African American History Initiative Director

COMMITMENT TO RACIAL EQUITY

The Missouri Historical Society commits to a process of listening attentively to one another and leveraging best practices and resources across our organization to promote a culture of inclusion where individuals from all racial and ethnic identities; ages; nationalities; social and economic statuses; sexual orientations; gender identities/expressions; religious, political, and ideological perspectives; and abilities are able to be engaged, feel valued, and thrive. click here for the full Commitment to Racial Equity

Position Summary:

The African American Initiative (AAHI) Director is a creative, passionate, and inspiring leader who serves as the primary spokesperson for the initiative. AAHI strives to share and promote stories that explore various aspects of the Black experience throughout this region. In addition to the core values of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS), this initiative supports the collection of artifacts, stories, and other materials concerning historically underrepresented communities; the development of future museum professionals; and the preservation and sharing of Black resources and history in the greater St. Louis area. Reflecting the goals and priorities of our community, AAHI's mission is to develop inclusive exhibits and programs that educate, empower, and enlighten our visitors. This position also serves as the point person to manage and implement the cross-divisional African American History Endowment. The African American History Initiative includes three staff who work primarily on AAHI duties, a core group of internal staff who provide direction and support, a larger internal working group that provides ideas on activities and opportunities for the initiative, and a yet-to-be-formed external advisory group that will provide community input on the direction of the initiative. The AAHI Director coordinates with the three AAHI staff, leads the two internal groups, and will help form the external advisory group. This position reports to the MHS President and CEO.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Acts as an ambassador of institutional mission, vision, and goals in all public programming and community engagement efforts
• Acts as the point person to manage initiatives within the components and stated objectives of the African American History Endowment, including consolidating and tracking goals throughout the entire institution on an ongoing basis
• Prioritizes outreach opportunities for AAHI to be represented at community events and recruits staff to participate in outreach efforts
• Participates in events, opportunities, and speaking engagements that are priorities for MHS
• Serves as the primary spokesperson for AAHI efforts overall, including external and internal communication
• Assists the President's Office with communication and messaging related to AAHI
• Identifies opportunities to collaborate with community groups and helps build relationships with other nonprofit organizations
• In partnership with the Community Programming Coordinator, ensures that MHS programs reflect St. Louis's diversity complexities, connect the past and present, and are relevant to different viewpoints
• In partnership with AAHI Public Historian, identifies compelling St. Louis history stories to tell
• Creates ways to help visitors understand their changing communities by challenging them to think critically about core issues such as diversity and empathy, justice and equity, transportation, environment, stable housing, and cityscape
• Uses the entire St. Louis region as an opportunity for outreach by taking programming to collaborating sites, neighborhoods, and public spaces
• Collaborates with the curator of Urban Landscape and Community identity to identify acquisition opportunities for oral histories, archival materials, and artifacts and helps promote this collecting initiative through programs and public outreach
• Works with the Development team to create ways to incorporate members-only program components and encourage the growth of membership at community events and programs
• Works with the MHS President and Development team to identify and solicit funds to help support and expand AAHI efforts
• Creates and leads a community advisory board that will help to inform our work
• Leads AAHI team meetings, including a larger institutional meeting and a smaller work group meeting
• Coordinates communication among AAHI team members who work in departments throughout the institution

Other:

• Some weeknight and weekend work required
• All other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Master's degree, preferably in history, social studies, American studies, African American studies, urban studies, museum studies, or a related field
• Minimum of 2 to 3 years of experience, preferably in a nonprofit museum setting

Skills:

• Ability to work well with volunteers to achieve programming goals
• Experience collaborating with community groups for events and to help share their history via programming
• Knowledge of research methods in marginalized history and sharing those stories with underrepresented and diverse communities
• Firm understanding of Microsoft Office suite, especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Solid written and oral communication skills
• Budget development and management experience, including management of grant funding or other restricted funding
• Ability to work with a team to achieve department and institution-wide strategic goals
• Aptitude for working well under tight deadlines and multitasking

The applicant must provide a resume and a statement of interest and/or intent in applying fir the position. For questions, please contact Dara Taylor at dtaylor@mohistory.org

Deadline to Apply: Open until filled.

Please upload cover letter and resume when applying.

*External job boards: Please click this link, to apply.

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Services Provided On A Non-Discriminatory Basis

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