Communications & Community Engagement Manager

Responsibilities

• Engages in the facilitation of effective group and meeting processes. Establishes and maintains relationships and serves as a liaison to all public and private stakeholders while mobilizing participation from all sectors of the City (e.g. race, class, disability, public & private housing, etc.) and creating strategies and processes that will sustain that participation.
• Develops and maintains a comprehensive communications strategic plan for the City to engage Chelsea residents and tell the stories of City departments and services.
• Creates, coordinates, and executes the City’s communication plan including creating and updating the City’s branding and style guide.
• Oversees the work of any external and internal communications processes. On a daily basis helps to create and support City social media content, press releases, and City news stories.
• Establishes and maintains positive media/press relations, including with nontraditional media, and coordinates responses to media inquiries. Serves as a spokesperson for the City of Chelsea at the request of the City Manager or Deputy City Manager.
• Supports projects related to public meeting best practices to encourage and mobilize civic engagement and participation from all sectors of the City, particularly among underserved populations and creates strategies and processes that will sustain increased civic participation.
• Establishes and maintains collaborative relationships with City departments, local community groups and leaders and serves as a liaison to residents. Acts to develop and sustain lines of constructive two-way dialogue and active involvement.
• Creates forums and other means for dialogue among and between residents, elected City officials, the City Manager, city departments, boards, and commissions. Acts to support effective and appropriate collaboration among and between groups of participants.
• Selects publicity materials and distributes them through a variety of channels; responds to inquiries from community members and other interested parties; when needed, recruits a knowledgeable spokesperson or information source to assist.
• Plans, coordinates, and executes special events and dissemination of information to the public.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, public administration or related field.
• Three to five years of experience in community engagement, social media management, public relations or journalism, and structured communications and organizing.
• Fieldwork in community engagement; or any equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Master’s Degree preferred.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) helpful.
• Knowledge: Thorough working knowledge of community engagement and organizing principles and practices; knowledge of key elements of relationship and community building; knowledge of strategic and tactical design of grassroots actions; knowledge of effective storytelling.
• Ability: Demonstrated ability to work across cultural, racial and class differences. Ability to “learn a community,” i.e. gatekeepers, power brokers, decision-making structures, resource building, etc. Ability to establish cooperative working relationships with a variety of governmental agencies and community groups. Ability to communicate and present ideas effectively, orally and in writing, to public professional staff, other City departments, community leaders and residents. Ability to build and implement community focused content strategies; ability to work with City departments to enhance the quality of communications externally to create a cohesive voice.
• Skill: Demonstrated communication, outreach, program administration and public relations skills. Skilled at managing conflict and building effective teams. Skilled at negotiating with residents and local community leaders. Skilled at data management and analysis. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Good analytical skills and innovative problem solving skills. Proficiency in and proven responsibility with social media platforms. Superior organizational skills.

Preferred

• Proficiency in Canva
• InDesign
• Meta Business Suite
• Constant Contact
• Google Suite
• Hootsuite
• Revize/CivicPlus or similar website management platform

Benefits

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