Job Alert: Outreach & Development Associate – Coalition for Smarter Growth @ Washington, DC

November 25, 2013 at 7:05 pm

The Coalition for Smarter Growth seeks an Outreach and Development Associate to join our dynamic and talented team. The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish.

We’re looking for an energetic, positive, creative team member who is organized, detail-oriented, and possesses outstanding interpersonal skills. We offer a fun and flexible office environment, conveniently located near Union Station. As a small organization (there are five other full-time staff members), this position fills a critical need in our office. It’s also a great opportunity for the right candidate to not only help build and win victories for our smart growth movement, but develop a varied portfolio that can significantly enhance your professional development.

Our ideal candidate is a multitasking individual who can switch easily between playing a key support role on our fundraising team, coordinating our annual educational series of events, leading targeted outreach campaigns (in coordination with our policy team), and managing office operations. An intuitive feel for tech troubleshooting, successful grant writing experience, a campaign fundraising or organizing background, or a demonstrated passion for smart growth policy are all things that can move a candidate up the priority list.

SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising

Outreach: Manage donor relationship process, execute direct mailings, research donors and foundations, draft correspondence and other documents, and take the lead in event planning and logistics.

Data: Process donations, maintain donor database and run queries and reports (using the Salsa CRM).

Educational Outreach and Advocacy

Coordinate Walking Tours & Forum program: Play the lead coordinating role for planning our annual series of walking tours of transforming neighborhoods and educational forums on smart growth topics. Work with our policy team to determine appropriate guest speakers, plan itinerary, and work with our communications team to plan and execute promotional publicity.

Coordinate Events: Plan and manage CSG outreach events including social hours that cultivate our supporters, donors, volunteers and partners.

Coordinate targeted advocacy campaigns: In conjunction with policy team, coordinate DC and Arlington advocacy projects on issues like transit investment, land use policy, and affordable housing.

Press Outreach: Play a support role to our communications team’s outreach efforts on earned media throughout the D.C. region, supervising regular updates to our media database, sending out press releases, and making prepared press calls.

Running Office Operations

General Administration: Accounting tasks including tracking and reconciling bills and invoices, troubleshooting office equipment including the copier, answering the phone, updating our databases, ordering office supplies

Staff Support: Meeting coordination and scheduling, proofreading, maintaining our office calendar, sending and forwarding emails, and other tasks as needed.

The Other Stuff

As a small organization, there are times we all pitch in on problem solving, major events, and special projects. Everyone wears a lot of hats here, so we want any new team member to be ready to do the same!

Qualifications

  • Positive, self-starter attitude
  • At least 1-2 years professional experience (this can include impressive intern/fellowship credentials)
  • Proactive, “yes I can” approach to spotting and solving problems, while keeping an eye out for opportunities to improve our office systems
  • Knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite
  • Demonstrated organizational skills
  • Flexibility to adjust to a busy, dynamic office
  • Ability to prioritize and balance many tasks and projects in a fast-paced environment
  • Commitment to our mission outlined at www.smartergrowth.net
  • Outstanding interpersonal skills with a good sense of humor
  • Ability to make at least a one year commitment (ideally a two year commitment)

Equal Opportunity Employment

Equal opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.

How to Apply

Please submit a resume and a cover letter explaining your interest in smart growth and what strengths you would bring to the job to jobs@smartergrowth.net, and include the job title “Outreach and Development Associate” in the subject line. Starting salary will be in the 30s, with the exact level dependent on experience, and opportunities for advancement available. We’ll begin holding interviews in early December, but applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. No phone calls or letters please.

Wanna be skinny & healthy? Forget those crazy diets and take public transportation

August 20, 2010 at 1:57 pm
American Public Transportation Association
Image via Wikipedia

(Source: APTA)

Have you ever wondered what is the key to a good health and long life – I knew that it has to be the public transport.  Look at the Europeans —  healthy & happy– riding their bikes, trains, trams, buses, etc.  If you still don’t believe what I’ve said, you now have the proof.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has released a report that explores ways that public transportation affects human health, and ways to incorporate these impacts into transport policy and planning decisions.

Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits, a study conducted for APTA by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute aggregates the findings of several recent studies and concludes that people living in transit-oriented “smart growth” communities enjoy several health benefits, not seen in other communities, including residents drive less, exposing them to a lower risk of fatal vehicle accidents.

People who live or work in communities with high quality public transportation tend to drive significantly less and rely more on alternative modes (walking,cycling and public transit) than they would in more automobile-oriented areas. This reduces traffic crashes and pollution emissions, increases physical fitness and mental health, andprovides access to medical care and healthy food. These impacts are significant in magnitude compared with other planning objectives, but are often overlooked or undervalued inconventional transport planning.

Various methods can be used to quantify and monetize(measure in monetary units) these health impacts. This analysis indicates that improving publictransit can be one of the most cost effective ways to achieve public health objectives, and publichealth improvements are among the largest benefits provided by high quality public transit andtransit-oriented development.

Some of the key findings from the report are listed below:

  • U.S. Center for Disease Control recommends that adults average at least 22 daily minutes of
  • moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, to stay fit and healthy. Although less than half
  • of American adults achieve this target, most public transportation passengers do exercise the
  • recommended amount while walking to and from transit stations and stops.
  • The United States has relatively poor health outcomes and high healthcare costs compared with peers, due in part to high per capita traffic fatality rates and diseases resulting from sedentary living. Public transit improvements can improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
  • Inadequate physical activity contributes to numerous health problems, causing an estimated
  • 200,000 annual deaths in the U.S., and significantly increasing medical costs. Among physically able adults, average annual medical expenditures are 32% lower for those who achieve physical activity targets ($1,019 per year) than for those who are sedentary ($1,349 per year).
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Event Alert! Transit Oriented Development Panel Discussion – September 15, Washington, DC

September 11, 2009 at 6:11 pm

Transit Oriented Development Panel

Hosted by Womens Transportation Seminar (WTS), Washington DC Chpater

September 15, 2009

This panel will focus on recent and anticipated changes in national and state-level legislation and policies that facilitate stronger transportation-land use coordination in the planning process, with a focus on encouraging transit oriented development.

Featured Speakers:

Amy Inman,  Senior Planner, Department of Rail and Public Transportation

Christopher Patusky, Director, Office of Real Estate, Maryland Department of Transportation

Mariia Zimmerman, Vice President for Policy, Reconnecting America

Serving as Moderator for the Panel:

Susan Borinsky, FTA Associate Administrator for Planning and the Environment


WHEN:

Tuesday, September 15
12:00 Noon

WHERE:

District Chophouse
509 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001

METRO:

Gallery Place/Chinatown (Yellow/Red/Green)

PROGRAM FEES:

$30 WTS Members ; $60 Non-Members; $15 Students

RSVP:

Email RSVP@WTS-DC.com by Thursday, September 10, 2009.  Please indicate “TOD Panel” in the subject line.
Please include full name, company, phone, e-mail, and membership status and note any special needs or dietary restrictions on your RSVP; we will accommodate your request as well as possible.

We urge you to RSVP now and reserve your seat.* Seating is limited, and priority will be given to WTS members.


Please note, if you RSVP late or walk in the day of the program, you are not guaranteed a place and may be asked to wait for availability. Additionally, unless you cancel by the program’s RSVP date, or if you are a ‘no-show’ you will be obligated to pay.
Remit advanced payments payable to “WTS-DC” to: WTS-DC Treasurer, P.O. Box 34097, Washington, DC 20043. Please specify what program/event the payment is for. All RSVPs will receive an email about electronic payment through paypal prior to the event. If you choose not to pay electronically we will accept checks and cash at the door

PBS’s “Road to the Future” documentary explores the challenges and possibilities facing American cities

May 25, 2009 at 10:13 am

Blueprint America: Road to the Future, an original documentary part of a PBS multi-platform series on the country’s aging and changing infrastructure, goes to three very different American cities – Denver, New York and Portland, and their surrounding suburbs – to look at each as a microcosm of the challenges and possibilities the country faces as citizens, local and federal officials, and planners struggle to manage a growing America with innovative transportation and sustainable land use policies.

Over the next 40 years, America’s population will grow by more than an estimated 130 million people – most will settle in or near the country’s major population centers. At the same time, an unprecedented multi-billion dollar public works investment has just been made by the federal government to rebuild both the weakened economy and stressed national infrastructure. And, Congress is about to consider a transportation bill that will determine the course of the nation’s highways and transit for years to come.

Host and veteran correspondent Miles O’Brien goes to three very different American cities – Denver, New York and Portland, and their surrounding suburbs – to look at each as a microcosm of the challenges and possibilities the country faces as citizens, local and federal officials, and planners struggle to manage a growing America with innovative transportation and sustainable land use policies.

With roads clogged and congested, gas prices uncertain, smog and pollution creating health problems like asthma, cities that once built infrastructure to serve only automobiles and trucks are now looking to innovative new forms of transportation systems – like trolleys, light rail, pedestrian walkways and bike paths.

Whether it is talking to residents pushing sustainable development in the Bronx, smart growth in Denver, or a journalist in Portland whose beat is bicycling, Blueprint America finds a common theme: America’s love affair with the car may be a thing of the past.

Click here to watch the full documentary.