Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy is looking to hire someone for the position of Project Officer who will be responsible for executing approved technical assistance plans, reporting regularly on the status of your assigned projects to the Staff Collective, and assisting with BRED events & educational programming. If you feel like this position is right for you and you want to be part of the team, please follow the link below for more information and to send us your resume.
The Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) is a coalition of Maryland-based worker cooperatives, advocates, and technical assistance providers committed to building a robust cooperative ecosystem. BRED supports democratically-controlled economic institutions with loans and technical assistance.
Job Description: Project Officer
Organization Description:
The Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) is a coalition of Maryland-based worker cooperatives, advocates, and technical assistance providers committed to building a robust cooperative ecosystem. BRED supports democratically-controlled economic institutions with loans and technical assistance.
Job Description: Project Officers are responsible for executing approved technical assistance plans, regularly reporting on the status of your assigned projects to the Staff Collective, assist with BRED events & educational programming. Project Officers will:
Loan preparation & technical assistance for co-ops, which includes:
Preparing loan memos in our loan tracking software in collaboration with the Executive Director or Loan Coach to be presented to the Sustainability Committees for feedback and approval.
Executing approved technical assistant plans for projects assigned to you.
Attend Project Officer weekly meetings and quarterly Staff Collective meetings.
Report regularly to the Staff Collective on the progress of your projects.
Meet monthly with all projects that have received loans – in some cases, an email check-in may be sufficient for more advanced projects
Log progress of technical assistance plan in Madeline. Write monthly Madeline status logs on each project that is in their first year of their loan plan. Quarterly status updates for projects that are further along, and in active repayment.
Active participation on the BRED Slack.
BRED’s loan & technical assistance intake process, which includes:
Following up with all leads in a timely fashion
Making a critical assessment of the project’s real TA needs and path to loan readiness
Presenting such assessment to the Loan Assembly for feedback
Developing a structured TA plan for each new project, once approved by the Loan Assembly as a “pipeline” project.
Coordinate public events & educational programming, which includes:
Work with Staff Collective to plan and execute events. Recommend events that would meet the needs expressed by co-ops you work with.
Regularly staff and attend events.
Attend cooperative roundtable gatherings for active area cooperators.
Participate in The Seed Commons Peer Network, which includes:
Active participation in ongoing Peer Network phone calls.
Active participation in semi-annual Peer Network trainings.
Active participation on the Peer Network Slack.
This is a part-time, 20-hour/week job, compensated at a starting rate of $22,500/year.
Qualifications: Our ideal candidate would have some combination of the following qualifications:
Experience with community organizing in Baltimore & Maryland
Ability to work nights and weekend hours
Ability to have frequent in-person meetings with co-ops in Baltimore
Experienced in coalition work and coordinating/drawing on the resources of people from multiple organizations
Experienced in writing business plans, including work on financial documents (e.g., projections, budgets, capital plans), and analyzing business opportunities
Connected to cooperatives and the cooperative movement
A clear, and coherent communicator in both written and oral forms
Personally well-organized and able to create and maintain appropriate online and physical files and communications systems
Available to participate in the Fall 2019 training of the Peer Network. This will be out of town.
Experience with planning & facilitating workshops and meetings
Democratic decision-making experience
Commitment to transformative and equity justice framework
High level of organization and attention to detail, complemented by the ability to see the big picture
People of color, immigrants, trans and gender nonconforming people, people from poor and working class backgrounds, queer people, and women are encouraged to apply.
On September 14th, Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) will be hosting our third annual Worker Cooperative Jumpstart! It will be a day long series of workshops focused on establishing and running worker cooperatives. We have something for everyone. So whether you’ve been a worker-owner for years, are thinking about starting a co-op, or just want to learn more this event is for you! Organizations and individuals welcome! We will be having exciting new content that focuses on cooperative conversions. More info to come!
We are asking for a suggested donation of $1-25 per person to cover the cost of the event and lunch. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you or your organization need any specific accommodations, or to request interpretation services, please email info@baltimoreroundtable.org. We would be happy to answer any questions.1
Sponsors: Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) is a coalition of Maryland-based worker cooperatives, advocates, and technical assistance providers committed to building a robust cooperative ecosystem. BRED supports democratically-controlled economic institutions with loans and technical assistance.
Impact Hub Baltimore supports and connects a community of Baltimore change makers by providing an inspiring works pace and innovative programming to scale and sustain their social impact.
Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a law firm focused on legal, policy, and advocacy tools to advance economic justice, racial equity, and social transformation.
Mera Kitchen is a community-driven, food-based cooperative focused on empowerment of refugee and immigrant women by tapping into their passion for cooking, self-expression and creating community.
Our very own BRED member, Bernardo Vigil, will be giving a talk called Democracy in the Workplace: Bernardo Vigil Presents a Case Study On Barcelona Worker Co-ops. This event will take place at Red Emma’s on January 17th, 2019. Bernardo will be talking about his research into workplace democracy in Barcelona, Spain. Bernardo spent time in Barcelona researching how worker co-ops use different strategies to build meaningful pathways toward self-management, participation, and cooperative leadership development.
This event will be hosted by Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy starting at 7pm along with a co-0p happy hour. Attending the co-op happy hour is a great opportunity to have a drink, get to know the team, ask questions about BRED’s loan process, or just chat about ideas and steps to becoming a co-op, all over a drink.
Follow the link below for more information and to let us know you’re coming!
In collaboration with Impact Silver Spring, Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy will be bringing you a Worker Co-op Jumpstart in Montgomery County! Not only is this event going to be super informative, but it’s free! Please join us Saturday November 10th from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for a day of learning about the best practices for a new or an already existing cooperative. We are so excited to offer this Jumpstart to anyone who is interested in building and maintaining a cooperative business. Hope to see you all there.
Please follow the link below to RSVP. See you soon!
The Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy is holding a panel on Social Challenges and Emerging Strategies for Worker-Owned Cooperatives. This panel is part of NDCC’s Cooperative Baltimore Symposium and will run the morning of Saturday November 11th from 10:15-11. BRED will provide an overview of issues and trends in the emerging worker cooperative development field tackling questions such as: What are the ranges of different approaches? Why is scale so difficult to achieve? What challenges seem to arise again and again and what practices can address them? You can find the registration link below.
Panelists:
Kate Khatib is the national coordinator of The Working World Peer Network, a shared learning infrastructure supporting a cooperative of non-extractive, locally-rooted loan funds providing technical assistance and capital investments to worker- and community-controlled enterprises around the country. In 2016, she convened the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy to provide support and assistance for Maryland cooperatives. She is a worker-owner at Red Emma’s.
Ro McIntyre is the project officer for the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy, providing hands-on technical assistance and business development support to emerging and established worker cooperatives throughout the city. They are a worker-owner at The Greenmount Coffee Lab and at Red Emma’s.
John Duda is the Communications Director for The Democracy Collaborative, a national think-tank and policy organization focused on strategies and structures to support the development of economic alternatives. He currently serves on the advisory board for BRED and is a founding worker-owner of Red Emma’s
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