Organization: City of Cincinnati Office of Environment and Sustainability

About the position:

PROJECT CONTEXT

The Quality Green Jobs Agenda for Cincinnati/Hamilton County aims to address the pressing need for a sustainable and inclusive transition to a green economy. Quality, green jobs was the clearest cross-cutting theme throughout the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan community engagement process. By focusing on supporting low-income communities through targeted training, career development pathways, and comprehensive career supports that align with job growth sectors, this project seeks to create quality jobs and build a robust green workforce that can drive the city's environmental goals while promoting economic prosperity and social equity.

Cincinnati will partner with FUSE Corps to oversee the development of a green workforce agenda with internal and external partners that supports Cincinnati/Hamilton County’s transition to a thriving, green economy that creates training and quality jobs for low-income community members. As this is a new lane of workforce development for the City of Cincinnati, learning and partnership will be the focus of the initial stage of the Fellow’s work. The FUSE Fellow will build a coalition of partners, lead the development of a Quality Green Jobs Agenda, and set the coalition up for success in implementation.

In this role, the FUSE Executive Fellow will facilitate planning conversations, in collaboration with a wide cross-section of institutional and community partners, aiming to achieve an inclusive green workforce plan of action. The Green Workforce Development Fellow’s impact will outlive their role as the region’s workforce ecosystem will adopt and lead the implementation of the agenda moving forward.

PROJECT SUMMARY & POTENTIAL DELIVERABLES

The following provides a general overview of the proposed fellowship project. This project summary and the potential deliverables will be collaboratively revisited by the host agency, the fellow, and FUSE staff during the first few months of the fellowship.

Around the globe, we are being called to green our workforces. While every job can in some ways be a green job, the new green economy requires both skilling and reskilling in order to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the climate crisis. This means providing training for working age individuals on electric vehicle maintenance, renewable energy installation, building envelope and equipment improvements, green infrastructure construction practices, urban conservation efforts, sustainable agriculture methods, zero waste strategies, and more. A dramatic change is required of our workforce if we are to meet the challenges that the climate crisis is demanding. Through this new set of partnerships Fuse will help to grow, partners will work to strategically adapt training programs and career pathways, while engaging potential employees and employers to build an inclusive, green workforce to reach toward the community’s carbon neutrality goal. Beginning in October 2023, the FUSE Executive Fellow will facilitate the creation of an agenda that will map Cincinnati/Hamilton County’s path toward quality green jobs and a prepared, inclusive workforce.

The FUSE Executive Fellow will accomplish this objective by: conducting a listening tour to metabolize stakeholder insights, understand current, local workforce development systems and practices, and digest shared learning to date; facilitating the development of a Quality Green Jobs Agenda; and leading or collaborating closely with the City, county, community stakeholders, consultants, and private partners to pursue significant implementation dollars. This Fuse Fellow’s efforts will also help support the city’s goal of addressing disparities and promoting environmental justice for historically disinvested communities while increasing the City and County’s green workforce preparedness as the economy shifts.

By October 2024, the FUSE Executive Fellow will have:

Conducted a thorough and equitable review of the current landscape - Conducted a listening tour to become familiar with the city’s current green jobs strategies and players; engaged with all relevant stakeholders, including other departments and public agencies, staff members, private business, and community members to better understand their perspectives, priorities, and concerns with regard to greening the workforce; reviewed national, local, and global models for green workforce transition to identify successful strategies that are scalable in The City of Cincinnati; and share these landscape findings with key stakeholders.

Formed a comprehensive agenda and implementation framework – led the formation of a Quality Green Jobs Coalition that will develop a Quality Green Jobs Agenda for the Cincinnati and region alongside strategic partners, ensuring that community needs, perspectives, and equity for historically marginalized communities are centered in all strategies; aligned the Agenda’s goals and timelines with the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan and other relevant, local workforce strategies; identified funding opportunities and a communications plan for successful Agenda implementation.

Pursued green workforce funding opportunities - Led the drafting and submission of implementation-focused funding applications to federal, state, and local funders in order to set the coalition on a path to sustainable implementation of the Agenda.

QUALIFICATIONS

In addition to the qualifications listed below, a background in coalition building, strategic planning, project management, and having a startup mentality are strongly preferred for this project.

Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.

Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.

Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to difficult challenges.

Responds quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies and other processes.

Communicates effectively both verbally and in writing, and excels in both active listening and conversing.

Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies in order to support more effective decision making.

Establishes and maintains strong relationships with a diverse array of stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, and particularly including community-based relationships.

Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground.

Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy, while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.

FUSE is an equal opportunity employer with core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this position.

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual base salary of $80,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. Compensation for this year of public service is not intended to represent market-rate compensation for the experienced professionals in our program.

More information can be found here.