Studio Associate

Rich Harwood, President and Founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, has created the Studio on Community to advance new ideas for strengthening communities and society in a rapidly changing world. The Studio is offering Associate positions for exceptional, public-spirited professionals to begin work in 2023 in its Bethesda, MD offices, or virtually, if mutually agreed. The Studio Associate position terms are flexible, but typically last for five to six months (full time), or nine to twelve months (part time). Associates will receive office space at the Harwood Studio on Community, a stipend, professional development training, exposure to new networks, and mentorship from one of the country’s leading authorities on civic life. 

The Studio on Community

Studios have long existed as a combined workshop and space where the act of reflection can merge with acts of production. Drawing members who seek to participate in and contribute to these activities, the studio environment also provides the space and time for individuals to focus on and develop their own ideas and skills. Located within The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, the Studio on Community provides the opportunity for Rich Harwood and a high-performing team of individuals to strengthen the civic fabric of our communities and our country by innovating and incubating new ideas, projects and initiatives.

Studio Associates will work directly with Rich Harwood and other Harwood Institute staff. The Institute’s practice, methods, ideas and approaches have helped shape the field of civic and community change for more than 30 years. Studio Associates will be enriched by the process of learning from and working with each other, Rich Harwood, and the larger team at The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation.

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is founded on a deep civic faith in our ability to solve our toughest shared problems by placing people rather than organizations or tribes at the center of our actions, engendering a sense of belief and can-do spirit, and coming together in the common enterprise of community to accomplish our goals. Everything we do at the Studio is an expression of that faith, and is an attempt to develop concrete, practical answers to society’s most fundamental challenges.

Studio Associate Position Description

This is an invaluable opportunity for individuals who are seeking a time-bound, purpose-driven, professional and personal growth experience, and who want to be part of a larger effort to advance new solutions for communities and society, particularly at a time of growing division and inwardness. 

Studio Associates will support Rich and The Harwood Institute by:

  • Developing research and background for a series of groundbreaking articles, books, and projects with responsibilities including conducting research; interviewing relevant people; compiling background materials; and serving as a thought partner and sounding board

  • Working on special projects that innovate on key challenges in society

  • Creating ways to spread critical ideas emerging from the Studio, including drafting material and content for new articles, special reports, podcasts, new courses, and projects

  • Contributing to the execution of existing Institute community and network-based projects 

Past Studio Associates have worked on projects such as:

  • Completing a 30-year impact study of The Harwood Institute’s approach in communities, which resulted in Rich’s latest book, Unleashed: A Proven Way for Communities to Spread Change and Make Hope Real for All

  • Evaluating and establishing the connection between American pragmatism and Black American pragmatism to the Institute’s approach

  • Defining the role of civic rituals in community life

  • Creating the new “Making the Invisible Visible” Tool, which helps change agents and communities reveal the progress they are making

  • Documenting the 30-year evolution of the Institute’s ideas, approaches and philosophy

  • Completing research and analysis to allow the Institute to better articulate its foundation of civic faith 

In addition, Studio Associates will be encouraged to write a piece in their own voice, for publication, that draws on the Harwood ideas and practice and applies to their own context.

Additional Benefits

Studio Associates will:

  • Attend a Harwood Public Innovators Lab and Harwood Summit, if possible 

  • Shadow Rich Harwood and Harwood staff in Institute meetings to learn and get exposure

  • Participate in weekly and monthly discussions about the Studio, the Harwood practice, previous Harwood reports, and civic issues 

Potential Candidates

Candidates should be professionals committed to strengthening communities and using their skills, critical thinking and creativity to advance the Studio conversation and further the mission of the Harwood Institute. This is not a traditional research fellowship. Members of the Studio on Community are eager to develop and test concrete solutions to messy problems with an international expert in civic innovation. Applications are accepted with or without an institutional affiliation. Examples of ideal candidates include: 

  • University faculty or staff members, or graduate students, seeking an opportunity or leave of absence to accelerate their research, and/or increase the impact of interdisciplinary engagement at their home institution

  • Independent researchers and scholars, educators and other related professionals

  • Organizational leaders looking to build their knowledge of communities and take that back to their current organization

  • Dedicated professionals, currently in a transitional state, with demonstrated experience or interest in community work and looking for a mid-term developmental experience

  • Recent college and graduate school graduates with demonstrated organizational, leadership, or research skills, looking to prepare themselves for a future career

Qualifications

Studio Associates must possess the following characteristics:

  • Conceptual and critical thinker 

  • Effective communicator and intentional listener

  • Very focused, disciplined and rigorous

  • Possesses an internal standard of excellence 

  • Personable and strong sense of humor

  • Excellent writer

  • Strong researcher

  • Enjoys working as part of a team

  • Has the ability to work in an unstructured, independent environment

  • Establishes and follows through on agreed-upon deadlines

Terms

  • 15-40 hours per week for a period of at least three months (6-12 months preferred) 

  • Up to $12,500 stipend 

  • Must work in the Institute’s Bethesda, MD, office OR virtually, if agreed upon

Note for university faculty/staff members and graduate students: in the past, university faculty have been granted paid leaves of absence to participate in the Studio Associateship. We are happy to help you request financial support from your university or college through a supplemented leave of absence or through other appropriate approaches. 

To Apply

Send a letter of inquiry about your interest along with your qualifications to John Conroy, Chief of Staff, at JConroy@theharwoodinstitute.org. 

The Harwood Institute is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

About The Harwood Institute

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that equips people, organizations, communities, and networks with the tools to bridge divides, build capacity, and tackle shared challenges. The Harwood Institute’s work is rooted in a philosophy of Civic Faith and the practice of Turning Outward. Founded in 1988, the Institute partners with some of the world’s largest nonprofits, and its approach has spread to all 50 states across the US and 40 countries around the world.

About Richard C. Harwood 

Rich’s perspective is unique – and urgently needed today. For over 30 years, he has dedicated his career to revitalizing the nation’s hardest-hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations, and reconnecting institutions like newsrooms and schools to society. He has been recruited to solve some of the most difficult problems of our time, including being called into Newtown, Connecticut after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Rich has innovated and developed a new philosophy of Civic Faith and the practice of Turning Outward, helping communities solve shared problems and create a civic culture of shared responsibility. Thousands of community leaders, officeholders, foundation and corporate executives, clergy, journalists, and government officials around the globe are using his approaches. He is an inspiring, sought-after speaker who regularly keynotes major conferences. He appears regularly on major media outlets and has written several books and numerous groundbreaking reports. Rich is the Founder and President of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, located in Bethesda, Maryland. 

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