minimum of 1x per month (this may be increased based on need or project timeline, approx. 1hrs)
  • Stakeholder meetings (as determined by partner organizations, 2-3 hrs per month)
  • Coordination meeting with EdVestors staff in addition to working group meeting per month (1-2 hrs)

Qualifications
  • Experience and demonstrated success in facilitating and implementing cross-sector collaborative efforts
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate the NSB mission, vision, value, and impact to diverse groups
  • Experience with developing strategic communications for a range of audiences
  • Strong ability to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders including public school district, postsecondary, city and state agencies, workforce development partners, and community organizations
  • Adept at multitasking, meeting deadlines, and engaging a diverse audience of leaders
  • Outstanding organizational skills, with a high level of attention to detail and the ability to manage projects through to completion
  • Experience developing innovative methods, platforms, and channels to engage a range of stakeholders

Stakeholder Engagement
The stakeholder engagement group is responsible for
  • Coordinating partners to reach out to their stakeholders in key areas that will inform program design. The group will contribute to communications materials, stakeholder prompts, and ensuring that key voices are represented and amplified in this work. They will also ensure that NSB is represented in relevant forums or tools for stakeholder engagement, such as the Employer network or ensuring a career pathways questions is included on the Senior Exit survey
    • Key Activities include but are not limited to:
      • Providing input and vetting stakeholder engagement materials including survey prompts and conversation guides for focus groups
      • Reviewing and identifying key feedback to share with the Leadership Team to guide program design
      • Designing an iterative and sustainable process to engage stakeholders and incorporate their feedback routinely in NSB
    • Beyond program design phase, the stakeholder engagement group will be responsible for enlarging and communicating with the network of cross-sector (community partners, employers, learning institutions) collaborators to deepen the commitment for this system-level, equity-focused work across a broader group of stakeholders

Position Details
  • Project Period: June 2021-June 2022
  • Project Location: Boston (Note: All engagement is currently virtual and opportunities for in-person engagement will be contingent on city and state public health and safety guidelines)
  • Work closely with the Director of Career Pathways
  • Approximately 8-12 hrs/month
  • Compensation: Hourly consultant rate of $100-$125

EdVestors is an equal opportunity employer. At EdVestors, we strive to maintain an inclusive, flexible, and diverse work environment, and our team is made stronger by the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives within our staff.