Branch Out Milwaukee Project Manager

Salary Range: $60K-$80K annually

Benefits: FTE 1.0

• Three weeks paid time off
• Twelve paid holidays per year
• Health, dental and vision coverage

Key Principles of MWC Culture & Values

Milwaukee Water Commons is a cross- city, cross neighborhood network that fosters connection collaboration and broad community leadership on behalf of our common waters.

We promote stewardship, equitable access and shared decision making for our shared waters. We advocate on environmental justice issues, water justice, climate justice, and social justice. Our programmatic work is neighborhood based, although our organizational reach includes communities throughout the Great Lakes Region. We strive to build a multi-racial, multi-cultural organization and an anti-racist environmental movement on behalf of our waters.

We are creating a workplace with guiding principles of integrity, accountability, diligence, perseverance, and discipline. The successful employee must have the ability to demonstrate and apply MWC values and frameworks which are embedded in all agency roles.

Position Purpose

The Branch Out Milwaukee Project Manager is responsible for managing and implementing the current Branch Out Milwaukee Campaign for Milwaukee Water Commons. This position will be responsible for the direct management and development of the organization’s Branch Out Milwaukee Network. This project focuses on naturalizing urban spaces, using community engagement strategies to engage neighborhood residents in tree assessment, care, placement & tree maintenance in the Sherman Park community through a grant for public and private tree planting.

This position will have an opportunity to shape the organization’s green infrastructure work as it relates to flooding damage, overflows, installation, and rebuilding our urban forest; it is also tied to our Water Quality Initiative goals. This includes building community, and equitable practices that promote racial and gender equity, diversity and inclusion.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage and implement the Branch Out Milwaukee Network objectives with an emphasis on building Milwaukee’s urban tree canopy by focusing on equity, public health, environmental health, climate resilience, and workforce development.
• Collaborate and manage a city-wide Branch Out Milwaukee network with government personnel and NGO on community education, resources, tree canopy resources, career opportunities, etc. quarterly meetings.
• Develop a plan to expand Branch Out Milwaukee in additional Milwaukee neighborhoods with the Director of Programming and MWC team.
• Engage and support the Sherman Park Tree Board, a community led group of residents that collaborates with MWC and SPCA on increasing the neighborhood’s urban forestry awareness and knowledge with monthly meetings and community events and activities.
• Support partners of the Branch Out Milwaukee Network through community engagement, educational presentations and networking opportunities.
• Manage the work of the Branch Out coordinator that focuses on tree inventories, tree plantings (public and private property) and oversee the day to day operations of the campaign to have a collective action tree planting and maintenance program aimed at equitably growing the city’s tree canopy to maximize the environmental and public health benefits
• Develop and oversee a public engagement campaign to promote the Branch Out Milwaukee project pre-identified neighborhoods including Sherman Park and others.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Some evenings and weekends are required
• This position involves a mixture of office and fieldwork, which may vary seasonally

Desired Qualifications

This position will be committed to the Milwaukee Water Commons, mission, values, and frameworks. Will have proven leadership abilities, relationship building and community outreach experience.

Skills and Experience

• Five or more years of project management experience, including handling multiple tasks, working independently and with teams to move projects forward, and thinking strategically and creatively to solve challenges, changing timelines, and ambiguity.
• Experience preparing and administering contracts, agreements, policies and action plans.
• Experience supervising staff and/or volunteers.
• Ability to work in uncertainty and ambiguity while assisting in sense-making.
• Strong teamwork skills, and ability to work closely and collaboratively with team members.
• Must be very detail-oriented and highly organized. Able to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrate adaptability and innovation and be able to take direction.
• Strong oral, interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups and disadvantaged communities.
• Demonstrates workplace values including discipline, integrity, positivity and accountability.
• Ability to lead within teams – including building trust, conflict resolution and making fair decisions.
• Willingness to work across all MWC projects and initiatives.
• An understanding of and a willingness to address institutional and structural racism, implicit and explicit bias, systemic inequities, and their impacts on individuals and communities
• Experience in building multiracial networks: including communities, negatively impacted by systemic inequities.
• Willingness to commit to MWC values of anti-racism, building a multicultural organization and multicultural base of support on behalf of our shared waters
• Ability and willingness to address and uphold gender equity.
• Knowledge and awareness of water quality issues including green infrastructure and climate change a plus
• Personal transportation and car insurance are required for this position.
• Bilingual skills are a plus.

Bachelor’s Degree preferred. Significant experience and recognized community leadership may substitute for this requirement.

No professional licensure is required; however, certifications related to green infrastructure and tree maintenance are a plus, such as: Certified Arborist, Certified Forester, Certified Horticulturist, Registered Landscape Architect, National Green Infrastructure Certification Program, or others.