What Is a Community Quarterback, Really?

Introduction: More Than a Metaphor—Why Neighborhoods Need Quarterbacks

Let me take you back to a neighborhood meeting on a muggy Tuesday night. We were crammed into a church fellowship hall with squeaky folding chairs, half-working fans, and a stack of charts taped to the wall. Around the table sat residents, a rep from the city’s planning department, a couple of school district folks, and a local nonprofit that had just landed a big grant. Everyone had a plan. No one had a map. And not a single person was holding the whole thing. I remember sitting there thinking: If this were a football team, we’d be running plays without a quarterback. Lots of hustle, lots of motion, but no one helping develop and call plays, no one reading the defense, no one making sure everyone was running the same play. That night stuck with me—and over the years, through working with and observing dozens of neighborhoods and organizations across the country, the same pattern repeated itself. No matter how much talent, funding, or passion is in the room, when there’s no community quarterback, things almost always fall apart. Not because people don’t care. But because systems don’t coordinate themselves. This article is for the people who do care—leaders trying to make neighborhoods work better for everyone, particularly in places burdened by disinvestment, displacement, or fractured trust. Whether you're a city official, a nonprofit executive, or a foundation leader looking to invest wisely, understanding the role of a community quarterback is essential.

Key Point 1: Defining the Community Quarterback

The term community quarterback might sound like a consultant’s buzzword, but in practice, it’s a role that makes or breaks collective impact. It’s not a metaphor—it’s a function. Think of it this way: in a well-functioning neighborhood development effort, there are housing developers, school administrators, health providers, job trainers, small business advocates, residents, funders, and government players all moving simultaneously. A community quarterback is the trusted, place-based organization (or sometimes a leader) that connects those moving parts into a cohesive game plan—ensuring the plays work together, not at cross-purposes. In one community I worked with, there were seven different organizations offering youth services—mentoring, job skills, afterschool programs. But no one knew what the others were doing. Kids were being double-counted in reports and under-served in practice. A newly formed neighborhood quarterback organization—made up of local leaders who grew up in that very ZIP code—stepped in, facilitated alignment across programs, and co-created a shared outcomes dashboard. Within 18 months, program duplication dropped, new funding was unlocked, and the number of youth connected to consistent supports more than doubled. That’s not just coordination. That’s quarterbacking.

Here’s what defines a true community quarterback:

· They are place-rooted. Not parachuted in. They live with the consequences of the plays they call and are proximate to those they serve alongside.

· They are mission-driven. Their goal is not to control the field, but to align it toward measurable, community-defined outcomes.

· They build and maintain trust. Across silos. Across systems. Across sometimes-hostile histories.

· They don’t deliver all the services. But they ensure those who do are rowing in the same direction.

Quarterbacks are not the biggest players on the field. But they touch the ball every play. They hold the full picture—the playbook—and adapt it based on what’s actually happening in real time. To be clear, the quarterback isn’t always one person. In many neighborhoods, it’s a small, nimble organization with deep local relationships and the credibility to convene players who wouldn’t normally collaborate.

Key Point 2: The Core Functions of a Community Quarterback

Recently, I was consulting with a city entity following a recent surge of national investment—millions earmarked for affordable housing, parks, economic development, and school partnerships. It was an exciting moment. But there was a catch: no one was officially in charge of weaving it all together. Everyone assumed someone else was “handling coordination.” Spoiler: no one was. To avoid that fate, a community quarterback has to do more than just “convene a meeting.” This isn’t about titles. It’s about core functions—five of them, to be exact.

✔️ 1. Convene the Right Partners Around a Shared Vision

Setting the table with community leaders, housing authorities, public schools, nonprofits, and grassroots leaders—not to showcase work, but to co-create it.

✔️ 2. Translate Data and Lived Experience Into Strategy

Using key data points like school suspension rates, eviction filings, and maternal health data alongside resident interviews and feedback to set neighborhood priorities.

✔️ 3. Coordinate Across Systems and Break Down Silos

A family moving into new affordable housing gets immediate connection to early learning, educational supports, and health screenings—because the systems are designed to work together.

✔️ 4. Secure and Align Resources for Long-Term Impact

Blending city dollars, CDFI loans, foundation grants, and Title I allocations to support a cradle-to-career pipeline within a 10-block radius.

✔️ 5. Measure, Adapt, and Keep Everyone Accountable

Quarterly scorecards that residents co-create, tracking progress toward goals they helped set.

Key Point 3: What Makes or Breaks a Quarterback’s Success?

I once worked alongside a community-based organization that had all the makings of a great quarterback. They had trust. They had roots. They had a vision grounded in what the community actually wanted. But six months after receiving a major grant, things unraveled. They were given a title—but not the authority. Funding came with strings. The city still made top-down decisions. Other nonprofits bypassed them. In the end, they were expected to 'align the field' without the power to move the players.

Three essential elements that make or break success:

· Relational Trust and Credibility: A quarterback who can walk into a church basement and be greeted by name—or call a housing director and get an immediate meeting.

· Sufficient Capacity and Flexible Funding: Quarterbacks need multi-year support for staffing, planning, communications, and convening.

· Clarity of Mission and Role: The quarterback role must be clear—not confused with mere service provision or advocacy (though a quarterback may do these as well).

Key Point 4: Quarterbacks and Equity – Who’s Calling Plays for Whom?

In too many places, quarterbacking has been equated with top-down management. But the future of neighborhood revitalization demands more. We need quarterbacks who center equity—who ask not just what’s being done, but for whom and by whom.

· A quarterback who’s not grounded in equity becomes just another coordinator—streamlining services that were never designed to center justice in the first place.

· Who sets the agenda? If residents aren’t helping shape the strategy, it’s not community-led.

· Equity must be embedded in the quarterback's DNA, not added like a decorative flourish.

· Authentic representation, shared governance models, and equity-centered practices must be standard.

Conclusion: Time to Stop Playing Defense

Let’s be honest—too many of our neighborhoods are playing defense. We’re reacting to crisis, chasing grants, and managing broken systems. And in that chaos, we expect transformation to magically happen. It won’t. Not without someone charged with holding the vision and aligning the players. That’s what a community quarterback does. They hold the whole. And when empowered with trust, tools, and an equity lens, they can shift the entire trajectory of a neighborhood.

Call to Action

If you’re a funder: Are you investing in the infrastructure, not just the outcomes? If you’re a nonprofit leader: Are you aligning your efforts with a quarterback? If you’re a city leader: Are your policies rewarding coordination? If you’re part of the neighborhood: Are you helping call the plays? Because in the end, every neighborhood is running plays. The real question is: Who’s calling them—and who are they for?