The Senior Vice President (SVP), Early Childhood Development and Head Start is directly responsible for the effectiveness and success of the association’s Head Start and Early Childhood work, which is comprised of three Office of Head Start grants (Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County) and Preschool programming totaling over $20 million annually, serving over 2,200 children and operating in 40 sites. The SVP will be part of the Y’s Senior Leadership Team and will help guide the Y’s work across all of its program areas. Given the Y’s significant footprint in early childhood development, which includes both its Head Start work, six fee-based preschools and extensive work with children in its health and wellness operations, the SVP, Early Childhood Development and Head Start will provide strategic and thought leadership for all of the Y’s programming for children ages zero to five. The SVP, Early Childhood Development and Head Start will represent the Y in Central Maryland in a wide range of local, regional and national forums as its “face of early childhood development.”
Success in the role will require strong leadership and relationship building skills, a well-rounded functional skillset, and superior management acumen.
- Provide oversight, development, and leadership of existing Head Start programs (currently operating in Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties, as well as Baltimore City) to ensure best practices, financial viability, exceptional operational management, and potential expansion into other communities in Central Maryland in keeping with the Y’s mission, strategic plan and objectives.
- Ensure that the Y’s Head Start operations are designed and managed as one entity (recognizing that there are three distinct grants) in order to leverage the scale, funding and expertise of the full operation.
- Foster a climate of innovation and resolve problems to ensure member/program participant satisfaction for all product lines (Head Start, Pre-school, Before/After Enrichment, Camps, Health and Wellness)
- Cultivate positive and collaborative relationships with national, regional and local leaders and funders to position the Y in Central Maryland as an unquestioned leader in the field of early childhood development, delivering high quality, developmentally appropriate programming for children and families
- Develop long range plans for the expansion and evolution of early childhood programs and services (to include consumer funded pre-school), consistent with the Y’s mission, strategic plan and objectives as directed by supervisor; monitor progress related these objectives and exercise appropriate action to assure their achievement
- Work collaboratively with the Executive Director of Volunteerism and Community Engagement in leading the expansion of Head Start volunteer programs
- Work collaboratively with all of the Y’s Youth Development leadership team to support the high quality development and delivery of the Y’s significant Youth Development programming across the region
- Develop systems and strategies to comply with locally and federally mandated requirements; monitor for performance
- Use data from multiple sources to inform decision-making
- Demonstrate shared governance requirements per the Head Start Performance Standards for Y Association Board, the Head Start Advisory Board, and Policy Councils.
- Represent and promote the Y in the local community by developing positive working and collaborative relationships with other organizations, businesses and governmental entities
- Recruit, hire, train, develop, retain, and lead Y associates, supported by the organization’s human resources department; review and evaluate associate performance; develop strategies to build an exceptional culture and to motivate the Y’s associates and volunteers to achieve their goals
- Ensure the safety, cleanliness and functionality of all facilities and equipment
- Ensure that all program operations are consistent with the Y’s procedures, including emergency preparedness, risk and quality management, purchasing, human resources, accounting and other such systems
- Develop, manage, and monitor operating budgets to meet or exceed targets; initiate and manage adjustments to operations to ensure adherence to the budget
- Lead/support strategic leadership initiatives for the Association i.e. Cross Functional Teams, Innovation Teams, Mission Impact Committee, Strategic Planning, Turkey Trot
- Assist in all areas, project teams, and duties as assigned by supervisor
- Maintain collaborative relationships with senior leadership team, peers, and subordinates
- Attend and actively engage in certification / leadership programs as directed by supervisor
- May be required to provide leadership over other product lines as assigned by supervisor
- Be responsive to emergencies 24 hours a day, and travel across the region for operational management, including on-site presence in managing major operational issues
- Perform the duties of direct reports as needed
- Perform other duties as assigned
- Significant experience (10+ years preferred) leading multi-site licensed early childhood programs, including Head Start.
- Experience leading consumer based (fee for service) youth development programs (i.e. pre-school, school age before/after enrichment, camps, recreation) preferred
- Minimum of five years of experience managing Head Start/Early Head Start programs
- Experience with successfully securing, implementing, and managing large (in excess of $10 million per annum) and complex federal, state and/or local grants
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience in all aspects of project management from concept development to execution and monitoring.
- Experience and familiarity with multiple data management systems.
- Experience leading large, complex operations with a budget of at least $10 million with proven business operations background with a demonstrated track record for producing strong and consistent growth and financial results.
- Diverse skill set and professional experience leading various youth development operations preferred
- Ability to lead assigned operations, including associate development and supervision, development and active management of budgets, new program development, financial development, sales, board and volunteer development
- Proven track record of using appropriate independent judgment to assess facts and issues, and make non-routine decisions regarding day-to-day operational problems and issues
- Proven team-building and team-leadership skills
- Track record of establishing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with volunteers and community-based organizations
- Well-developed cultural competencies related to working with high risk populations
- Must have superior oral and written communication skills and the ability to respond to a wide variety of constituencies, including associates, volunteers, members, program participants, vendors, community leaders, etc.
Salary: $150,000.00 - $160,000.00