As our region's community foundation, The Chicago Community Trust has been here for all Chicagoans for over 110 years. We unite donors, nonprofits and residents to support people, organizations and partnerships that strengthen the Chicago region. We address challenges that stand in the way of a thriving region, including meeting people's critical needs such as secure housing and healthy food; mobilizing support in response to crises such as the Great Depression and COVID pandemic; and working on ways to build wealth and well-being for Chicagoans, including those who have historically lacked equal access to opportunity. The Trust prioritizes homeownership as a core part of its strategy to close the region's racial and ethnic wealth gap. Homeownership is a household asset and means to create intergenerational wealth. Increased homeownership also builds neighborhood wealth.

With multi-year, collaborative funding from philanthropy, Chicago's Connecting Capital and Community (3C) initiative launched in 2022 with the Trust as convener, and in partnership with a network of lenders, developers, and community navigators, with the aim of giving Chicagoans a smoother path to homeownership in two West Side communities: East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park. 3C Chicago was part of a national initiative working alongside a five-city cohort to strengthen local investments, challenge inequities, and increase equitable housing opportunities. Cohort received funding and coaching support to launch their local efforts: including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami and Seattle.

In Chicago, partners have worked to improve opportunities to pursue wealth building through homeownership in long underinvested communities in Chicago - specifically East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park, which are predominantly Black and Latine. This collaborative leverages its experience and funding to create supply and demand solutions both for homebuyers in East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park, as well as supporting community-based developers. 3C's shared investment priorities include expanding the affordable inventory for homeownership, supporting a pipeline of resident homebuyers, and promoting equitable access to capital.

3C's approach has been to act and learn simultaneously, funding and testing scalable models and strategies to address systemic barriers in the housing market and ensure individuals from historically underinvested communities have the opportunity to achieve homeownership and equitable access to capital. In doing so, we hope to gain insights on interventions that are aimed at systems change and shaping a new homeownership model for Chicago that can be scaled across other communities.

As 3C approaches the end of its third year, the partners worked together to complete a new 3-year strategic plan to define and guide its efforts moving forward into a "New Shore". This position comes in at a critical time in 3C's evolution, as partners reflect on the progress and learnings from the initial years ("The Old Shore") and look to deepen and expand their work for the years to come. The Director will lead the work of 3C into the New Shore over the next three years, working closely with the 3C Program Manager and a diverse team of stakeholders from multiple organizations who are looking to drive an ambitious set of results, secure new funding, share learnings, and build relationships along the way. A key part of this role will include mapping out the strategic next steps for 3C as a collaborative initiative within The Chicago Community Trust and determine next steps for its organizational structure, which could potentially include spinning out into its own entity beyond The Chicago Community Trust.

Position Responsibilities:

• Oversee the planning, execution, and evaluation of the work of 3C, including leading implementation of 3C's strategic plan and priorities.
• Lead, manage, and assemble teams of stakeholders with the needed capacities and relationships to achieve the targeted results of 3C.
• Deepen, expand, and refine the 3C Chicago model to meet the evolving needs of the Chicago market and integrate into the broader housing and development ecosystem.
• Coordinate fundraising efforts and secure additional resources for the initiative, including identifying, cultivating, and securing funding and investment opportunities to support and scale the model.
• Cultivate and manage collaborative relationships to deepen and expand the model and strategy, including technical assistance providers, financial institutions, neighborhood organizations, foundations, investors, housing developers, real estate professionals, government agencies, and other critical stakeholders.
• Develop a communications, reporting, and accountability structure to communicate the purpose, outcomes, and progress of 3C for multiple audiences.
• Oversee data collection and performance evaluation to track progress against key metrics and inform the continuous improvement and expansion of 3C strategies.
• Develop and manage 3C budget, ensuring efficient use of funding and resources.
• Supervise the 3C Program Manager and foster collaboration among 3C partners and across internal staff at the Trust.
• Create a workplan to determine the next steps of the 3C organizational structure, within the next 3 years, in partnership with Trust and 3C leadership.

This position offers hybrid working model (2 days in office/3 days remote)

Position Qualifications:

• Master's degree preferred but we welcome all candidates regardless of education background
• Background in community development, real estate development and finance, urban and regional planning, public policy or a related field.
• Experience and understanding of the community development ecosystem in Chicago and the region, including the local housing sector, the local real estate development sector and with associated stakeholders
• Experience with housing, real estate and/or community development and finance, and willingness to explore new ways to finance, preserve, and develop housing and increase sustainable homeownership
• Experience with financial capital, capital stacking and development deal flow
• Experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives that involve community, public, and private sector collaboration.
• Experience in fundraising, capital raising, and resource development, including relationships with philanthropic, public, and private funding partners.
• Track record of successfully designing and implementing strategic plans, including performance measurement, data evaluation, and continuous improvement.
• Comfort and competency with working through adaptive challenges where solutions are not yet developed
• Ability to strengthen ideas and build momentum by leveraging existing programs/initiatives, resources, structures and policies
• Experience communicating effectively and working collaboratively with diverse people and communities, including residents, private and nonprofit real estate developers, philanthropy, the public sector, institutional leaders, the finance sector, and investors
• Ability to collaboratively lead through networking, facilitating, and problem-solving
• Experience advancing policy and or structural changes in the public or private sectors
• Strong orientation and commitment to racial equity, equitable results, and community voice
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to self-start with input from diverse interests
• Connect local efforts to the efforts in cities across the country, including other 3C cities
• Strong orientation to results, systems thinking, and learning
• Lived experience with issues that impact the work of 3C
• Ability to synthesize and follow through on the guidance of a multi-sector collaborative