Research and Policy Wend Community Connector
Job Description
Position: Wend Community Connector
Location: Denver Metro area (Aurora)
Job Classification: Full-time
The Organization
In a sentence: Wend is a collective of wayfinders exploring pathways towards a better world — a world with more trust, more vibrancy, and more justice; accomplished by healthier relationships with ourselves, each other, communities, the natural world, and spirit.
The current landscape: We’re creating a new kind of social impact fund — one that uses the mindset of equity and abundance to return to a more interconnected world. We do not align behind a single organizational purpose; instead we move towards a better world on a path of shared values, empowered to be the change we want to see.
The Area of Our Work
The Wend Community Connector will support our work in Community Systems, dedicated to a world more oriented to equity and wellness for all through system change centered in and driven by context, community and our interconnectedness.
Wend seeks social systems that create the conditions for life and perpetuate values of equity, empowerment and holistic support. Community Systems team members are dedicated to redesigning and evolving systems of public education, health, food, democracy and other essential human services by bringing humans to the center of design, learning as a core principle and authentic, caring support to all people. Partnering closely with and guided by communities and visionary system leaders, Wend team members in this work are dedicated community allies and systems change agents.
The Role
The Wend Community Connector will be dedicated to four essential roles within the Community Systems team and body of work:
- Outreach and Research – Joining our research partners and team members in building and maintaining understanding of the full landscape of organizations and community leaders related to and aligned with Community Systems values, work, goals in Aurora, CO and beyond
- Community Partner – Creating and maintaining authentic and trusting relationships with partners, allies and leaders in the community
- Resource Navigator – Actively gathering and mapping resources and connections to support the goals and wellness of Wend partners and their communities
- Steward – Connecting and supporting the Community Systems team by joining meetings, capturing notes and learning, and other essential operational functions; Acting as a connector to the larger Wend operational and Stewards of Capacity team
Ways of Working
The goals of our Community Systems vision require a certain way of working, in which the ‘how’ is as important as the ‘what’. The Wend Community Connector commits to:
- Catalyze and amplify community-led change by acting as ally, advocate, thought-partner and connector
- Recognize the harmful inherent privilege and power paradigm in funder relationships, and work constantly and transparently to overcome and transform that dynamic
- Prioritize building deep, trusting, transparent relationships with team, community and partners
- Learn from partners and the work, and remain closely and respectfully involved
- Take an asset-based approach to communities and other partners
- Respect the complexity of context, whether in relationship, organization, community or a system
- Embrace and uphold the profound need for our essential social systems and their revitalization
- Practice urgent patience, seeking to meet immediate need while recognizing the pace of change and building solutions to serve generations to come
- Live and lead from the ‘What if…’
Examples of Duties and Actions
Asset-based community organizing and collective change-building are at the heart of this work and role. These values and practices infuse and inform all actions as the Community Connector:
- Co-designs and conducts initial and ongoing outreach and research to understand and connect organizations, services, resources and leaders in the community
- Uses asset-based community organizing approaches to continuously build network of partners and relationships in community, learning and connecting to strengthen work, trust and learning among diverse and sometimes unlikely stakeholders
- Builds on landscape analysis and close, transparent, collaborative relationships to make recommendations to other team members regarding strengths and needs in the community
- Works closely with partners to identify capacity needs and their intersection with the wider ecosystem and available support, and with the Community Systems team to strategically access and connect the capacities and resources needed
- Strengthens, connects and supports the Community Systems team by providing critical operational support; joining meetings, capturing and sharing notes, organizing and sharing learning, connecting to the larger Wend operational team, and other key supports as needed.
Qualifications
Strong candidates for the Community Connector Role at Wend:
- Resonate deeply with the values and goals described above and would passionately question and drive them forward
- Are passionate and experienced asset-based social justice activists and community connectors
- Bring experience in landscape analysis, non-profit evaluation or other related research, particularly with a relational lens and asset-based approaches
- Thrive in operational roles and the opportunity to provide administrative support to strengthen a small and extremely dedicated team and its growing work
- Uphold equity and well-being for all as the foundation and goal of the work
- Are adept at building authentic trust and partnership, with an emphasis on learning from partners and community and particularly from those most impacted by systemic oppression
- Embrace being ‘wrong’ and limited in understanding, hand-in-hand with their gratitude in being able to bring their own insights and expertise to shared solution-building
- Are independently motivated and excited to bring their insights, expertise, determination and hope to this role
- Are skilled at seeing and forging connections, both within the team and in the work in
the world.
- Follow-through on commitments, follow-up on possibilities and prioritize communication and reliability
- Have deep and authentic experience of context for those most marginalized in our communities and country
- Bring to bear and to life the principles of ‘Nothing about us without us’ and ‘Those closest to the problem must lead to change it’
- Recognize that work in the world goes hand in hand with personal ‘work’ and well-being
