The Youth Career Connections Program Manager will support key programmatic efforts to advance Orange County United Way’s FACE 2024 Education work to cut the high school dropout rate in half and help local schools empower educators, connect students with the real world and fortify the 21st century workforce. The position is full-time (37.5 hours/week) and reports to the Sr. Director of Education and Healthy Schools.
The Orange County United Way (OCUW) seeks a Youth Career Connections Program Manager with a deep commitment to and passion for education to join the United Way Team. This individual will lead, further develop, implement and evaluate Orange County United Way’s work-based learning initiative, Youth Career Connections.
Youth Career Connections, focuses on integrating Work-Based Learning (WBL) opportunities with Career Technical Education courses in our local high schools. We work closely with United Way’s corporate partners to align activities based on industry sectors and coordinate high-quality hands-on opportunities (i.e. internships, corporate career speakers, industry site visits, etc.) to transform the learning experience for students and teachers. As a result, engagement and educational outcomes improve so more students graduate college, career, and life-ready.
- Support United Way’s education program initiatives and partnerships, particularly Youth Career Connections college and career readiness efforts at the school, district and regional levels.
- Develop and manage OCUW’s Youth Career Connections Summer Internship Program for high school students.
- Ensure compliance with state and federal laws and all district requirements, especially when placing students in internships.
- Coordinate efforts (i.e. trainings, strategic planning, development of marketing materials, etc.) to build OCUW’s organizational capacity to become a powerful WBL intermediary and advocate.
- Work interdepartmentally with OCUW departments to create an effective, measurable, and sustainable employer/donor pipeline for WBL engagement with local high schools.
- Develop and manage corporate partners and local school district relationships.
- Manage and implement multiple projects throughout the year and work closely with both District Career Technical Education contacts and corporate partners to implement and monitor work-based learning activities (e.g. industry site visits, internships, corporate career speakers, mock interviews, teacher learning panels, teacher externships etc.) particularly those in the OC Career Pathways Readiness Hub.
- Ensure United Way branding and visibility at all Youth Career Connections functions.
- Create and update an archive of assets to assist in the future development of program collateral.
- Attend relevant WBL meetings and professional development to further strengthen activities and stay up-to-date on new WBL models.
- Work with the Sr. Director to track and reconcile expenses for the Youth Career Connections budget and manage small event budgets.
- Collect and update YCC-relevant data and development dashboards for quarterly reports.
- Oversee and manage AmeriCorps members training and work plan.
- And other education related projects as assigned.
The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Must have a minimum of 2 – 3 years of experience in business, education, workforce development or related field.
- Background and/or knowledge of work based learning systems development, implementation and evaluation (i.e. work experience, off-campus opportunities, or internship programs for students) particularly as this relates to high school students.
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred.
Skilled in:
- Program Management – Experience in developing, managing and evaluating educational and/or workforce development programs to ensure effectiveness, scalability and sustainability.
- Relationship-Building Skills - Experience in building and maintaining relationships with business, education, and community partnerships is critical.
- Leadership Skills -Strong leadership skills (e.g. committed, honest, positive, able to inspire, creative, sense of humor, etc.) with a proven track record in managing broad-based efforts with a diverse set of stakeholders and partners.
- Team Managing Skills - Able to work independently, yet is highly team oriented. Able to develop and maintain positive working relationships with business, community and educational leadership as well as coalition members to meet collective goals. Collaborative in planning, decision-making, and problem solving.
- Organizational Skills - Excellent project management, strong attention to detail and multi-tasking skills.
- Communications Skills - Superior interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.