Director, Educational Outcomes

The Director, Educational Outcomes plays a pivotal role in supporting United Way’s mission to strengthen the organization’s education initiative, a transformative effort to address non-academic barriers to education and create pathways for children and families to thrive from early childhood to career readiness, while improving educational outcomes. United Way has a long history of serving as a backbone for collective impact efforts. This role will directly contribute to the success of those efforts by supporting impact networks focused on improving educational outcomes and creating pathways from birth through transition to the workforce, career, and ultimately financial empowerment. This role will build and maintain community relationships, facilitate collaborative efforts with practitioners, leaders and families, design partner capacity building activities, lead program development and project management, and manage program data and evaluation. This role will work across several networks to support meaningful outcomes across the cradle-to-career continuum. The role reports to the Chief Educational Outcomes Officer and serves as a key position in our education efforts.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Education Portfolio Ownership

• Regional Education Initiatives Strategy
• Lead strategy for regional education impact, including how best to coordinate, collaborate, and convene across key outcomes to deliver results for community.
• Determine methods for implementation and deliver results to close gaps between neighborhoods and promote family stability at scale, particularly in kindergarten readiness, third grade reading, and entry to workforce.
• Lead and oversee regional collective impact efforts like Success by 6.
• Develop strategy and manage implementation of key education grantmaking efforts like the Head Start Innovation Fund and the Future of Manufacturing Fund.
• Cradle to Career Data & Learning Framework and Implementation
• Develop localized theory of action, including strategy for piloting and scaling effective efforts.
• Facilitate community-level data conversations to support action, including executing continuous improvement cycles in partnership with community partners.
• Lead Cradle to Career Data & Learning Working Group
• Strategic Leadership and Project Management
• Provide strategic leadership and operational management to guide educational success impact efforts focused on the educational lifecycle, from birth through transition to the workforce.
• Manage project-level data and track key community outcomes and measurements to support continuous learning and improvement
• Design and facilitate capacity building and education efforts to support partners in achieving shared goals and implementing best practices
• Research best-practices, trends, models and other activities to quickly understand an issue area, community, or sector
• Lead project management for key initiatives and collaborate with team members to align efforts and drive positive impact
• Manage communication and report verbally and in writing regularly to internal teams, leaderships, and external stakeholders (including funding partners and other investors)

Community and Partner Engagement

• Engage community partners and community members to regularly gather input and understand needs and assets across the region.
• Lead and/or support collaboration with partners and stakeholders, including partner working groups and/or large convenings, to build shared vision and practices, and foster learning
• Regularly provide technical assistance and relationship management supports to partners by phone, virtual engagement and in-person meetings (including off-site visits to community partners)
• Convene partners on a regular basis at a leadership and practitioner level to share updates, identify key learnings or challenges, build shared practices and tools and evaluate the impact of the network
• Manage logistics of events and convenings including setting agendas, managing registration, preparing materials, facilitating, note-taking, creating follow-up items, and sharing resources
• Represent United Way on committees and at community meetings and events, as needed and appropriate

Management, Operations, and Internal Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with other leaders in the organization to support alignment, cross-training, and coordination.
• Support the management of all financial budgets for projects and annual operations
• Support and contribute to data tracking and evaluation efforts for grants and projects
• Internally collaborate with other team members and departments to deliver against projects as needed and foster a culture of collaboration, transparency and accountability
• Support grant writing, advocacy, reporting and corporate engagement, as needed, to help build awareness, raise resources and influence systems change
• Contribute to the subject matter expertise of the organization by engaging in professional development, research on trends & best practices in collective impact approaches and capability building efforts

POTENTIAL SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• This role anticipates potential team member additions and supervisory responsibilities dependent on the scope of future work and overall community growth. Responsibilities may include:
• Establishing goals and expectations for all team member(s)
• Providing timely, candid, and constructive performance feedback
• Supporting team member(s) development and provide challenging opportunities that enhance growth
• Actively managing conflict and resolve and elevate disagreements as appropriate
• Supporting an inclusive working environment
• Recognizing and rewarding team member(s) for accomplishments
• Ensuring compliance with policies and procedures

JOB RELATIONSHIPS WITH:
All UWGC Teams, UWGC Area Center staff, Community Partners, and UWGC Executive Team.

DESIRED COMPETENCIES

• Experience and expertise in the education space, across varied levels
• Experience overseeing large projects, while also delivering on programmatic and data driven outcomes
• Proven experience overseeing strategy and building complex solutions/programs and bringing them to life through effective implementation efforts
• Excellent project planning and management skills, with strong ability for continuous improvement (i.e., PDSA cycles),
• Ability to create, grow, and retain strong relationships with stakeholders
• Strong judgment and creative problem-solving skills; makes decisions based on accurate and timely data driven analysis
• Comfort with collecting and using qualitative and quantitative data
• Understanding of systemic challenges and strong cultural responsiveness – including experience and comfort in working with diverse groups and stakeholders, especially across socio-economic, gender, racial, and ethnic identities
• Strong experience with public speaking and facilitation of groups
• Effective communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills and strong attention to detail
• Commitment to United Way's mission and values, with a passion for improving educational outcomes
• Robust experience with Office Suite; preferred experience with project management tools or software

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent preferred
• Minimum of seven years in project management, preferably specific to social impact or collective impact in the nonprofit, human services, and/or education sector
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute projects independently and work in collaborative settings
• Strong communication, facilitation, relationship management, and leadership skills required
• Excellent team management, collaboration, problem-solving and analytical abilities
• Proficiency in project management tools and practices; preferred experience with project management systems such as Asana
• Proficient in MS products (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc.).

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Normal office environment with little exposure to dust, noise, temperature, and the like.
• Occasional local travel to events within the regional area.
• Extended viewing of computer monitor.

BENEFITS:

• Generous paid time off including vacation, personal, sick, and holiday time
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, 403b plan with company match
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program and access to other free health programs
• Community volunteer opportunities
• Professional development and training opportunities