Community Impact Associate

The Ownership Initiative; Detroit (MI); Hybrid; USD 34,000 - 66,125,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ownership Initiative in Detroit offers a Community Impact Associate role, a hybrid position designed for an early-career professional. You will support designing and launching homeownership programs while gaining housing finance experience and mentorship from industry experts.

Ideal candidates have foundational exposure to banking or housing finance, strong communication, and the ability to manage multiple tasks with high accountability.

Qualifications

• Foundational understanding of banking, lending, housing, or financial services.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy in work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
• Ability to organize information and manage multiple assignments.
• Ability to conduct research and summarize findings clearly.

Responsibilities

• Support projects under direction of more experienced team members.
• Assist with developing program materials, checklists, process maps, and client deliverables.
• Research mortgage products, down payment programs, and housing finance practices.
• Gather and summarize information from lenders, agencies, and partners.
• Maintain project files, trackers, timelines, and supporting docs.
• Participate in meetings with lenders, agencies, nonprofits, and housing partners.

Skills

Foundational banking knowledge

Attention to detail

Written and verbal communication

Organizational skills

Research and summarization

MS Office proficiency

Curiosity and learning

Professionalism

Client relations

Education

College degree helpful

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Reports To: Community Impact Consultants

Location: Detroit, Michigan / Hybrid

Initial Contract Term: 1 Year

Rate: $25.00 per hour up to 1,920 hours, Max Pay $48,000

About the Position

The Community Impact Associate is an early-career professional who supports The Ownership Initiative's work designing, improving, and launching homeownership programs while developing deeper expertise inhousing finance and program development.

This role is designed for someone who has foundational experience or exposure to mortgage lending, banking, housing, real estate, orfinancial services and is ready to build upon that experience.

The Associate will work closely with experienced industry professionalsand receive significant guidance, mentorship, and hands-on training. Throughreal client assignments, the Associate will learn how mortgages, scaled grants programs, lenders, government agencies, nonprofits, and other partners work together to movemillions into community.

This is a developmental professional position similar to a fellowship, but Associates are expected to contribute meaningfully to clientprojects while building the knowledge and judgment necessary to take on greaterresponsibility.

Essential Functions

• Support projects under the direction of more experienced team members.
• Assist with developing program materials, procedures, checklists, process maps, presentations, and other client deliverables.
• Research mortgage products, down payment assistance programs, homeownership initiatives, and housing finance practices.
• Gather, organize, and summarize information from lenders, government agencies, and program partners.
• Research information needed to support housing program design and implementation.
• Maintain project files, trackers, timelines, and supporting documentation.

Other Responsibilities (if applicable)

• Assist with testing new program processes and identifying potential issues.
• Track questions, challenges, and follow-up items during program implementation.
• Participate in meetings with lenders, government agencies, nonprofits, housing counselors, developers, and other clients or partners.
• Prepare agendas, meeting notes, summaries, and follow-up materials.
• Track commitments and next steps resulting from meetings.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

The Ownership Initiative is looking for someone with astrong foundation, curiosity, and capacity to deliver service with high accountability.

The ideal Associate may have worked inside a bank, creditunion, CDFI, housing organization, or another financial-services environmentand has begun developing an understanding of how lending works.

The Associate should be interested in learning what happensbeyond an individual transaction and wants to learn how housing programs areadministered to create scaled community impact.

The ideal candidate will have approximately two years ofprofessional experience, preferably with some exposure to financial services orhousing policy.

A college degree may be helpful but is not required whena candidate has relevant professional experience and demonstrates the abilityto succeed in the position.

Successful candidates should demonstrate:

• Foundational understanding of banking, lending, housing, or financial services
• Strong attention to detail
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to organize information and manage assignments
• Ability to conduct research and summarize findings
• Comfort working with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• Willingness to ask questions and receive feedback
• Ability to learn complex financial concepts
• Professionalism when interacting with clients and partners
• Curiosity about how financial and housing systems work

What You'll Gain from this Experience

During the term, a successful Community Impact Associate will demonstrate increasing ability to:

• Understand the mortgage process and terminology
• Understand how housing assistance interacts with mortgage financing
• Produce accurate, professional work with decreasing levels of supervision
• Conduct research independently
• Identify questions and potential problems rather than simply completing assigned tasks
• Communicate professionally with clients and partners
• Manage assigned responsibilities and deadlines
• Apply lessons from one project to another
• Exercise increasingly strong professional judgment.