Q&A with Executive Director of Life Connection Center in Lowell
As news started spreading about COVID-19, what did you and your team do to prepare?
It was all a matter of getting ahead of the situation while we could. The first thing we did was to check on our clients in need and ensure that they were aware of the situation, symptoms, and precautions they should be taking. We also connected with our program partners, including the Lowell Community Health Center, to understand how we could all work together during the pandemic.
How did everything at the Life Connection Center change once the disease began spreading in Massachusetts?
As a new reality of social distancing and business closures set in, we had to think about all the ways these changes could impact the people we serve. After restaurants closed, we connected with our homeless friends accessing harm reduction services and healthy meals at our center. Our concern was that they would not have access to basic human needs, food, bathrooms or any place to wash up. We responded by setting up portable toilets at our center outside and outdoor handwashing stations. We also used these areas to provide information about the importance of handwashing.
To ensure that our friends would continue to receive health my meals we started an outdoor grab & go option for meals and snacks for both lunch and dinner.
Another exciting innovation concerned access to correct information. We started what we are now calling “Outreach TV,” as we found that our friends were receiving conflicting information about COVID-19 symptoms and resources.
We also installed a digital sign that faces the road in our busy neighborhood with important updates and information. We are including COVID-19 updates, our service updates, and updates for other programs that have moved to telehealth.
How did the RIZE rapid response grant help the Life Connection Center and the people you serve?
This grant has been a critical part of our operations and efforts. We have utilized it to support extra staff hours, to support the purchase of our “Outreach TV” station, extra supplies including harm reduction materials, food, take-home packaging, hygiene products, and homeless care kits.
Can you explain the new way you are sharing materials to the people you serve that involved a bit of a renovation?
In order to promote social distancing, we installed a pass-through door to safely distribute hygiene products, medical supplies, clean syringes and naloxone throughout the pandemic. But we continue to do outreach in the homeless encampments to check on folks as well to make sure they are aware of the resources still available to them during this ever-changing crisis.
What’s on the horizon? How else do you all plan on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath?
Right now, we are taking it day by day. We are exploring how we can support our friends if they get sick, if they need to be quarantined and if they need any other help. We are exploring bringing on web-based groups and a text-based alert system for clients.
We are particularly excited to keep these new options and resources available after this crisis is over. We are being challenged and pushed toward exciting innovation during a time when our vulnerable friends are in such great need.
We continue to be dedicated to bringing safe, radical love and ongoing care to our friends as long as we are able. We have become an oasis in the desert, and we intend on making sure the waters of hope do not run dry.
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Position Summary
Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership (Mosaic), funded by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and powered by RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), is a partnership like no other. It is a unique, public-private collaboration designed to support initiatives that are addressing the opioid overdose crisis in communities that have been historically underserved and have experienced a high rate of opioid-related overdose deaths.
The funding for Mosaic comes from the Massachusetts Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF), which resulted from the historic legal effort to demand justice from several private companies for the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. This is one of the first public-private partnerships of this magnitude using settlement funds for community-led initiatives.
In partnership with BSAS and municipalities receiving opioid abatement funds, RIZE manages the Municipal Training and Technical Assistance (Muni TTA) Program. This program aligns with Mosaic’s mission to ensure that opioid abatement funds are invested and remain in the communities most deeply impacted by the crisis while also fueling transformative change through grassroots, community-led efforts.
The Muni TTA project manager provides project management, data, and operational support, ensuring the Muni TTA Program runs smoothly, is well documented, and is grounded in data. This role translates program strategy into concrete workplans, tracking systems, and reporting products, and provides day-to-day task direction to the program coordinator on project deliverables.
RIZE seeks someone for this position who is passionate about ending the overdose crisis and unafraid of new ideas. Success will require a positive, can-do, learning mindset and a collaborative, team-oriented approach. We are looking for candidates who understand how complex and interconnected issues, such as funding, data systems, and municipal government structures, intersect with addressing the overdose crisis.
The project manager supports the implementation of the Muni TTA workplan and Salesforce data infrastructure, coordinates monthly and quarterly reporting, provides project management support to four regional community advisory boards (CABs), and manages the logistics and content pipeline for the program's webinar series and newsletter. This position reports to the chief program officer (CPO) and works closely with the senior program officer (SPO).
Key Responsibilities
1. Workplan & Data Management
- Oversee the Muni TTA workplan and Asana project management structure across six program goals: Proactive Outreach; Communications and Engagement; Quality Assurance and Team Development; Evaluation and Reporting; Intermunicipal Collaboration and Partnerships; and Community Advisory Boards. Monitor and keep progress, and identify risks or adjustments needed to keep deliverables on track
- Set and monitor Salesforce data quality standards, oversee the Mosaic Muni TTA dashboard in coordination with the program coordinator, and produce reports; identify data quality issues and recommend adjustments to tracked metrics as the program evolves.
- Monitor case documentation and tracking; compile monthly quality-review summaries for senior management review.
- Support municipal capacity assessments by synthesizing results, identifying gaps, and helping the SPO draft action plans that reflect program priorities and municipal needs.
2. Reporting & Leadership Support
- Compile regular qualitative reports, drafting the consolidated narrative of outcomes, barriers, and strategic adjustments for the SPO to finalize.
- Develop regular progress updates, data summaries, and briefing materials for senior leadership, translating program activity and outcomes into clear talking points for internal review and external stakeholder discussions.
- Coordinate senior leadership meeting preparation by identifying needed inputs, shaping agendas around key decisions, and ensuring materials are ready for review and follow-up. Coordinate post meeting follow-up.
- Participate in cross-sector coordination meetings as needed to support data, reporting, or project management needs.
3. Community Advisory Board & Event Support
- Provide project management for CAB implementation tracking progress and outcome metrics.
- Direct administrative support for CABs, including materials preparation and outreach coordination.
- Coordinate logistics, timelines, materials, follow-up, and slide preparation for regional and statewide presentations, meetings, and events.
4. Communications & Content Pipeline
- Project-manage Mosaic TTA webinars: in coordination with the program coordinator maintain the topic and speaker pipeline, coordinate scheduling and logistics, and track post-session evaluations.
- Project-manage Muni TTA bulletin and newsletter production, coordinating content collection, drafting, and oversee program coordinator with distribution timelines, and tracking engagement analytics.
- Direct the program coordinator's development of training materials and slide decks; review for quality and program alignment before routing to senior leadership for approval.
Qualifications
Required
- Strong organizational and time management skills
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and virtual meeting platforms
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Preferred
- Experience in public health, behavioral health, or harm reduction
- Familiarity with workforce development initiatives
- Experience supporting coalitions or multi-partner collaborations
- Experience working with communities disproportionately impacted by substance use and overdose
Core Competencies
- Commitment to harm reduction philosophy and health equity
- Cultural humility and trauma-informed approach
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Strong interpersonal skills and collaborative mindset
- High level of discretion and professionalism
- Bachelor's degree in public health, public administration, business, or a related field and a minimum of five years of relevant experience; or a master's degree and a minimum of two years of experience.
- Demonstrated project management experience, ideally within a public health, government, or nonprofit setting.
- Strong data and systems management skills; experience with Salesforce, or a comparable CRM/database strongly preferred.
- Experience managing workplans, timelines, and reporting cycles.
- Experience with supervision preferred.
- Excellent written communication skills, including experience drafting reports and briefing materials for review by senior staff.
- Proficiency with Salesforce, Asana, Microsoft Office 365, and virtual conferencing platforms; familiarity with Canva, WordPress, and Constant Contact a plus.
- Knowledge of the Massachusetts opioid settlement funding landscape and municipal government structures preferred.
Skills, Abilities, Attributes
- Strong organizational skills and sound judgment in a fast-paced, small-team, collegial environment.
- Comfortable managing competing priorities and shifting timelines with minimal oversight.
- Demonstrated track record of sustained high-quality, independent work in fast-paced environments.
- Effective relationship-builder able to coordinate across internal teams and external stakeholders.
- Ability to exercise discretion in handling confidential or sensitive information.
- Motivated by a keen sense of mission and values with a willingness to embrace and actively support RIZE's agenda.
Work Environment
The Municipal TTA project manager is a full-time, hybrid role. RIZE is in downtown Boston; travel, primarily in-state, will be required for meetings and events as needed. This role may require evening and occasional weekend work.
