Safe Routes Manager

About Living Streets Alliance
 

Living Streets Alliance (LSA), is a nonprofit organization that advocates for a thriving Tucson by creating great streets for all of us. Working at the intersection of social justice, climate change, public health, and community development, we utilize streets to foster a just, sustainable, and vibrant city. We envision streets as living public spaces that connect people to places and to each other, and work to bring this vision to life through programs like
Cyclovia Tucson and Safe Routes to School, advocating for policies like Complete Streets, partnering with neighborhoods and communities to transform streets and intersections into colorful, inviting, and traffic-calmed spaces for all ages to enjoy, and more. 
 

Living Streets Alliance is seeking a Safe Routes Manager to lead and manage our youth-based programs aimed at breaking down barriers to walking, biking, rolling, and accessing transit. The Safe Routes Manager is responsible for managing and coordinating Safe Routes to School programming with schools throughout Tucson, providing technical assistance to neighborhoods and business districts with their multi-modal travel and traffic calming needs, and managing quick-build transformation projects. Principally, they foster community-building processes that are solution-oriented and geared toward transportation equity. 

As the manager of the Safe Routes program, they plan and participate in site visits and assessments and utilize data-driven analyses to make streets safer for all people, particularly those walking, rolling, and biking. The Safe Routes Manager is integral to fostering strong relationships with schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and multiple municipalities. They are confident collaborating with community members, transportation professionals, elected officials and the LSA team to identify physical challenges and potential solutions, and have an eye for pairing needs identified in the community with policy and funding opportunities at the city/regional scale. The right candidate loves working with people on the ground and is confident working within school environments.  

A day in the life of the Safe Routes Manager  

On a given day, you might be: attending a meeting with the City of Tucson traffic engineering staff to discuss the details of a new quick-build traffic calming treatment under considerations; researching traffic patterns in a local neighborhood and following up with a neighbor who inquired about what can be done to improve walkability there; riding your bike and joining in the afterschool bike club at one of our Safe Routes to School Partner Schools; taking inventory of supplies and checking on the program budget; meeting with parents and faculty at a new school to share ideas and resources in support of getting a “walking school bus” or “bike bus” started there; helping a school organize a walk to school day with council members or other decisionmakers; working with a colleague to develop and plan for a webinar on how to do a walkability assessment; filling out the permits needed to implement a quick-build project and block-painting party; attending a staff brainstorming session to learn about a new initiative and ideate an approach for implementing it; staffing an outreach or fundraising event; communicating with and training volunteers on how to do intercept surveys.  

You’ll thrive in this job if you:  

• Are passionate about multimodal transportation and making it easier for more people to bike, walk, and use transit  


• Are highly familiar with transportation frameworks such as Safe Routes to School, Complete Streets, and Vision Zero  


• Have strong project and program management skills  


• Have strong commitments to hearing from and connecting with community in order to co-create transportation solutions that are community-centered  


• Are highly organized, detail-oriented, resourceful, and take initiative; self-start and lead projects with minimal supervision  


• Can juggle multiple projects at once and deliver high-quality work on time while adapting quickly to external shifts in opportunities and timelines  


• Enjoy working on a variety of project and program types with unique challenges and coming up with creative solutions  


• Are energized in a collaborative environment and value co-creation and shared-leadership  


• Share a strong desire and ability to learn quickly and grow with the organization  


• Are outgoing, friendly, and enjoy connecting with and convening people from all walks of life 


• Are comfortable working with youth of all ages and engaging families from diverse socioeconomic and cultural background 


• Are excited about and dedicated to growing and expanding Safe Routes programming   

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 

Safe Routes to School Program Management (60%) 

• Coordinate with Partner Schools to create and maintain tailored Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programming to support more students and families walking and biking  


• Pursue and connect with interested schools to provide support in starting SRTS activities  


• Maintain key relationships with program affiliates and municipal partners  


• Recruit and manage intern(s) and volunteer(s)  


• Coordinate with partner organizations (subconsultants) to schedule and deliver in-class educational curriculum and after-school extracurricular activities  


• Facilitate Mobile Bike Repair clinics across the region  


• Contract and budget compliance: manage program budgets; collect data, track deliverables, and provide reports as needed; communicate with funding partners  


• Monitor and reorder supplies and equipment  


• Ensure SRTS website is organized and up to date  

Walkability/Bikeability/Transit Consultation & Technical Assistance (10%)  

• Respond to and meet with community members looking to improve mobility and accessibility in their area  


• Serve as a resource and subject matter expert on active transportation, Safe Routes to School, and related topics through community engagement, presentations at conferences, on webinars and through other venues, conducting research and analysis as needed 


• Quick-Build Implementation (10%)  


• Identify and coordinate the completion of shorter-term Tactical Urbanism demonstration and pilot projects such as Better Block demonstrations, pilot protected bike lanes, and pop-up traffic circle demonstrations, in order tocatalyze long-term streets transformations 


• Project manage quick-build projects, which includes:   


• Leading project coordination with city departments, project partners, and engineering consultants to facilitatequick-build project planning and construction   


• Reviewing and providing feedback on engineering plans and conducting site visits during project construction  


• Installation   


• Lead quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis efforts for project evaluation purposes  


• Organizational Support & Integration (20%)   


• Support the team in moving forward program or service specific initiatives; help plan for and staff events as needed   


• In collaboration with the team, contribute to the production of biannual Cyclovia event, including outreach, preparation and day-of support 


• Support fundraising efforts as needed; assist in the development of grant and project proposals as necessary  


• Engage regularly in project-/program-specific reflection and problem-solving, contributing to thought work with the team around intersectional issues such as disability justice, racial justice, housing policy and gentrification 


• Regularly gather and contribute content for communications purposes (newsletters, social media, annual report, websites)  


• Partner and work with LSA’s Board of Directors through committee engagement  

Essential Skills & Qualifications  

LSA does not have minimum requirements for education or professional experience. We encourage all candidates with relevant experiences and professional backgrounds to apply. We expect qualified candidates to have the following skills and qualifications for this position:  

• Deep connection to the mission and vision of Living Streets Alliance and the values of the organization (creativity, equity, community, integrity, collaboration)  


• Experience in transportation or urban planning fields and knowledge of planning principles and practices  


• Experience with multimodal mobility, and considerable knowledge of public space design principles, emerging street design and transportation practices, and traffic calming strategies  


• Skills and experience working with diverse groups and ability to translate community concerns and wishes into solutions that are co-created with community members  


• Ability to establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with community members, contractors, collaborators, and City partners  


• Demonstrated experience leading projects at a variety of scales  


• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, with an aptitude for cultivating relationships and working collaboratively  


• Ability to coordinate and manage volunteers and interns  


• Understanding of and commitment to antiracism, transportation equity, and mobility justice principles   


• Conversational Spanish proficiency  

Physical Requirements  

• Flexibility to work outside of regular business hours (evening meetings, weekend events, as needed)  


• Reside in or willing to relocate to Tucson   


• Current Arizona driver’s license (or the ability to obtain) and the ability to transport oneself all over the region, often with supplies and equipment  


• Fingerprint clearance as required by school districts (LSA can help facilitate this upon hire)  


• Confident riding a bicycle to support programs as needed  


• Ability to perform manual tasks regularly (ex. pouring paint, installing yard signs, moving barricades, loading and unloading equipment, etc.)   

 Nice to Haves  

• Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in urban planning, transportation planning, urban design, landscape architecture, public health, education, or related applicable field  


• Advocacy experience  


• Nonprofit experience  


• High level of Spanish proficiency, especially speaking (Candidates who don't speak Spanish, but are fluent in languages spoken by Tucson's indigenous peoples or by Tucson's refugee populations, are encouraged to apply)  


• Experience planning and implementing quick-build / tactical urbanism projects  


• Working knowledge of engineering drafting and design methods, practices, and techniques  


• Experience with route planning / mapping technology(ies) such as ArcGIS Pro, and ability to prepare graphics and maps  


• Experience working with youth, especially K-8  


• Experience in fundraising, grant and/or contract attainment 

Work Schedule  

This full-time position works a flexible schedule of 40 hours a week. Staff meets altogether 2-3 times per week at the office; the rest of the time employees have flexibility with when and where they work, though they’re encouraged to follow normal business hours when possible. Working with schools and neighborhoods often requires evening meetings and weekend events. Annually, the nature of LSA’s work requires a flexible work schedule. Events and activities ramp up in the fall through spring and slow down in the summer. Because of this, the team utilizes a flex time system for accommodating healthy work/life balance.

Benefits  

• Creative, collaborative and mission-driven environment within an organization that has tremendous local impact   


• Close-knit team who are passionate about the work and dedicated to learning together    


• Flexible work schedule with remote work and flex time practices 


• Paid Time Off package including annual 18 days PTO, paid holidays, employer-paid sabbatical and parental leave policies 


• Group health insurance with 100% employer-paid premium of base plan     

*The Safe Routes Manager works collaboratively with the entire LSA team and leads on their projects/programs. There are currently no supervisees, however portions of the work may be delegated to junior hires as LSA’s capacity and staff grows. If/when these hires are made, the Safe Routes Manager would be their supervisor, which would come along with a promotion and raise.