The Walton Family Foundation (WFF) is seeking a skilled, highly motivated and entrepreneurial individual to join the foundation as a Program Officer – Home Region. The position calls for a solid understanding of the Home Region geographies and WFF grantees. The foundation seeks to recruit individuals with a demonstrated commitment to an inclusive quality of life, superior interpersonal and communication skills, a respectful but analytical approach to the work of grantees and partners, and a proven ability to work effectively as part of a team.
About the Position
The Program Officer will help manage a diverse portfolio of municipal and non-profit grantees. Program Officers work on a small, entrepreneurial team. Specific duties include the following:
• Refine and implement the Home Region’s 2025 Strategic Plan, with a particular focus on Regional Affordability – specifically within the region’s housing and mobility sectors. Regional Affordability is a strategy housed within the Home Region’s Inclusive Growth and Sense of Belonging initiative with the goal of ensuring that residents of all backgrounds, across all neighborhoods have access to opportunity. Within the Strategy 2025 framework, this role will take on increasing responsibility for regional affordability, a strategy that seeks to catalyze systems change to ensure the region addresses emerging affordability issues in housing and mobility. A key role for the program officer will be engaging community partners and seeking grantees to execute against the overall strategic goals.
• Help manage relationships with grantees, potential grantees, and other partners. This will include performing due diligence on proposals, shepherding proposals through the foundation’s approval process, conducting site visits, providing guidance and working with grantees in any way that will achieve significant impact. In addition, this position will continue to build new relationships with a broad network of other partners who can leverage the foundation’s goals.
• Be an effective team member. The success of the foundation’s Home Region strategy is built on a strong team culture that values partnership. Team members provide support as well as honest and respectful feedback to one another. All team members are held to high performance expectations that include a mindset of personal and professional development.
• Other projects and assignments. These may be requested by the foundation’s board, Executive Director or Director of the Home Region Program.
Who we are looking for
Qualifications Required for your success
• Bachelor’s degree required; relevant master’s degree or higher preferred.
• At least five years of work in an affordable housing, professional urban planning setting or related field
• Direct experience with affordable housing deal structures, finance and tax credit mechanisms
• Understanding of affordable housing stakeholders and access to assistance programs at federal, state and local levels that could be used for workforce housing
• Experience and track record to serve as a critical advisor and subject matter expert to increase workforce housing through various philanthropic tools and public/private leverage opportunities
• Excellent written skills and experience in producing both brief and longer written products in a timely fashion for internal and external audiences.
• Oral communication skills, with experience in public speaking that emphasizes conveying complex issues to internal and external audiences.
• Proven skills at organization and time management.
• Demonstrated capacity to work as part of a team, as well as independently.
• Intellectual agility and the ability to analyze, think critically and understand progressive urban planning principles and issues.
Personal attributes that support your success
• Ability to act as a trusted advisor to principals and colleagues while demonstrating expertise and integrity
• You are helpful, a team player, and show respect while collaborating with others
• You are results oriented and exercise sound judgment in your work
• A lifelong learner, who is inquisitive and solves problems with bold thinking and innovation
• A visionary who plans for the future with imagination and wisdom
• You are dedicated to achieving excellence and work with others to tackle the tasks at hand
About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit Walton Family Foundation.
About the Home Region Program
The Home Region’s purpose is to honor the Walton Family’s shared values and commitment to communities in the Home Region by creating opportunity and enhancing quality of life for all. The Home Region’s annual grant budget is in excess of $50 million.
In Northwest Arkansas, the Home Region’s work is organized around three strategic initiatives:
• Economic and cultural vibrancy- Build on Northwest Arkansas’ strong foundations and further enhance its economic and cultural vibrancy
• Inclusive growth and sense of belonging – Ensure residents of all backgrounds, especially communities of color and low-income populations, have access to opportunity and are welcome and represented
• Community leadership and capacity building – Develop and empower a diverse set of local leaders and organizations to drive and shape the vision of Northwest Arkansas and achieve the goals of the initiatives above
The Walton Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.
Basic Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree required; relevant master’s degree or higher preferred.
• At least five years of work in an affordable housing, professional urban planning setting or related field
• Direct experience with affordable housing deal structures, finance and tax credit mechanisms
• Understanding of affordable housing stakeholders and access to assistance programs at federal, state and local levels that could be used for workforce housing
• Experience and track record to serve as a critical advisor and subject matter expert to increase workforce housing through various philanthropic tools and public/private leverage opportunities
• Excellent written skills and experience in producing both brief and longer written products in a timely fashion for internal and external audiences.
• Oral communication skills, with experience in public speaking that emphasizes conveying complex issues to internal and external audiences.
• Proven skills at organization and time management.
• Demonstrated capacity to work as part of a team, as well as independently.
• Intellectual agility and the ability to analyze, think critically and understand progressive urban planning principles and issues.
