Economic Development Specialist Jobs

ResponsibilitiesORGANIZATIONAL:

Reporting to the Executive Director of the Upper Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Transformation Project (UBFNTP), the Buffalo Center for Health Equity is seeking an experienced community development professional to serve as the Housing, Neighborhood, and Economic Development Core Coordinator (HNEC) for the Upper Broadway–Fillmore Neighborhood Transformation Project.

The HNEC will play a leading role in advancing the project’s housing, physical development, and community economic development strategy. The position must be a visionary with outstanding organization, communications, and relationship building skills. The position must have the vision and foresight to imagine new ways of organizing non-profits in the housing repair field, understand how to build a neighborhood economy based on cooperative economics, and imagine ways to enable tenants gain control over their living spaces.

A major focus of the position will be helping to reimagine how housing is developed, rehabilitated, financed, and maintained in Upper Broadway–Fillmore, with particular attention to improving the quality of homes where residents already live, reducing housing costs, and keeping housing affordable for neighborhood residents.

The HNEC works closely with and reports to the Oversight Managers of the relevant project Core(s). The ideal candidate will understand housing not simply as a commodity, but as a fundamental component of neighborhood health, stability, wealth, and quality of life—and will be prepared to help develop new approaches that allow residents to remain, thrive, and build assets in Upper Broadway–Fillmore Neighborhood.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Work across four interconnected areas: housing rehabilitation, new housing construction, neighborhood physical infrastructure, and community economic development.
• Work with Core Oversight Managers to develop agendas, priorities, strategies, and implementation plans.
• Lead efforts to advance innovative approaches to housing rehabilitation and development.
• Support strategies that reduce the cost of housing construction and rehabilitation and develop strategies to organize tenants and help them gain control over their housing situations.
• Identify approaches that can reduce rents and preserve affordable housing.
• Help operationalize the “Fix the Houses Where People Actually Live” and “Whole House Repair” initiatives.
• Work closely with Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services to plan, organize, and implement housing-repair initiatives.
• Build relationships with housing organizations, community development organizations, government agencies, financial institutions, and other relevant partners.
• Develop collaborative housing and neighborhood-development projects.
• Support efforts to increase resources available to Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services.
• Collaborate with low-income homeowners to identify and address housing needs.
• Support development of new housing construction strategies.
• Identify opportunities for community ownership and other innovative approaches to neighborhood development.
• Support physical infrastructure and neighborhood improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to strategies for community economic development and increased neighborhood economic opportunity.
• Help coordinate housing and economic-development activities with the project’s broader resident-engagement and neighborhood-transformation strategy.
• Track emerging housing, development, financing, and policy opportunities affecting the neighborhood.
• Perform other duties necessary to advance the project’s housing, neighborhood, and economic-development goals.

Required QualificationsEDUCATION:

• High school diploma or equivalent and at least ten years of relevant professional experience in housing, urban planning, community development, economic development, public administration, neighborhood revitalization, or related field; OR
• Associate’s degree in urban planning, housing, community development, economic development, public administration or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience; OR
• Bachelor’s degree in urban planning, housing, community development, economic development, public administration, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.

EXPERIENCE:

• Demonstrated understanding of affordable housing challenges affecting low- and moderate-income households, including homeowners who need repairs and rehabilitation.
• Experience coordinating projects, developing partnerships, solving problems, and working with organizations, institutions, and diverse community stakeholders.
• Strong organizational, written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively, manage competing priorities, and translate neighborhood needs into practical strategies and initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in urban planning, community development, public administration, real estate development, or a related field, and at least three years of relevant professional experience in housing, community development, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, or related field.
• Three or more years of relevant professional experience, particularly in affordable housing, home repair and rehabilitation, neighborhood revitalization, or community economic development.
• Experience developing or implementing housing initiatives, securing funding, coordinating construction or rehabilitation projects, or working with public and private housing programs.
• Familiarity with federal, New York State, and City of Buffalo housing and community development programs and funding opportunities.
• Knowledge of community ownership models, equitable development, community development finance, and strategies for preserving housing affordability.
• Established relationships with housing organizations, community development corporations, contractors, public agencies, or neighborhood-based organizations in Buffalo.
• Knowledge of Upper Broadway–Fillmore and the broader East Buffalo community, including neighborhood assets, housing conditions, and resident priorities.

Key Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Competency in desktop computing skills including email, word-processing, file management, and basic graphic design, and ability to learn interfacing skills with a database.
• Highly effective time management skills.
• Effective team building and sustaining skills.
• Ability to mentor individual staff in professional impact, growth as well as accountability.
• Ability to graciously receive feedback from supervisors and effectively make use of it to adapt.
• Ability to analyze and interpret data to recommend changes in communications strategy.

Apply

Interested candidates should apply at:
https://www.cognitoforms.com/BuffaloCenterForHealthEquity/UBFNTPHousingNeighborhoodAndEconomicDevelopmentCoreCoordinator

Pay: $65,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Work Location: In person