JLA Public Involvement

Portland, OR 97205
Temporarily remote
$52,000 - $65,000 a year - Full-time

JLA is seeking a full-time senior program coordinator to work on a fast-paced team. If you like to solve problems, constantly learn new things, can track lots of tasks, and are self-directed, then this is the perfect job for you. Strong written, verbal, and visual communication skills are at the core of everything we do at JLA, since we help the public talk and engage with government agencies about projects that affect their daily lives.

Every day is different at JLA (and that is part of the fun). As a senior program coordinator, you will have a lot of control over your daily work activities as you help the larger team provide quality products for our clients and ensure that we can engage with communities about the projects that affect their lives.

Job Responsibilities

• Solving problems and being curious as you help clients and the JLA team figure out how to communicate, run a meeting or event and engage with the community. You will be gaining a better understanding of public involvement principles as you work and through training.
• Working closely with managers to track the details on an average of 10 projects. Organization is a skill that will serve you well! This may look like scheduling and planning logistics for public and internal events and meetings; coordinating with other teammates to get materials or surveys produced, responding to emails and phone calls from stakeholders; helping facilitate and taking meetings at virtual and in-person meetings; and summarizing meetings, events, and public comments.
• Being a critical team member on several projects at once, collaborating with multiple internal and external teams. You will also provide quality control review to ensure that clients receive polished work products. You should feel comfortable managing up and with your peers, as well as asking for help as needed.
• Summarizing complicated or conflicting information by asking questions and capturing key messages from meetings, conversations, and written materials. You will need to rewrite and explain complex information so that the public can understand issues related to a wide range of projects: roadway and transportation, wastewater treatment, long-range planning, and others. You should feel comfortable and curious about learning about many aspects of our government.
• Able to communicate with a wide range of people with curiosity, respect, and kindness. You will need to feel comfortable both in front of the public and directly interacting with people from all walks of life, as well as working behind the scenes to complete summaries, reports, and data processing of what you’ve heard from the public.
• Being self-directed. You will be assigned work and will also seek out work from others. You must be able to work both independently and with others on a fast-paced team to manage your daily work and ensure each task is delivered on time and budget.
• Being responsive to clients (government agencies and the public) who expect us to be responsible stewards of public funds while balancing the needs of the wider community.

KEY EXPERIENCE

Studies show that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they can meet every experience or skill listed in the job description. However, we know that each new JLA staffer brings unique skills (some that we haven’t considered) to our collaborative team. We encourage you to apply, even if you don’t feel like you have all of the listed skills! If we sound like a good fit, we’re interested to hear what you can bring to the role.

Required

• Relevant work experience (1-4 years) and/or Associates/Bachelor’s degree in a person-first (or public- facing) field such as journalism, public relations, communications, community outreach, education, event planning, politics/governance, planning, or similar.
• Customer/client service experience at any level is critical, internal with your teams and external with clients. As well as strong interpersonal skills and ability to move things forward.
• Strong communication skills, including comfort with public speaking and writing, including the ability to use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) products.
• Comfort working with people both in-person (dependent on health protocols) and virtually in Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings.
• Project management skills to drive complex projects with collaborative teams including peers and senior staff.

Desired

• Ability to work with limited information, ask questions, and then rewrite/explain complex information so that the public can understand the issue; the ability to feel comfortable and curious about learning.
• Education, training, or volunteer experience related to working with people, which could include facilitation, de-escalation, mediation, communications, or similar topics.
• The ability to speak another language besides English and provide informal translations/interpretations at events/with the public. Professional interpretation is not necessary.
• Experience with or knowledge of online engagement tools (websites, online surveys and social media).
• Previous experience working for a consulting firm or a job where you needed to track and report the hours you work to specific jobs or clients.

To apply: https://www.indeed.com/job/senior-program-coordinator-00c9be390550bb14