Collective Impact Project Director

CAS seeks a highly accomplished manager to lead the design and implementation of our efforts to establish an effective cradle-through-college pathway for young people in the Crotona Park area of the South Bronx. This initiative will seek to leverage the "collective impact" of CAS programs and those of other community stakeholders, including schools, businesses, health providers, government agencies, and other social service providers to improve school and life outcomes for children across an entire neighborhood. Working with the CAS senior management team, relevant public agencies and other community institutions, this expert will build a stakeholder network of schools and services to identify, track, and improve key indicators of school progress and child well-being.

ORGANIZATION AND INTIATIVE OVERVIEW:
The mission of The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is to help children in poverty to succeed and thrive. We do this by providing comprehensive supports to children and their families in targeted high-needs New York City neighborhoods. Since our founding in 1853, The Children’s Aid Society has been at the forefront of developing innovative and effective programs for New York City children living in poverty, and as a poverty-fighting organization, our fundamental purpose, our ultimate outcome, is to help children realize the American dream by escaping from poverty. Research demonstrates that college graduation is a very reliable route out of poverty. Thus, the work we do with children at each stage of their lives must support their ability to learn and excel in school and progress on the path to college graduation.

Each year, The Children’s Aid Society touches the lives of more than 70,000 children and families in more than 40 locations through its local early childhood, school-age, adolescence, child welfare and family, and health work. In addition, the National Center for Community Schools and the CAS-Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program support the success of thousands of children across the country. With an annual budget of over $100 million and 2,000 staff, The Children’s Aid Society is one of the largest social service providers in the US.

This Collective Impact initiative is expected to attract national attention, as CAS moves to demonstrate how one of the most distressed neighborhoods in New York City can improve key indicators of school progress and child well-being across the community. The idea of collective impact is that attention and resources can be more effectively directed to lift the future achievements of all children across a neighborhood if they are properly coordinated.

Important steps in the plan will include: organizing a broad community stakeholder group that will select the indicators to monitor; replicating national models of community-wide engagement, student needs assessment, and CBO-School full-service partnerships; organizing provider services across the neighborhood to create a comprehensive service network; and connecting data from several systems to track child progress. The Collective Impact Project Director will be responsible for planning this initiative and facilitating its implementation, in conjunction with other senior CAS staff and key organizational partners including the Phipps Community Development Corporation.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

Key responsibilities include:

Convene Community Stakeholders
• Identify and engage community leaders across education, business, religious, CBO, parent, youth, government, and post-secondary education sectors to participate in a Stakeholder Group that monitors selected child outcomes
• Work with Stakeholder Group of community leaders to identify, track, and improve key indicators of school progress and child well-being
• Work with Stakeholder Group, CAS staff, CBO and school partners and others to ensure that identified child outcomes are achieved, and are aligned with the outcomes CAS has identified for its cradle-though-college work, as appropriate
• Assume a leadership role in the CAS Bronx Services Cabinet, as one vehicle for organizing CAS resources for collective impact

Data Tracking and Sharing
• Work with relevant CAS staff to develop data management plan;
• Build capacity of community to collect and analyze data;
• Work with NYC DOE, NYC DOHMH and other city agencies on data sharing protocols.

Working with Neighborhood Schools to Establish a Community of Practice
• Working with CAS Directors of Early Childhood, School-age, and Adolescence Services, engage leaders, staff, students, and parents from neighborhood schools to work together to track and improve student performance
• Facilitate sharing of effective educational and socio-emotional development practices among neighborhood schools

Build a Network of Resources to Address Student Needs
• Work with 5 CAS Service Directors (Early Childhood, School-age, Adolescence, Health, and Family/Child Welfare) and staff to build the cradle through college pipeline of services for this Region
• Work with key partner, Phipps Community Development Corporation, to build Collective Impact strategy for Crotona Park area.
• Work with CAS Regional Planning Team to identify child and family service needs
• Engage partner agencies that provide needed services
• Work within CAS to help develop needed services that do not exist or are insufficient

City Connects Pilot Planning
• Work with School-age Division leadership and education leaders to plan the implementation of the City Connects assessment and referral protocol for students
• Create a broader plan for how all students will be assessed individually. City Connects is one pilot assessment strategy, but other tools might be required to create a system of assessments for all students in the target neighborhood over time.

External and Internal Communications and Public Policy
• Provide on-going communications to inform and promote Collective Impact Initiative internally at CAS and externally to key partners and funders
• In coordination with CAS Policy Office, engage in policy discussions/advocacy to promote the strategy

Fundraising to Build Initiative
• Work closely with Development and Public Funding Departments, the CEO and COO to attract funding.
• Engage with and issue reports to funders providing updates on progress of the Initiative

CANDIDATE PROFILE:
The successful candidate will:
+ Be a highly accomplished leader
+ Possess superb administrative management skills
+ Possess excellent written and oral communication skills
+ Possess a track-record of working across systems toward a common goal
+ Demonstrate proven ability to manage short- and long-term collaborative projects
+ Be results-oriented, including expertise in tracking data and using it toward continuous improvement
+ Be a strategic thinker with excellent planning skills

QUALIFICATIONS:

+ Experience in: educational policy and trends; establishing and managing accountability and communication systems among multiple partners; assessing community needs and readiness; community organizing/neighborhood capacity building; strategic planning; facilitation; organizational development and change management; and public relations.
+ Master’s degree in a related field and at least 8-10 years of experience in increasingly responsible management positions

Competitive compensation and benefits offered.

The Children's Aid Society is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other status protected under local, state or federal laws.

Please upload a cover letter and resume below:

Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted