Urban Juncture Foundation Director of Small Business Incubator (Boxville) Chicago, IL · Full time

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Urban Juncture works with local partners and allies to reestablish community business ecosystems while collaborating with like-minded stakeholders to identify, highlight, and remove the root causes of disinvestment. Our "Build Bronzeville" initiative uses commerce to revitalize our historic community through five key actions: 1. Invest in local assets. Every community has unique, valuable, and deeply-rooted assets, including its people, culture, places, and enterprises that must form the foundation of any revitalization effort if it is to be successful. We work to identify, engage, and activate these assets. 2. Support innovation, growth & replication. Our communities have an abundance of talent and creativity but often lack access to the key resources required to move from concept to enterprise and from startup to profitability. We work to assemble and deliver resources to fill this gap while encouraging the innovation necessary to establish truly unique enterprises. 3. Build enterprise hubs in central locations. Our work prioritizes key commercial corridors suffering from decades of blight and neglect to build a positive brand of neighborhood revitalization. Achieving a critical mass of activity at central community locations is important to establishing a sustainable presence in neighborhood. 4. Reengage & reconnect. Historic disinvestment has resulted in local residents becoming disengaged and disconnected and has separated our neighborhoods from other urban communities and the vibrancy of the city as a whole. We work to rebuild social capital and to reengage and reconnect community at all levels. 5. Facilitate local control & ownership. Local ownership and control are critical to assuring the successful establishment and regeneration of an ecosystem. Community residents are the most familiar with the needs and assets of their neighborhoods and have a deeply vested interest in reinvesting in them for the long term.

Boxville® is an award-winning shipping container-based accelerator that provides community enterprises accessible platforms for growth, while serving neighbors and transforming the 51st Street retail corridor.  Boxville® currently comprises approximately 20 container-based enterprises, a Summer Market that also presents many “pop-up” enterprises, and a growing set of community-building activities.  It has grown from one 20 foot shipping container in 2014 to twenty-two today. 

Boxville® is part of the Build Bronzeville effort, a unique collaboration between Urban Juncture Foundation and Urban Juncture, Inc., social enterprise startups focused on neighborhood-driven community revitalization.  Build Bronzeville harnesses culture and innovation to reclaim spaces, revitalize commerce and rebuild our community.

Urban Juncture Foundation seeks a full-time director who will work with a small team of colleagues to lead Boxville®:

• Identifying, recruiting, and developing a dynamic set of box partners and pop-up venders, with a particular focus on the hospitality, wellness, and maker segments of our community.
• Managing Boxville®’s day-to-day operations and supporting the growth of our member enterprises.
• Developing compelling events to celebrate community commerce and culture, activate 51st Street and attract patrons.
• Advancing Boxville® as an enterprise by advancing our growth plan and working to develop investors and other stakeholders.  

The Boxville® Director will be based at Boxville® and will work closely with other Boxville® team members, including part-time operations and retail leaders, as well as other Build Bronzeville leaders to advance our enterprise development and community revitalization objectives.  A strong candidate will have several skills and attributes:

• Rooted in Chicago's South Side communities, with strong connections to small business networks in Bronzeville & beyond
• Self starter, collaborative, flexible, detail-oriented
• Able to work effectively with people from a range of backgrounds and with diverse styles 
• Strong project management skills; able to prioritize and handle multiple tasks and projects
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational and communications skills 
• Minimum of 15 years professional experience in business enterprises
• Entrepreneurial mindset and understanding of operating small businesses
• Sound judgment; values driven 

Work is performed in a shipping container environment as well as outdoors and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and move outdoor furniture.  Must have the ability to sit and stand for prolonged periods of time and walk short distances.  Must be able to lift up to 35 pounds at times.  The scope of the position requires occasional evening and weekend work.

This is a year-round, full-time position with a salary range of $65,000 to $75,000.  If you are a talented business person and entrepreneur who is looking for a challenging and rewarding community-based opportunity, we encourage you to apply for the Director position.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.