Project Implementation Consultant (PIC)

Job Description:

Project Implementation Consultant (PIC)

Team SummaryCommon Ground USA (CG-USA) fosters collaboration across differences to address America’s biggest challenges and build a society where everyone can belong and thrive. As part of Search for Common Ground, with 40 years of global conflict resolution experience, CG-USA transforms conflict into cooperation with programming focused in the United States. At CG-USA, we believe that most Americans want to overcome the divisions we face in our society and that we all have a role to play. Engaging across political and other divides, we see disagreement as an opportunity to transform conflict into cooperation to solve our most pervasive problems. All of our work is rooted in an evidence base where we strengthen the five vital signs of peace: safety, social cohesion, institutional legitimacy, personal agency, and resourcing peace.
We launched our Collective Memory Program through The Reconstructing Reconstruction project in New Orleans. Our Collective Memory work empowers communities to recognize New Orleans as a historic testing ground for equality in America and to address long-standing divisions through trust-building, community memorialization, and collective action. Participants engage with stories of both trauma and triumph, gaining tools to navigate difficult conversations about the past and its present-day impacts. Central to this work is the belief that communities should have the power to decide what gets remembered. Participants nominate, discuss, and vote on the historical figures, places, and events they want to lift up—ensuring the stories preserved reflect lived experience and collective values. By building authentic relationships and nurturing transformative leadership, we support efforts to bridge divides, repair historical wounds, and prevent future conflict—not just for one community, but for everyone who calls this city home.
We are currently in the design phase for our next project in New Orleans, and are in need of Project Implementation Consulting Services for the second phase of our Collective Memory Work in New Orleans. The PIC will work closely with the Program Manager to implement a collective memory program for the next 12 months.

The PIC should have the following experience:

• Community organizing
• Forms of memorialization in New Orleans and the United States
• Collective memory work
• Project management

Scope of Services:

• Recruit potential cohort members
• Participate in selection of cohort members
• Design cohort training curriculum
• Lead cohort trainings in accordance with curriculum
• Facilitate program implementation
• Participate in program evaluation

Project Timeline:

May 2025

• Finalize project design
• Draft cohort member responsibilities
• Develop two-year work plan with goals and outcomes
• Design cohort training curriculum
• Recruit and Select Cohort Members
• The 15-member cohort will be selected by June 1, ensuring diversity across race, geography, religion, age, political perspective, gender, and identity (including both indigenous and transplant voices).

June – August 2025:

• Cohort Training: Over three months, cohort members will take part in immersive, hands-on training. In addition to Common Ground Approach training, participants will explore the selected historical topic through oral histories, site visits, and interactive sessions. They’ll also be introduced to different approaches to memorialization—including traditional markers, public art, and community storytelling.

September 2025 – December 2026:

• Program Implementation: Following training, the cohort will decide on a shared project rooted in what they’ve learned. This could include historical markers or other creative forms of public memory, with a focus on methods that are visible, lasting, and accessible. Participants will be given budget-aligned options and support to shape the final work.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted.