Communications and Outreach Coordinator

Work. Serve. Thrive. With the City of Durham.

Advance in your career while making a real difference in the community you serve.

Salary Range: $64,507 – $100,066
Hiring range: $64,507 – $82,286
Workdays/Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Some evenings and weekends required)

If you're passionate about helping residents access information, engage in public decisions, and connect with resources that support affordable, safe, and fair housing, the City of Durham invites you to consider the role of Communications and Outreach Coordinator with the Housing & Neighborhood Services (HNS) Department.

The Communications and Outreach Coordinator leads and coordinates departmental communications and outreach for the Housing & Neighborhood Services Department.

This position will be nested within the Housing and Neighborhood Services Department's Administration Division. 

An ideal candidate will have experience in public information, communications, and equitable engagement.

About the Department 

This is an exciting time for the Housing and Neighborhood Services Department. The City’s Affordable Housing, Code Enforcement, and Human Relations teams were recently combined to create one department. 

Collaboratively, the teams work together to execute the City Council's affordable housing and neighborhood services goals as we work together to build a Durham where everyone has affordable, safe, and fair housing. The department is committed to fostering an environment where everyone on the team is empowered to lead and achieve results consistent with the Council's goals and the department's work plan. We strive to put our department values into action in all that we do: service, teamwork, accountability, and empathy.

About the Position

Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of public communication, marketing, outreach, and community engagement.
• Effective writing, editing, and plain language communication techniques for diverse audiences.
• Digital communication platforms, including websites, social media, email systems, and content management tools.
• Project coordination, workflow management, and editorial processes.
• Equity centered engagement strategies and culturally responsive communication approaches.

Skills in:

• Writing clear, accurate, and accessible content for print and digital formats.
• Facilitating meetings, public events, listening sessions, and outreach activities
• Coordinating projects, timelines, approvals, and cross departmental workflows.
• Problem solving, identifying communication challenges, and recommending effective solutions.
• Using design, layout, or content creation tools.

• Strategic Communications and Content Development: Develop and implement department-wide communication plans that align with HNS priorities, major initiatives, and the City's strategic goals.
• Community Outreach and Engagement: Plan and lead departmental engagement strategies, including logistics, promotions, and gathering stakeholder feedback.
• Employee Advisement and Engagement: Provide communications guidance and direction to staff, including the executive team, and support internal employee engagement efforts 

• Perform other related duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree in business or public administration, communications, or directly related field, and one year of professional communications, web and graphic design, media relations, public information, or video production experience.

OR

• An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above, unless otherwise subject to any other requirements set forth in law or regulation.

• Two years of professional experience in communications, public information, public relations, marketing, community outreach, community engagement, or a related field.

• Experience developing and implementing strategic communications or public-engagement plans, preferably in local government, housing, community development, or a related public-service setting.
• Superb written and verbal communication skills and strong public speaking and presentation skills.  
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and content-creation tools such as Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud; 
• Knowledge of digital accessibility, plain-language, language-access, records-management, and public-sector communications practices.
• Bilingual or multilingual communication skills, particularly Spanish, are a plus.

ADA AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

Positions in this class typically require: climbing, balancing, stooping, reaching, standing, walking, fingering, grasping, talking, hearing, and seeing.

Light Work: Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or negligible amount of force constantly to move objects. If the use of arm and/or leg controls requires exertion of forces greater than that for Sedentary Work and the worker sits most of the time, the job is rated for Light Work.

Working Conditions: 

Work is performed in indoor and outdoor environments.

Incumbents may be expected to travel to external locations/organizations.