Keshet Midwest Education and Training Manager

KEY DETAILS:

• Location: Chicago, IL
  
• Salary:  $60-76,000/year, commensurate with experience
• Benefits: View highlights here
  
• Rolling applications

The Opportunity for Impact:

At a time when anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric are having harmful impacts on LGBTQ+ people and their families, this role helps to ensure that Jewish communities throughout the Midwest are equipped to foster belonging, dignity, and inclusion. Join Keshet as our Midwest Education & Training Manager and help advance LGBTQ+ equality and belonging in Jewish communities across Chicago and the Greater Midwest.

In this role, you will partner with Jewish organizations, clergy, educators, and communal leaders to deliver trainings, workshops, and consultations that foster more welcoming and inclusive communities for LGBTQ+ people. Building on Keshet’s strong presence and history in Chicagoland, you will strengthen partnerships, expand our impact, and help position Keshet as the leading resource for LGBTQ+ inclusion in Jewish life.

This role would be great for someone who thrives on building authentic relationships and cultivating partnerships across diverse Jewish communities and institutions, while serving as a skilled facilitator who can inspire learning, navigate complex conversations, and support organizations through meaningful change. This role is a great fit for someone who can work with a high degree of independence and autonomy, enjoys balancing strategic outreach with hands-on program implementation, and takes initiative in expanding Keshet's impact, visibility, and community partnerships. 

Working closely with colleagues across Keshet and with partners throughout Chicago and the Midwest, you will play a key role in advancing organizational priorities and supporting meaningful, lasting change in Jewish communal institutions.

The Midwest Education & Training Manager reports to the Associate Director of Education and Training. Candidates should be based in or willing to relocate to Chicago.

About Keshet:

Keshet works for the full equality of all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families in Jewish life. We turn values at the heart of Judaism—equality, inclusion, and human dignity—into action in Jewish communities across North America. We equip Jewish organizations with the tools to build LGBTQ+-affirming communities; create spaces for LGBTQ+ Jewish youth and LGBTQ+ Jews of Color to feel joy and belonging; and advance LGBTQ+ rights nationwide.

As an organization that teaches the importance of proactive LGBTQ+ affirming messages and actions, Keshet recognizes the similar need to make our commitment to racial equity and justice clear and explicit. We embed a racial equity and justice lens into Keshet’s leadership and staff structure, political analysis, organizational policies, communications, and program content.

Keshet's national office is in the Boston area with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, South Florida, Texas, and New York, as well, and other staff across the United States.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee and implement all aspects of Keshet’s institutional change work in Chicago and the Greater Midwest.
• Build continued momentum for Keshet’s local education and training work, and lift up Keshet’s profile within the community, through proactive outreach and relationship-building with Jewish institutions.
• Facilitate LGBTQ+ inclusion trainings and workshops, provide consultation, and run and support select LGBTQ+ community building events for Jewish institutions and professionals throughout the Midwest.
• Develop training content in response to articulated needs from Jewish organizations in the Midwest.
• Manage Keshet’s participation in the Pride throughout Chicagoland, overseeing event logistics, volunteer coordination, participant engagement, registration, and on-site operations. 
• Oversee and implement annual Midwest-area cohorts of Shivyon: Keshet’s Equality Project. Shivyon is Keshet’s signature institutional change program. This includes recruitment of participating organizations, and coaching, logistical and facilitation support for the launch and follow-up sessions.
• Serve as the local “face” of Keshet in Chicago, attending select local gatherings to represent Keshet. 
• Collaborate with regional and national Keshet staff from other program departments (Youth Team, Community Mobilization, and Queer Jews of Color programs) to advance shared priorities, programs, and goals.
• This staff person will help advance Keshet’s strategic priorities in the region, working closely with regional and national colleagues to support implementation across program areas.
• Devote a significant majority of their time to outreach and Education & Training work in the Chicagoland area.
• Coordinate evaluation of trainings and provide follow-up support and resources to participants.
• Occasionally contribute to Keshet’s national Education & Training portfolio of work, including contributing to Keshet’s resource library, representing Keshet at select national gatherings, and facilitating or co-facilitating online projects for a national audience as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Travel:

Regular travel for in-person trainings and workshops throughout the Midwest. 

4-6 trips per year in the United States, beyond the Midwest.

Qualifications:

• Passionate commitment to Keshet’s vision and mission of advancing LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life. 
• Experience facilitating engaging, interactive LGBTQ+ inclusion trainings for professionals. 
• Experience and comfort facilitating interactive educational programming online.
• Extensive knowledge of LGBTQ+ identities and experiences and the ability to articulate the intersections among diverse Jewish and LGBTQ+ identities.
• Excellent relationship-building skills with an ability to cultivate and sustain strong working relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work with organizations and learners at various places on the spectrum of belonging and to support growth no matter their starting point.
• Experience with institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
• Ability to skillfully navigate the Jewish communal landscape.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences.
• Excellent analytical, planning, and project management skills.
• Commitment to bring a racial justice and gender equity lens to programs/work products as well as staff culture.
• Ease working with colleagues in multiple geographic locations and using technology to facilitate daily work and collaborative projects.
• Firm understanding of the importance of up-to-date data management; experience with CRM a plus.
• Comfortable with the ambiguity that sometimes occurs in a dynamic organization, and flexible enough to meet changing demands.
• Significant knowledge of Jewish tradition, identity, and experience is preferred; ease working across a wide range of Jewish communities is essential.
• Ability to regularly travel within the Greater Midwest area.

Experience

3-4 years of experience in Jewish communal organizations, diversity, education, or related fields.

Important Note:

Frequently cited statistics show that women, trans, and nonbinary people as well as other structurally marginalized groups are more likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Keshet encourages you to break that statistic and to apply for stretch positions. No one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. We look forward to your application. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until we find the right candidate for the position.

Keshet Equal Employment Opportunity:

Keshet is dedicated to building a culturally diverse and pluralistic staff. Keshet provides equal opportunity to all people regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, veteran status, disability, citizenship status, or any other proscribed category set forth in federal or state regulations. This policy applies to all employees and candidates for employment.