East Side Freedom Library Executive Director Job Announcement
Application materials must be received by: MIDNIGHT, March 1st, 2022
Anticipated start date: Spring 2022
The East Side Freedom Library (ESFL) is seeking a new Executive Director in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Status: Full Time, salaried, exempt position
Reports to: Board of Directors
Supervises: 1-2 FTE
Salary: $90,000-$120,000
Residency: The ability to be on-site is an essential function of the job and will require living within physical commuting distance to the Library. Applicants do not have to live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area at the time of application but must live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area after hiring.
About the East Side Freedom Library
East Side Freedom Library is a builder and connector in a community which has suffered from silos of interests, capital disinvestment, and political neglect over the years. Founded in 2013 and opened in 2014, ESFL uses our collections and our programs to bridge the common histories of the people of the East Side (immigrants, working-class, people of color, people living in poverty, and much more) to a shared understanding of moving forward together. Our collection of over 26,000 books and materials provides a basis for all our work. We use these as a framework to support our neighbors as they create new knowledge and action in our communities.
Our mission is to inspire solidarity, advocate for justice, and work toward equity for all.
Our work is designed to be intersectional, with each program area connecting to multiple resources and communities. We build our work from these primary areas:
- Cultural Work
- Labor and Equity
- Communities Past, Present, and Future
- Teaching and Learning
Our Values Include:
- Honoring unique life journeys and labor experiences throughout history
- Amplifying diverse voices and perspectives through dialogue, creativity, and the arts
- Reinventing the library as a relevant place that deepens an individual’s and our community’s sense of identity
- Igniting a living history through the power of books and special collections
- Generating and nurturing new ideas and activism, leading to change
To learn more about us visit the ESFL website, our Facebook Page, or YouTube channel to get to know our community and programming.
About the East Side
The East Side community is majority BIPOC and majority renters and low-income. More than a quarter of our neighbors are new Americans, and nearly half speak a language other than English at home. For hundreds of years, Dakota people made the greater East Side their home until they were driven out of the area in the mid-1800s. Their descendants continue to live here, and they are an important part of the present and the future of this area. For more than a century and a half, immigrants from Europe and their children and grandchildren made the East Side their home. Since the 1980s, the turn in the American and world economies has brought great changes to the East Side. While the economic, political, and social changes wrought by civil wars, ethnic and religious conflict, military rule, and other forms of autocracy, new waves of migrants from southeast Asia (Hmong, Karen, Khmer, Tibetans, Bhutanese), central America (Mexicans, Salvadorans), and east Africa (Somali, Oromo, Eritrean, Amhara, Anuak) have found their way to the East Side and have begun to establish families, communities, social and religious institutions, and labor and advocacy organizations. On one level, they face challenges similar to those faced by their European predecessors: to learn how to succeed in a new society; to encourage their children to access American education; to maintain their cultures and languages, especially across generations; to have a positive impact on the families, communities, and countries they left behind.
Job Structure
This position will be a full-time salaried position. This is an FLSA exempt position and will require some evenings and weekends.
Core Areas of Duties
- Leadership and Strategy
- Resource Development
- Operations and Financial Management
- Organizational Culture and Staff Management
For more information about this position access the Executive Director Job Description using this link:
https://eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/job-description-executive-director/
Knowledge, Wisdom, and Experience
What do we hope you will bring to the ESFL? Because the communities and cultures that are a part of the ESFL programming and activities are wide-ranging, we want to attract potential candidates who bring a combination of experiences. The following experiences and attributes are important to the work and this position.
- Previous experiences with leadership where you have:
- Managed a wide variety of people (e.g., age, background, wisdom, and experience)
- Been responsible for developing and guiding strategy for an organization
- Worked with community or nonprofit committees, advisory boards, or board of directors
- Paid attention to and were responsible for resource development and money management
- Managed or sustained growth
- Worked, organized, or advocated for and with a community
- Commitment to the mission and vision of the East Side Freedom Library
- Experience with and demonstrated commitment to building an anti-racist organization
- Passion for building, connecting, and collaborating, and are comfortable with working and interacting with a variety of people with different lived experiences, interests, and abilities
- Utilize creativity and experience to organize details, tasks, and people
- Dedicated to the causes/missions that you care about
- Willingness to try and to learn new things
- Ability to see the big picture and figure out how all the pieces fit together
- Built structures and systems for internal teams and programming
- Familiarity and comfort with various needs for technology that are essential to running a business or organization
- Experience in the Twin Cities or in a highly diverse (culturally, economically, socially) community like the East Side of Saint Paul
Given our geographical location and the cultural communities that are physically located near us, we are particularly interested in recruiting candidates who:
- Have relationships with, know, or interested in building relationships with people in the East Side neighborhoods of Saint Paul
Status: Full Time, salaried, exempt position
Salary: $90,000-$120,000
Does this position interest you? Email us at [email protected] and tell us your story!
Be sure to include your contact information: name, email, and phone number. Please use the subject line “Executive Director” and include the following attachments:
- A document with your story and why you want this position. We are interested in hearing how your interests and journey intersect and why you think this position, the ESFL, and the East Side is a good fit for you
- Your resume, vita, or a list of your experience
Contact us with your information or any questions at [email protected]
Materials must be received by: MIDNIGHT on March 1st, 2022
We look forward to hearing from you!