Director, National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative

SAGE’s National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative is designed to reshape the housing landscape across the U.S. to become more welcoming to LGBTQ+ seniors. The Initiative’s primary objective is to raise awareness, and to increase the availability of LGBTQ+-inclusive and safe elder housing to LGBTQ+ older adults across the country. The Initiative is comprised of five interlocking strategies to assist the nation’s existing senior housing stock to become safe and welcoming to LGBTQ+ older adults, while simultaneously accelerating the development of housing specifically designed for them. The five strategies are as follows:

  1. Identify resources to aid those interested in developing LGBTQ+-inclusive elder housing
  2. Conduct consumer/stakeholder education and training
  3. Conduct policy advocacy
  4. Provide cultural competence training and,
  5. Build model LGBTQ+ elder housing.

SAGE is also achieving the fifth strategy in building New York City’s first affordable LGBTQ+-welcoming senior housing developments: Ingersoll Senior Residences in Brooklyn and Crotona Senior Residences in the Bronx. Building these two senior housing developments enables SAGE to create models for LGBTQ+-welcoming elder housing for use by providers across the country.

This role has been funded via a one-year grant, SAGE however has and intends to continue pursuing funding for this role.

Reports to: Chief Enterprise & Innovation Officer

Status: Full-time / Exempt / Regular schedule is 35 hours hours/week

Location: Based within the NYC area or Washington DC, requiring some travel to different parts of the country.

Essential Job Functions:

The Director of SAGE’s National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative (DNHI) is responsible for creating, strategizing, executing and monitoring SAGE’s National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative in the following ways:

  • Overall oversight of the first four strategies of the Initiative;
  • Matrix managing several people across SAGE’s departments, linking the Initiative’s five strategies;
  • Developing systems for collecting and tracking data to gauge overall program success across all of the Initiative’s strategies;
  • Deepen SAGE’s relationships with existing housing partners, and creating new high-value and high-visibility partnerships in affordable and other residential sectors;
  • Represent SAGE’s National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative at national housing conferences across the country;
  • Provide technical assistance to individuals and organizations across the country that are seeking to build/develop their own LGBTQ+-friendly elder housing; and,
  • Create and execute a national symposium in Fall 2019 in Washington DC, bringing together 75-100 stakeholders from around the country as a platform for the transfer of institutional knowledge on building LGBTQ+ inclusive housing for both older adults and youth.

While the position will not have any direct supervisory responsibilities, the DNHI will be responsible for project managing with people working on the Initiatives from three different departments (National Projects, Communications, and Policy) in a matrix management structure. The DNHI will report directly the Chief Enterprise and Innovation Officer who is located in Los Angeles.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Develop and implement strategies to create and expand LGBTQ+ elder housing;
  • Manage the outreach, planning, budgeting, recruiting of speakers and attendees and all other relevant details to plan and execute national conference on LGBTQ+ housing; ensure education and follow-up concerning best practices and recommendations;
  • Provide technical assistance to organizations, developers and individuals seeking to create LGBTQ+-friendly elder housing;
  • Collaborate with Communications Department to create relevant consumer education materials to disseminate via SAGE channels, including website and social media, and to respond to media requests as needed;
  • Provide input as needed to inform SAGE’s policy advocacy work to create LGBTQ+-inclusive housing supports, both at the federal level and at the state level, in consultation with appropriate departments and staff;
  • Represent SAGE’s National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative at national housing conferences across the country;
  • Provide input as needed to inform SAGE’s LGBTQ+ cultural competence training department, SAGECare, to providers working in residential settings and others;
  • Overall tracking of the first four strategies of the Initiative;
  • Conduct or assist with other outreach or other efforts as needed.

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s Degree (May be waived if applicant possesses exceptional or specialized experience or expertise in this subject area)
  • Experience in organizing symposia or conferences
  • Deep subject matter expertise and connections in the national affordable housing sector
  • Experience responding to media requests
  • Experience in scaling initiatives and bringing national focus to critical issues
  • Effective multi-tasking skills and ability to function in fast-paced environment
  • Extremely detail oriented, organized and analytical
  • Ability to establish solid working relationships with broad cross-sections of people
  • Strong verbal and writing skills
  • Strong problem-solver
  • Clear and open communicator
  • Superb time management skills
  • Positive and professional demeanor
  • Strong commitment to SAGE’s mission

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience working with and/or on behalf of LGBTQ+ older adults
  • Track record of strong nonprofit management

Compensation: Competitive salary. SAGE offers a competitive benefits package as well as an exciting and unique work environment.

How to Apply: Please email your cover letter and resume to careers@sageusa.org with “Program Specialist, National LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative” in the subject line. No phone calls.