As Director, Early Childhood Initiative, you will drive Teach For America-Colorado’s work in cultivating, supporting, and sustaining our local effort to support our city’s youngest learners. At a time when early childhood is a key focus of local funders and partners, you will work with policy and education leaders to develop strong partnerships between their programs and Teach For America to support the development and professionalization of early childhood teachers and secure positions for incoming corps members. Internally, you will coordinate the efforts of regional staff to: recruit and onboard excellent early childhood teachers, develop training and ongoing supports for teachers, contribute to a leadership pipeline of alumni dedicated to young learners and the communities we work, and support fundraising goals related to the early childhood initiative,. You deeply believe in and have a bold vision for the work and thrive at relationship building.
Design Early Childhood Continuum (50%)
- Set vision for our local early childhood education (ECE) initiative for the short-, medium-, and long-term; create annual goals and metrics, and develop the operational plan for cross-functional work.
- Execute against the vision and plan in close collaboration with colleagues across functional areas. As a part of that plan, you will:
- Create strategy for the retention and development of early childhood corps members, from matriculation through alumnihood, including supporting corps members at institute
- Create and manage budget for the initiative, and partner with the External Affairs team to support fundraising.
- Lead our overall strategy to find aligned early childhood partners, build ECE relationships on the city and state level with key contacts, and facilitate leadership pipeline opportunities for alumni.
Early Childhood Teacher Development (30%)
- Set vision and direction for the support and development offerings throughout the year including, but not limited to leadership development, advocacy efforts, content-expertise building and cultural competency development.
- Communicate regularly with our early childhood licensing partner and school/community based partners to ensure corps member growth and development in meeting program expectations and demands.
- Providing direct support to early childhood teachers as needed.
Grant Management (10%)
- In coordination with the Director, Strategic Gifts & Advocacy, execute key grant management activities for our early childhood specific foundation grants. Project management responsibilities include:
- Oversight of project plan progress
- Content contribution to grant proposals
- Consult with Director, Strategic Gifts & Advocacy on completion of final grant report
Fulfilling our Mission through Organizational and Regional Priorities (10%)
- Be a partner in local recruitment, matriculation, and onboarding of early childhood teachers to Teach For America-Colorado.
- Attend regional retreats held throughout the year, monthly staff meetings, and occasional conferences and trainings
Prior Experience
- Five or more years of professional work experience demonstrating progressively increasing responsibility, with demonstrated success in all or most of the relevant functional areas (i.e. instructional leadership, program design, partnership building, etc)
- Significant experience in the early childhood sector
Work Demands
- Ability to work evenings and weekends when necessary.
- Travel: Local travel required.
Skills
- Building Relationships and Networks
- Synthesizing, Integrating, and Developing Strategies
- Exceptional written and verbal communication
- Exceptional organizational skills
- Ability to prioritize and manage complex project plans
- Prior experience coaching or managing adults preferred
- Strong team orientation – ability to work cross-functionally across diverse teams.
- Ability to communicate professionally to diverse audiences.
- Able to work with consistent excellence in a fast-paced, high-performing environment.