The Black Urbanist Jobs, Opportunities and Funding Dispatch October 11, 2018; Photo of car with huge black cloud attached photographed in DC October 2018
Jobs, Weekly Newsletter

Jobs and Opportunities and Funding as of October 11, 2018

Hello folks. This is the 5th Jobs, Opportunities and Funding Dispatch. It’s October 11, 2018 and I’m here a day earlier than promised because several of the jobs listed here are closing on Friday and I have one that’s double recommended! Plus, the planet is going through climate change and I know a lot of jobs on this list will help to fix that.  Or you could do like this person above did and build a vehicle that raises awareness. Or even better, do both, we could use all the help we can get.

First, the still open jobs and opps, some with rolling applications, others with deadlines that aren’t tomorrow.

Rockingham County, NC (Marcus Slade is your guide)

SieX 1 and 2

US PIRG

Bicycle Colorado

livingLAB Detroit

Marin County (CA) Bicycle Coalition

City of Long Beach Advance Planning Coordinator

Wilsonville, OR (But only until Monday 10/15)

Silicon Valley Bike Coalition

Options for Homes in Toronto

The University of Washington, Tacoma Urban Studies Department  (Dr. Mark Pendras is leading the search for this tenure-track position)

All those jobs in Boston, namely this one!

The DDOT Hospitality and Commuter Outreach Coordinator (housed with Foursquare ITP)

The Loeb Fellowship

The NAACP National Headquarters Design Competition

And finally all those Washington State DOT Jobs (That Barb Chamberlain can help guide you with)

Then the closing tomorrows (Friday 10/12/2018) that I know of from the Bike Equity Network List.

  • The NCDOT is hiring a Transportation Planner I. Wake County, NC. Source: National Center for Walking and Biking. Salary Listed. This is the one that I double recommend.  Hanna Cockburn who is the Bike and Pedestrian Director at NCDOT along with a number of other folks I’ve known over the years of doing bike/ ped and transportation work period in North Carolina are doing some great things and Hanna’s really awesome. I first worked with her on the Greensboro Bikeshare Task Force and I remember seeing her Planning Department booth at several of our noted street festivals and can vouch that she will be a good resource, not just colleague (and maybe supervisor, I can’t tell how this will fall on an org chart but she will be in the building.)
  • The City of Providence is hiring a Planner. Providence, RI. Source: emailed to me. Salary listed.
  • The City of Sacramento is hiring a Program Analyst. Sacramento, CA. Source: NACTO jobs board. Salary listed. (I also appreciate that this one notes that the driver’s license requirement can be waived due to physical disability. I don’t know if they read last week’s email, but thanks for making this note).

And then everything else from Jessica Roberts’s Bike Equity Network list with longer/rolling deadlines

  • Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is hiring a Recreation Trails Planner. Salem, OR. Source: emailed to me. Salary listed.
  • The University of South Florida is hiring a TDM Outreach Coordinator focusing on bicycle safety education. Tampa, FL. Source: National Center for Walking and Biking. Salary Listed.  ( I also want to add that this is a part-time opportunity and a great way to test out the field or get back into the field after a pause if you’re local to the area).
  • Cascade Bicycle Club is hiring for a Policy Director, a Digital Communications Manager, a Rides Program Manager, and a Major Taylor Project Ride Leader/Instructor. Apply here. Seattle, WA. Source: emailed to me. Salary listed.
  • The League of American Bicyclists is hiring a Communications Director. Washington, DC. Source: National Center for Walking and Biking. Salary Listed.

I appreciate that Jessica’s well-organized in sending this list on Tuesdays in the Bike Equity Network Google Group. and I also suggest that if you’re interested in getting some of these jobs well before their close date and you live in Bike World (those of you know who you are) and you want to keep working there, hop into the Google Group! Also, thanks to Jessica for mentioning me on that list!  (And I didn’t realize until this morning I wasn’t in the Google Group and I’m very happy to be there now) It’s not too late to catch her webinar, Transportation Seminar: Transportation Behavior Change…Now With SCIENCE! which will be live at noon Pacific tomorrow (10/12/2018), but on-demand as long as you register for it.

Also, BIPOC folks who are community planners, advocates and all other related activities, the Untokening 2018 is accepting applications for its next iteration in Detroit. This is an excellent opportunity for those of us who are BIPOC to come together and learn from our peers, heal from prior injustices in the sector and plot out what’s next. I was at the first, I yielded space for Californians to convene for the second and I’m leaning towards not being in Detroit again this year (even though this promises to be an even more focused and purposeful version of the Allied Media Conference), but you should apply. Please ask for the fee waiver and scholarship if you think you have an inkling that you need it! The convening is only a month away, so I’d hurry and get your information in so the organizers can follow up with next steps.

Another phenomenal resource for jobs and opportunities. is Lynn Ross. Lynn runs Spirit of Change Consulting and is a veteran of HUD (under the Obama administration), the Urban Land Institute, APA and the Knight Foundation and she currently runs the @urbanistleadersofcolor Twitter handle, where she retweets opportunities, such as this newsletter and other activities of note from a list of other black and POC urbanists throughout the world. If you still read this and marvel at our existence, this will help you see that we’re pretty normal. Also, she just retweeted these job leads on her personal account. I think she’s just the messenger, but they seemed cool. She also tweeted a link to the Hindsight Conference, APA Metro New York’s 2nd Annual Equity Conference which is going on a week prior to the Untokening and she, like me shares great articles and resources around POC and places and spaces.

A couple more leads and then I’ll close the book for this week.

Lisa Nisenson, who you may know from Alta Planning, CNU and also as one of the co-creators of Cards Against Urbanity passed this opportunity along to go work for the city of West Hollywood as an Urban Design and Architecture Studio Manager. You could literally go to Hollywood, but still be a planner. Go figure.

Several folks in the Planning and the Black Community Facebook group have recommended applying for the Design Director position for the City of Detroit and I add myself to that list.

One of my fellow Congressional Black Caucus transportation panelists Nadia Andersonhas posted an opportunity to work partially with her team at Uber. More on that opportunity as a product marketing manager.

And finally, if you want to add jobs, the best way to do so is to email me at kristen@theblackurbanist.com, to tag me on your job posts on LinkedIn, share it in The Black Urbanist Facebook group, or tag me on any tweets or social media posts where you see this job. After a few weeks of doing this and realizing so many jobs close on Fridays, and that there are so many jobs that do come recommended, I’m considering changing how this list comes out. Right now, I’ll officially be doing one of these a week, but don’t be surprised if you start to see more Jobs, Opportunities and Funding Dispatches to the point where they come out every weekday but holidays. That probably won’t happen until I get more staff here at The Black Urbanist, but be ready.

Either way, the minute you see or post a job, send it over and I’ll get it out as soon as I can. Also, please let me know if any links don’t work and also if you’ve filled these jobs and they just happen to still be sitting on your website. The goal with this list is still that these are jobs you are either a point of contact for, either as a future colleague or hiring manager or can mentor applicants to producing a successful application. I may also pick out some of your social media accounts that are excellent resources for good leads and add anything of note that I think you (the potential applicant) should shoot for,  regardless of if there’s a lead from this list or in your own personal life.

Also, a reminder to review your announcements for areas of potential inequity and to publish at least a salary range. It’s not enough to include an EEOC pledge or invite for certain groups to hire, especially if things like work environment, licenses, and other things don’t actually affect your day to day work product.

I believe that while being a prepared or preferred candidate may not be a job guarantee, it will start the process of building a bigger group of mentors and friends for all of us throughout the industry and in the communities, we both serve and live.

Plus, I’ve heard from multiple people that my post where I included some questions to ask and traps to avoid when considering this career field has helped them decide on planning school and also have a better balance of their career

I’ve noticed several of you unsubscribing, before you do, click on this link if you just want notifications once a week, with a link to content from the prior week. I’m still determining a hard date for that (truly weekly) recap.  And do nothing if you don’t mind seeing me in your inbox 3-5 times a week, as I increase the frequency that I share jobs and content from The Black Urbanist platform.

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be releasing two podcast episodes from Ashley Dash and Gisla Bush on moving around to make a career (and how that shapes our black urbanism) and on getting more people to become planners, especially black women, respectively. Be sure to bookmark the RSS feed,  the special podcast release email,  Radio Public or your other favorite podcast platform.

I’ll see you tomorrow with a podcast announcement unless you click the button, otherwise, I’ll see you next week with more jobs and links to those podcasts.

Please forward this to anyone who needs this. And if you’re new here, come over and let’s get to know each other better.

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