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Director of People and Culture

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) is seeking a Director of People & Culture to play an integral role in fostering a workplace culture rooted in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and ensuring those values drive all aspects of employee recruitment and retention, staff development, conflict resolution, and organizational development.

About UHAB

UHAB empowers low- to moderate-income residents to take control of their housing and enhance communities by creating strong tenant associations and lasting affordable co-ops. Since 1973, UHAB has helped form hundreds of tenant associations and transformed troubled rental buildings into 1,200 affordable co-ops, providing homeownership opportunities for over 25,000 families. With democratic community control at the core of our mission, we work to sustain this thriving affordable housing community for this generation and those to come.

We organize residents to be active participants and decision-makers in shaping their neighborhoods. UHAB’s programs address a full spectrum of affordable housing needs: from building resident power and organizing tenants as community leaders, to developing thousands of units of affordable housing across the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, to making small loans to first-time homeowners, to preserving affordable co-ops through training, education, and technical assistance. UHAB’s programs address the needs of future generations through long-term solutions: developing new affordable co-ops, increasing energy efficiency and introducing renewable technologies, and strengthening housing policy.

About the Position

The Director of People & Culture is a newly created position on UHAB’s executive team, reporting to the Executive Director. It is a unique opportunity to strengthen and shape the culture and direction of a mission driven nonprofit, advancing the organization’s equity journey and commitment to an explicitly anti-racist and anti-oppression framework.

As the Director of People & Culture, you will work with staff at every level of the organization toward continuously improving UHAB’s DEIB strategies and creating a climate of mutual trust, respect and shared awareness among management and staff and across teams. The core responsibility of the role is driving the organization toward greater inclusivity, by creating spaces and intentionality to acknowledge, embrace, support, and hear employees of color, LBGTQ+ staff, women, employees with disabilities, and people with other diverse identities and world views. As part of this work, you will conduct and/or coordinate quarterly trainings for the organization on topics including appropriate workplace conduct, fair treatment, workplace bullying and both vicarious and directly experienced trauma, and racial, gender, LGBTQ+, and cultural anti-oppression to create a safe and inclusive workplace.

While the role centers around improving the organization’s own internal practices and employee experience, it will also help to inform our external work with people and communities. Working with management and staff in each department, you will apply your DEIB expertise to help to identify opportunities to advance anti-racist, anti-oppression practices in all of UHAB’s services and work. This position will play a key role in tracking the UHAB’s racial justice commitments and holding the organization responsible for delivering on those goals.

Other related areas of responsibility include:

Recruitment, Onboarding and Retention

• Creating and implementing strategies to recruit, develop, motivate, and retain a diverse workforce.
• Collaborating with program directors and staff to draft job postings, interview candidates, and extend job offers, ensuring that all aspects of the process drive DEIB and align with the mission of the program.
• Managing key aspects of the agency’s onboarding processes and informing new hire training processes, to ensure that new employees feel integrated into the organization and develop a sense of belonging.

Policies, Procedures, Processes and Compliance

• Serving as the primary liaison to a third-party Professional Employer Organization (PEO), as well as the labor union representing UHAB’s staff members.
• Working closely with UHAB’s PEO, Program Directors, and Union representatives, as appropriate, to ensure consistent and effective delivery of DEIB, HR practices, and Union contract commitments across departments.
• In close collaboration with the PEO, monitoring and ensuring the organization’s compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations; reviewing and modifying policies and practices to maintain compliance and ensure employee rights are upheld.
• Maintaining knowledge of trends, best practices, and regulatory changes in DEIB, human resources, talent management, and employment law. Applying this knowledge to recommend, implement, and communicate changes in policy and practices.
• In close collaboration with the PEO, streamlining and simplifying complex human resources materials and processes to improve employee experience. Making updates to the Employee Handbook and other informational materials, as necessary, to ensure clarity in policies and improve employee experience.

Employee Relations

• Assisting in developing policy and training staff at all levels of the organization on how to respond to employee relations issues and challenges.
• Conducting and/or coordinating quarterly trainings for the organization on topics including appropriate workplace conduct, fair treatment, workplace bullying and both vicarious and directly experienced trauma, and racial, gender, LGBTQ+, and cultural anti-oppression to create a safe and inclusive workplace.
• As necessary, helping to mediate issues or conflict among employees at various levels in the organization
• Serving as a primary point of contact for intake of employee concerns and complaints and, in collaboration with the PEO or Union, as appropriate, play an active role in problem solving or conflict resolution.

Performance Evaluation and Feedback Processes

• Working in close collaboration with staff at all levels of the organization on developing and implementing a performance evaluation and feedback systems. Working with Program Directors to develop clear job descriptions and core competencies for each position and implementing an annual performance feedback process.

Informing External Work

• Working in close collaboration with management and staff across the organization to review all aspects of UHAB’s mission and work with people and communities, with the explicit goal of furthering the organization’s racial justice and anti-oppression impact.
• Providing technical assistance to management and staff toward incorporating actionable anti-racism strategies into their work.
• Creating and implementing a system for regular monitoring and sharing of progress on racial justice goals that incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data and metrics.

Qualifications:

• Professional DEI certification and 5 years’ progressive experience, including employee relations and organizational development, preferably in a nonprofit
• Experience integrating equity, belonging, and anti-oppressive practices within the workplace
• Deep personal commitment to advancing racial justice and dismantling white supremacy
• Demonstrated understanding of systemic factors creating the racial wealth gap, especially factors related to housing
• Strong leadership, conflict resolution skills
• Adaptable team player, attuned to the needs of the organization and employees

Location This position is based at UHAB’s office in Lower Manhattan and requires in-office presence most days with allowance for occasional remote work.

Compensation $100,000 – $113,000 annually. UHAB offers a generous benefits package including 100% employer paid medical and dental insurance; long-term disability insurance; a 403b retirement plan; medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts; 3 weeks of paid vacation for new employees and 4 weeks of paid vacation after 2 years of employment; 14 paid holidays, 12 sick days, and 1 personal day per year; and bereavement leave.

Application To apply, send a resume and cover letter to jobs@uhab.org with the subject: Director of People & Culture.

UHAB works with a diverse community of tenants, community members and co-op shareholders and believes that the UHAB Staff should reflect this diversity. Women, people of color, LBGTQ+ people, and people with lived experience of economic and housing instability are encouraged to apply. UHAB is an equal opportunity employer.