Strategic Planning & Project Management Advice for Program Launch

We're looking for a volunteer with experience in project management and/or coordinating strategic community organizing campaigns to help the Capital Area Urban League (Albany, NY) think through the best strategic approach (and appropriate taproot project request(s)) to execute and manage a new coalition-driven community organizing program.

The purpose of the program is to train community organizers to identify, recruit, train, and put into action community leaders to reinforce/grow/build civically engaged neighbor-driven networks rooted in agency and self-determination to drive progress in historically marginalized/underrepresented neighborhoods in Albany, NY.

The program's central measurable goals are to register 6,000 voters, increase voter turnout by 10% in historically marginalized neighborhoods, and get 6,000 petitions signed demanding the creation of a $20 million neighborhood housing/capital projects fund in 9-months.

CAUL is the fiscal agent and a founding coalition partner for the program. The newly formed local NAREB [https://www.nareb.com/] in Albany, NY is the other founding partner.

Our goal for the session is to leave with a prioritized checklist outlining the best next steps to take to launch the program (i.e., hiring and onboarding of 5-10 staff organizers, branding & marketing strategy, web/socials copy & calendar, ID/secure additional funding sources, platform subscriptions, etc.) with a corresponding calendar/timeline.

Our desired timeline for launch is short. We are looking to launch the program in 2 weeks, on March 9, 2026. We have already done considerable planning, research, and budgeting, and would benefit from skilled help in thinking through a strategic plan, how to simultaneously build organizational capacity, a program sustainability plan, etc.

We understand that this may be ambitious for a 60-minute session, but we hope to at least determine the best next steps/project to maximize Taproot as a resource for this project and CAUL.

With gratitude.