POSITION SUMMARY:
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency that focuses on issues critical to the region’s success, including growth and development, transportation, water resources, services for older adults and workforce solutions. ARC is dedicated to unifying the region’s collective resources to prepare the metropolitan area for a prosperous future. This is done through professional planning initiatives, the provision of objective information and the involvement of the community in collaborative partnerships.
The metro Atlanta region has experienced historic transit investment since the Beltline began development in 2008. Today, the Beltline drives rapid increases in land values and rents, MARTA’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) program has redeveloped underutilized parking along the service line and launched an affordable housing fund, and regional transit is coordinated by The ATL. The price for this “progress” is being paid by the legacy residents of communities near these transit developments, who have all too often lived without the services and amenities that new development brings, only to be displaced and priced out of their generational homes. The impact of structural and institutional racism can be seen when we acknowledge that the life expectancy for a resident near Oakland City’s MARTA station is 72 years while the life expectancy for a resident near Buckhead’s MARTA station is 82 years.
The TransFormation Alliance (TFA) was established to promote equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD) - a policy, process, and development form that facilitates equitable community development serving the needs of existing residents, especially the most vulnerable, and of future residents and employers. ETOD is centered on the people who live, work and create in communities of color and in low-income communities served by high-capacity transit service whether bus and/ or rail.
The TransFormation Alliance believes that a person’s racial identity should not predict their opportunity in life and that communities should be strengthened by transit, not displaced by it.
To impact complex systems like transit and development, solutions will have to be equally in depth, working in both the built environment, (changing the way public funds are allocated for more infrastructure and community development) and in solidarity with the people (including healthy food access, job training and educational opportunities). The development of civic and physical infrastructure must go hand in hand. It is necessary to cultivate a cross-sector, intersectional collaborative culture that can find common ground with communities for advocacy and solidarity.
The TransFormation Alliance has grown such a culture through its guiding principles, which govern how our 30 plus members interact with one another. These principles are:
TFA’s work and staff are supported 100% by grant funding. Current funding is provided through the SPARCC initiative, with additional support from the Kendeda Fund. The Managing Director leads the TFA’s fundraising efforts with the support of the Executive Committee.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Managing Director provides leadership and strategic direction for TFA by ensuring that all TFA members are working most effectively and efficiently to achieve TFA’s mission, strategic plan, work plans and guiding principles. (For an overview of the strategic plan, see TFA - Strategic Plan). A successful candidate will be skilled at managing relationships and organizational politics, to reduce harmful conflict but also navigate productive disagreement. Demonstrated experience with managing networks and coalitions will be extremely important to maintain and evolve a culture of collaboration, transparency, shared learning and leveraged work. The successful candidate for this position will demonstrate diplomacy, exceptional listening skills, and an ability to communicate the path of action clearly and firmly once the listening period is concluded. Ultimately, the growth of both the collaborative and the ecosystem of organizations working on transit and development should be a central goal for this position.
To move TFA’s initiatives forward, the Managing Director will need good working knowledge of local, regional, and state policies and politics so that TFA’s programs and ideas can be presented as necessary and influential. A practice of research and an abiding interest in learning be vital, as gaps in knowledge will be inevitable. A successful Managing Director will not be afraid to ask questions to become a stronger leader and better representative of TFA’s goals and values. The successful candidate will have exceptional presentation skills, and a love for networking and relationship building. TFA’s Managing Director will be called on to explain and illuminate how systems have worked together to create the disparities the collaborative seeks to dismantle and replace. The successful candidate will have the characteristics of a great teacher.
Administratively, the Managing Director will work closely with the Program Manager to oversee budgetary administration, business operations, fundraising, and grant making. The Managing Director works with the TFA Executive Committee and other TFA members and partners to implement TFA’s strategic plan and serves at the discretion of the TransFormation Alliance Executive Committee. The Managing Director will be a full-time employee of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES:
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above, unless otherwise subject to any other requirements set forth in law or regulation.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
In addition to the detailed examples of responsibilities and abilities contained herein, all employees of the Atlanta Regional Commission are expected to model behavior consistent with the guiding principles outlined in our Evolution Strategy. Specifically, incumbents are responsible for demonstrating work habits that are:
