Chicago Education News Collaboration Manager
About The Position
Civic News Company , parent company of the nonprofit newsrooms Chalkbeat , focused on telling the story of education in America; Votebeat , dedicated to in-depth reporting on elections and voting; and Healthbeat , covering public health and health policy both nationally and locally, is seeking a part-time contract Chicago Education News Collaboration Manager, Chalkbeat to support coverage of the 2026 Chicago school board election by providing facilitation, coordination, and project management services to newsrooms participating in a collaborative reporting effort. Chalkbeat Chicago serves as the project lead, overseeing the editorial strategy in partnership with participating news organizations. The initiative is supported by Press Forward Chicago and a coalition of funders as part of a broader effort to strengthen the local media ecosystem and deepen coverage of Chicago schools.
Requirements
- Demonstrated experience facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborations, partnerships, or cross-organizational initiatives.
- Strong project design and process management skills.
- Ability to build trust across independent organizations with differing priorities and newsroom cultures.
- Experience working in or alongside journalism, nonprofit media, or civic organizations.
- Clear written communication skills.
- Familiarity with Chicago’s civic or education landscape.
- Ability to operate independently, manage your own workflow, and deliver agreed-upon project milestones.
Nice To Haves
- Experience facilitating journalism collaborations or newsroom partnerships.
- Background in nonprofit capacity-building or media ecosystem development.
Responsibilities
- Designing and documenting the operational framework for the collaborative.
- Establishing documentation systems to track deliverables, timelines, and partnership commitments.
- Designing and facilitating cross-newsroom meetings, predominantly virtual, to support collaborative education coverage initiatives.
- Preparing meeting agendas and written summaries documenting decisions and action items.
- Maintaining shared project tracking systems and coordination documents.
- Identifying operational barriers to collaboration and recommending process improvements.
- Providing periodic written progress updates and a post-election evaluation memo summarizing lessons learned and recommendations for improvement.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Part-time
Career Level
Manager
Education Level
No Education Listed
