We’ve closed the position listed below! But feel free to read more or watch our informational webinar about our organization and the position.
We are hiring a new partner who will work with our InfrastructureNext team across a variety of projects that cover drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure planning, programs, and policy change. This position will work directly with communities, governments, and nonprofit partners to craft innovative water infrastructure solutions that improve environmental, health, and community development outcomes.
This new partner will help grow our InfrastructureNext program, finding sustainable water solutions for small, low-income, and rural communities, and others that have experienced inequity under current approaches to infrastructure and conservation.
Position Announcement: Partner, Community Water Solutions
Location: Hybrid or remote, Oregon or Washington
Open: March 7, 2022
Closing: This position is closed.
Check out the job description and learn more about how to apply.
Our informational webinar gave interested applicants a chance to ask anonymous questions about the Community Water Solutions position. We didn’t have the opportunity to answer everyone’s in the time we had. Below are the questions and our responses that were asked but unanswered during the webinar.
Q: Is the start date flexible?
A: Yes, the start date is relatively flexible. However, a request to start much later, like in 2023, would probably not be under consideration.
Q: What are some of the questions Willamette Partnership asks themselves when entering a new community to understand environmental equity challenges?
A: We have an equity audit tool that helps us explore EDI foundations of partners, power and influence, financial flows, benefits/harms, and assets/opportunities. We ground this in community by collaborating with community partners and community leaders who have knowledge about the strengths that the community brings and the challenges that they face.
If hosting a collaborative table, we include communities that are impacted and diverse stakeholders from various sectors – learn more about our Collaborative Leadership Model.
Q: Can you describe a “typical” day at work?
A: Willamette Partnership staff’s workday can vary depending on the project and role we are taking responsibility for. Below is an example of what WP staff may do in a “typical” day –
- A few hours in communication (Zoom, phone calls, Slack) with staff team members, partners on project work, or new contacts for a project to learn more about a project challenge
- Tasks like planning how to accomplish upcoming tasks, prepping or scheduling meetings/workshops, problem-solving
- A few hours doing project work or deep work
- Tasks like researching different water infrastructure solutions, understanding how Statewide Planning Goal 16 really works, writing up an operations plan for an existing collaborative, creating a facilitation agenda for an upcoming meeting, grant writing, or drafting a 1-pager describing the phases of a prospective project for local partners
- An hour+ responding to various emails and staying on top of administrative needs
- Plus one of the following: facilitate a meeting with leaders of a collaborative to check in on the big picture and map out next steps, look for funding opportunities for a specific program/project need, attend a 1-hour fun internal team or staff meeting
Q: How much of your time is spent in business development?
We would split up project development from fundraising development. Project development is a learning process where we hear of a need from a partner and we start pulling on that thread, reaching out to local folks to better understand the issue at hand. Then, if our skills and work are applicable, we talk with local folks about what kind of support we could provide. Fundraising development occurs either outside of project development or after we have already begun working in a community or watershed. For fundraising development, we probably spend several weeks of time in total per year.
This position is not expected to lead on fundraising development for their first year but will be asked to support such work as a means to learn our grant-seeking processes and approach. Ultimately, fundraising development can often be one of our most effective tools to bring potential partners together to prioritize important work. It can be a decision-making tool as much as a project funding tool.
