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Senior Director of Program, Year Up
Position: Senior Director of Program
Functional Area:
Organization: Year Up
Location: Boston, MA
Metro Region:
Overview:
Founded in 2000, Year Up is a non-profit organization with a mission to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experiences and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up recognizes that the Opportunity Divide—specifically, historical barriers to education and professional work—is driven by race, ethnicity, national origin and socio-economic status. Year Up seeks to close the divide by setting high expectations and providing high support for our young adults.
Through a one-year intensive training program, Year Up provides urban young adults ages 18-24 with a unique combination of hands-on technical and professional skills, college credit, and corporate internships. Year Up lives by and adheres to a core set of values that reflects an unshakable belief in the talent and full potential of our young adults. With a $40 million operating budget, Year Up will serve more than 1,400 students in 2011 across eight sites in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York City, Providence, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. In 2009, when 75% of non-profits either did not grow or remained flat, Year Up grew its revenue by 23%, enabling us to increase the number of students we serve by 56%.
Year Up has the distinction of being rated one of the Top 10 non-profits in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, one of the 50 best nonprofits to work for by the NonProfit Times, and one of the best non-profits to work for by Opportunity Knocks. Other awards include Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award for innovative business model and social impact in 2005, 2007, and 2008. In 2009, the Harvard Business School published a case study on Year Up’s origins and success.
Please visit http://www.youtube.com/yearup.inc to hear Founder & CEO, Gerald Chertavian share his motivation for starting Year Up.
Position:
Year Up is currently seeking a Senior Director of Program (SDP), a new national position stemming from organizational growth and success. Reporting to the COO, the SDP’s core function is to strengthen Year Up’s program (academics, admissions, student services, alumni and career services functions) by using influence to lead collaboration, program innovations and quality control across the organization’s multi-site network (9 locations and growing) and providing programmatic thought leadership and expertise internally and externally. The SDP manages the national program team, comprised of one academic and one program operations FTE. In keeping with Year Up’s values, the SDP will also interact with students as a mentor and group facilitator.
This senior-level role requires significant experience in youth development/education and proven success leading through influence. Candidates must embody our core values and demonstrate ability to be a positive contributor to our culture of collaboration, feedback, high expectations, high support, and high service.
Responsibilities:
The Senior Director of Program will support local/field leaders in meeting or exceeding student outcome goals through the following activities:
Cross-Site Collaboration and Support
- Build systems for cross site sharing and learning for all key programmatic functions (e.g. academics, admissions, student services, alumni and career services)
- Develop a deep understanding of the differences and nuances across local/field sites and ensure that local expertise is effectively captured and shared; compile and condense information so that all staff can access and utilize it effectively
- Serve as the lead communicator of programmatic knowledge across the organization, collaborating with other Year Up functions (e.g. Influence, Development) to ensure that program-related knowledge is shared broadly throughout the organization
- Foster and cultivate a dynamic learning environment consisting of program leaders at all Year Up sites
Program Innovations and Quality Control
- Fuel entrepreneurial approach to growing our program and continually improving quality
- Lead innovations to Year Up’s programmatic model and build systems to measure their success
- Work collaboratively with local sites (e.g., Executive Directors, Program Directors) and headquarters staff (e.g., National Site Director, Senior Director of Academics) to promote and implement innovations
- Assess program quality from an operations standpoint to ensure that student outcomes are achieved and build associated systems to support continuous improvement
Thought Leadership and External Voice
- Ensure that Year Up remains on the cutting edge of its field and benefits from relevant external knowledge within the fields of education, workforce development and youth development
- Advocate for and lead strategic program-related discussions on executive agendas
- Work with Influence and Marketing teams to develop an external communications strategy to increase the visibility of the Year Up program and model (e.g., white papers, conferences, webinars) to position Year Up as a thought leader in the field
- Align program partnerships to ensure that Year Up has a consistently strong network
- Serve as a clearinghouse of program partnership-related knowledge for the organization
Qualifications:
- Significant program leadership experience in youth development and/or education; experience in workforce development, high-performing non-profits, and/or higher education is a plus
- Passionate belief in the potential of low-income urban youth and Year Up’s mission to close the Opportunity Divide for this population
- Ability to translate executive-level organizational goals into specific departmental initiatives
- Demonstrated success navigating complex organizational structures, using influence and soft skills to move ideas to implementation; comfort with ambiguity, adapting to change, and managing under different circumstances
- Sophisticated communication style that demonstrates expertise and commands respect, while also recognizing and leveraging knowledge of others; outstanding listening skills with the ability to uncover the real issues affecting sites
- Outstanding project management skills, with the ability to drive complex, multi-faceted projects forward to deliver results on time; advanced problem-solving and decision-making skills
- Experience working successfully in a multi-site organization, preferably in both local operations and headquarters, with demonstrated success integrating into new work environments
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required; graduate degree preferred
Salary is commensurate with education and experience. Year Up also offers a competitive benefits package including healthcare, dental, 401(k) match and vacation.
To Apply:
Please upload a resume and thoughtful cover letter, outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position and stating how you heard about this opportunity, both in Word format and addressed to Sue Meehan, at http://jobs.cgcareers.org/application.aspx?id=1779 Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
