Project Manager, Special Initiatives

Background:
Memphis has the highest rate of young people who are out of school and chronically unemployed in the country—often referred to as opportunity youth. These young adults, who are overwhelmingly African American and from low‑income backgrounds, face significant structural barriers to economic mobility. Today, Memphis ranks among the lowest U.S. cities for social mobility, and only 1% of opportunity youth will earn an Associate Degree by age 28.

The mission of The Collective Blueprint is to increase socioeconomic mobility for young adults by building pathways to thriving careers. We are building on our past success and launching and managing a citywide workforce initiative that brings together multiple organizations, employers, and funders around shared goals, coordinated execution, and measurable outcomes. This citywide workforce initiative is focused on increasing economic mobility, expanding access to living‑wage jobs, and better coordinating the systems that support Memphians furthest from opportunity.

In partnership with public agencies, employers, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations, the initiative focuses on reducing fragmentation across workforce programs, addressing structural barriers to employment, and driving shared accountability for outcomes. The work emphasizes data‑informed decision‑making, cross‑sector collaboration, and practical implementation—ensuring strategies translate into real, measurable improvements for young adults and workers across Memphis.

The Project Manager, Citywide Initiative will play a central role in designing, coordinating, and executing a complex, multi‑stakeholder workforce initiative. This role is ideal for a former consultant or strategy professional who enjoys turning ambiguity into action, managing multiple work streams, and working across organizational boundaries to drive results. Reporting to the CEO and senior leadership, this role will act as the day‑to‑day quarterback for the initiative—owning project plans, facilitating cross‑partner alignment, producing high‑quality deliverables, and ensuring progress against milestones, outcomes, and timelines.

This is not a passive coordination role. The Project Manager will actively lead problem‑solving, synthesize insights, and help partners move from strategy to execution. The Project Manager will be expected to manage 2‑3 work streams of interconnected projects at any given time.

• Design and manage detailed project plans across multiple work streams, partners, and timelines
• Translate high‑level initiative goals into clear scopes, milestones, deliverables, and success metrics
• Track progress, risks, and dependencies; proactively surface challenges and recommend solutions
• Ensure projects stay on time, within scope, and aligned with intended outcomes

• Coordinate work across nonprofits, employers, funders, and public‑sector partners
• Plan and facilitate meetings, working sessions, and stakeholder convenings to drive alignment and decision‑making
• Serve as a neutral, trusted partner who can navigate differing incentives and perspectives
• Maintain momentum across organizations that do not report to one another

• Lead structured problem‑solving efforts related to workforce barriers, system gaps, and implementation challenges
• Conduct primary and secondary research, data analysis, and synthesis to inform decisions
• Translate complex findings into clear insights and actionable recommendations
• Support continuous improvement by identifying what’s working, what’s not, and why

• Produce high‑quality written and visual materials (decks, memos, briefs, dashboards) for internal and external audiences
• Prepare materials that enable partners to implement recommendations independently
• Communicate progress clearly to leadership, funders, and partners

• Support the identification and scoping of new initiative opportunities
• Contribute to grant reporting, proposals, and funder communications related to the initiative
• Help codify…