Consultant for Resilient States Project - Pennsylvania

Summary 

Common Ground USA (CG-USA) is seeking a consultant to advise CG-USA on building connections and relationships with key state-level political leaders, civil society organizations, and other leaders across the political spectrum in Pennsylvania, with a focus on organizing anti-political violence efforts in Harrisburg. This consultancy is program-funded.

Common Ground USA 

Common Ground USA (CG-USA) fosters collaboration across differences to address America’s most significant 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 on 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 view disagreement as an opportunity to transform conflict into cooperation and solve our most pressing 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.

The Project 

The Resilient States Project is a collaboration between CG-USA and Over Zero that convenes and empowers broad-based networks of diverse leaders to build resilience and mitigate risks for division and political violence in key states (currently: Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas). Our networks unite diverse leaders across various sectors, ideologies, and geographies. These networks collaborate to mitigate divisions and risks of conflict within their states and unify their communities. 

Geographic Locations

The consultant must be based in Pennsylvania. This role may require significant travel within Pennsylvania for meetings and event organizing. This may include multiple trips within a month, and weekend travel is possible. Day trips should be included in the consultant’s proposed costs. Required travel and other additional expenses that are pre-approved would be compensated by CG-USA.

Logistical Support

The consultant will be responsible for organizing their own logistics, and these costs must be reasonably budgeted into the proposal. CG-USA can provide some support in arranging logistics as agreed upon based on the consultant’s proposal. At least one CG-USA staff member will serve as the primary point of contact and project manager. 

Additionally, the Resilient States Project team will share background materials, existing relationships, and other relevant information.

Ethical Considerations

Consultancy activities should conform to Do No Harm and inclusion principles (i.e., age, gender/gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, race, religion, ideology, etc.). The consultant will also be asked to sign Search for Common Ground’s Code of Conduct.

In addition, the consultancy should be conducted in a manner that builds and maintains the Resilient States Project’s relationships and legitimacy with partners and leaders in the state. Nothing in the consultant’s work should suggest, or give the appearance of suggesting, that the Resilient States Project team, its partners, Common Ground USA, or Search for Common Ground as a whole are participating in political activity or lobbying that would violate the requirements of their 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. The Resilient States Project team also requires consultants to maintain a balanced, unbiased, and respectful relationship with all staff and local contacts.

In addition, the consultant is required to respect the following Ethical Principles:

Comprehensive and systematic inquiry: The Consultant should utilize the existing information and the full range of available stakeholders. 

Competence: A Consultant should possess the abilities, skills, and experience appropriate to undertake the tasks proposed and should practice within the limits of their professional training and competence.

Honesty and Integrity: The consultant should be transparent with the contractor/constituent about any conflicts of interest, any changes made to the negotiated project plan and the reasons for those changes, and any risks that specific procedures or activities may produce that could lead to misleading review information.

Respect: Consultant should respect the security, dignity, and self-worth of program participants. The consultant has the responsibility to be sensitive to and respect differences among participants in terms of culture, religion, gender, disability, age, and ethnicity.

Timeline

The contract will span 3 months from approximately mid-October 2025 to January 2026.

Budget

Candidates are encouraged to submit a budget, including a proposed daily/monthly rate, as part of their application.

• Provide networking and relationship-building with key state-level political leaders, civil society organizations, and other leaders who have some measure of interest, capacity, or influence to prevent political violence in Pennsylvania;
• Convene state-level political leaders in efforts that oppose or discourage political violence.

• Advise the CG-USA team on initial stakeholder consultation for anti-political violence effort in Harrisburg;
• Advise CG-USA on a facilitation plan for convening political leaders against political violence in Harrisburg;
• Organize and facilitate a Harrisburg convening of political leaders against political violence; 
• Review list of existing relationships, identify gaps, provide recommendations for additional outreach, and make target introductions to the CG-USA team as needed; and
• Complete the reports listed below.

• An initial inception report laying out a detailed consultancy plan;
• Monthly progress updates;
• A report on key steps in planning and implementation, lessons learned, and recommendations for future programming in Pennsylvania; and
• Any additional deliverables as may be required by the consultancy, including on specific areas of subject-matter expertise.

• More than 7 years of experience in a combination of the following areas are required:
• Deep working knowledge and relationships with community leaders and civil society organizations within Pennsylvania.
• Deep understanding of political violence, conflict resolution, and related socio-political issues in the United States.
• Excellent writing, editing, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with diverse groups and individuals, including across political differences.
• The candidate must be based in the state of Pennsylvania.

• Pre-existing relationships with Pennsylvania state leaders working on community building or political violence mitigation.

• Relevance of their expression of interests as it relates to the applicant’s ability to meet the goal and objectives.
• Qualifications and proposed budget in relation to the proposed project and deliverables.

Applications

To apply, interested candidates (individuals or teams) are requested to submit the following two documents:

1. Curriculum vitae.

2. Expression of intent outlining the following: (1) relevant networks, community connections, and other key relationships in Pennsylvania that can be leveraged for this process; (2) a budget and/or proposed pay rate; and (3) any other relevant experience as applicable to these terms of reference.

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.