Faith in Rural Communities Program Manager

POSITION: Faith in Rural Communities Program Manager

Located in: Raleigh, NC

Background: Since 1987, the NC Rural Center has worked to improve the quality of life for the state’s rural people and places. Our mission is to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies to improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians. We serve the state’s 78 rural counties, with a special focus on individuals with low-to-moderate incomes and communities with limited resources. The NC Rural Center is a dynamic, nationally recognized non-profit that supports rural communities through leadership training, community capacity building, small business lending, research, and advocacy.

The NC Rural Center’s Faith in Rural Communities (FIRC) program sees local faith communities as catalysts to build community focused projects that ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive. FIRC supports rural churches to create community hubs, providing for the spiritual, physical, and economic needs of the wider community. We work with local leaders to integrate equity and strategic planning best practices into building relational programs that include all members of the community in the design and execution. FIRC builds this leadership capacity through training, coaching, and grant assistance to rural faith communities.

Position Overview: The FIRC Program Manager will be an integral part of the Faith in Rural Communities team and will report directly to the Director of FIRC. This position is funded through a grant from the Lilly Endowment.

Responsibilities:

The FIRC Program Manager will report directly to the Director of Faith in Rural Communities and has the following responsibilities:

Build on-going relationships with congregations and communities served
Identify new churches to build relationships for future opportunities
Oversee a process of curriculum continuous improvement with FIRC Team Members
Provide community development coaching and facilitation to faith communities and community teams. Community teams may include diverse faith, non-profit, community, and government leaders
Oversee the review, distribution, and follow-up on implementation grants including creating benchmarks and a framework for evaluating successful grant applications
Implement a system for measuring and evaluating programmatic impact in partnership with Director of Research and Director of FIRC
Identify and contribute content to project newsletter, social media communications, and marketing materials
Identify and assist in developing new training opportunities and webinars related to faith-based community development
Ensure compliance with all funding requirements
Participate in team and full staff meetings and other relevant internal meetings
Participate in external partner and stakeholder meetings as needed
Maintain knowledge on current best practices and models in faith-based community development

Qualifications:

5+ years working with diverse faith communities and/or rural economic development or a combination of equivalent experience and education, Master’s Degree in related field preferred.
Experience and comfort working with churches and rural communities
Ability to develop and propose practical solutions to rural challenges
Experience with or an understanding of community economic development
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with project partners and stakeholders
Appreciation for working with diverse staff and communities
Approaches work with an equity framework
Commitment to constant learning and continuous growth
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including strong presentation abilities
Ability to travel within North Carolina
Occasional work in the evenings and on weekends is required
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and Salesforce.