Senior Specialist, Community Engagement--Rural Education

Company: Save The Children
Location: Lexington
Posted on: February 14, 2020

Job Description:

Summary Save the Children provides high-quality early learning interventions to children, from birth to age eight, in more than 150 low-income rural communities across the U.S. The Senior Specialist, Community Engagement, plays a pivotal role in helping Save the Children achieve its goals of Kindergarten Readiness and Third Grade Proficiency across communities. Through onboarding, training and coaching of Community Engagement Specialists, this position ensures that staff are equipped to advance outcomes for children at the population level. The Senior Community Engagement Specialist will collaborate with Community Impact Team colleagues to design and deliver high quality community-based programming; also collaborating with Program Development and Implementation teams, as well as state leadership and Resource Development to accomplish division goals. The Senior Community Engagement Specialist will support state team staff in conducting comprehensive community assessments, establishing cross-sector early-childhood focused community partnerships, understanding local needs and programmatic gaps, reviewing local data, developing strategic, results-oriented action plans, and building community capacity through training and development opportunities. The Senior Community Engagement Specialist also oversees data collection and monitoring, as well as supports internal and external program reporting. What Youll Be Doing (Essential Duties) Support for Program Design & Implementation (50%) Lead the development and refinement of programmatic strategies and approaches at the community-level; provide technical guidance to Community Engagement program staff to support implementation across the US. - Contributing to Save the Childrens Rural Education framework for community engagement; - Providing technical expertise at the national level in community engagement strategies across the early childhood continuum; - Formalizing key community engagement processes, tools, and resources; integrating results-focused approach and elements of collective impact approach into community engagement model - Building the technical capacity of local and state-based staff and partners through a variety of mechanisms such as monthly cohort meetings, one-on-one support, communities of practice, etc.; troubleshooting challenges with state team staff - Providing community-based modeling, coaching, and facilitation, when necessary - Staying abreast of national trends and latest research to inform development of strategies, resources, and training to align with best practice and meet local contexts/needs; - Summarizing and analyzing program implementation data; informing continuous quality improvement efforts; - Working with National Program Development and Implementation Teams and field colleagues to ensure cohesive integration across the early childhood continuum, and foster collaboration; - Supporting state leadership with activities related to recruiting, onboarding, training, and developing Community Engagement Specialists, Coordinators, and related community-facing positions. Organizational strategy, planning and reporting (25%) Responsible for ensuring that community engagement strategies are clearly understood, evaluated, and reported across USPA communities, including: - Documenting Save the Childrens effort in this space, and ensuring the connection in advancing strategic division goals for community-wide impact and population-level results - Participating in internal Kindergarten Readiness & Third Grade Proficiency results teams; participating in ongoing training and development opportunities, e.g. Results Based Facilitation, ADI, etc. - Supporting development of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan to track implementation and reach; support state implementation teams with delivery and continuous improvement - Utilizing innovative approaches and practices to expand our rural footprint and reach - Support special strategic projects, initiatives, or pilots New business & proposal development (15%) Responsible for contributing to strategic funding opportunities, including: - Cultivating partnerships and/or relationships with external organizations, donors and other key stakeholders; - Preparing for grant opportunities by gathering information, conducting formative research, and leading or participating in the program design process; - Contributing to the active proposal development process through proposal contributions, reviews, etc. - Working with state leadership to identify and vet new partner communities for expansion Thought leadership, embedding evidence and learning (10%) Responsible for shaping Save the Childrens community capacity building approach, with a focus on rural communities, including: - Innovating and adapting to ensure practices, strategies, and partnerships are driving positive outcomes for children, families, and communities; - Generating evidence, research, collating and sharing learning, developing tools, approaches, training guides etc.; - Keeping abreast of current research, training USPA staff in new evidence, participating in and presenting at external conferences; - Promoting Save the Childrens expertise and services through external communications, presentations, and other related activities Required Qualifications - Bachelor degree in Community Engagement, Human Development, Early Childhood, Education, Social Sciences, related field or equivalent relevant experience required - Minimum of 5-7 years of experience working with children, families, and communities - Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with colleagues across levels, teams and locations - Knowledge of best practices in field of community engagement, early childhood and education; - Experience in community engagement design, development and delivery; - Ability to synthesize research and identify key partners to advance Save the Childrens efforts within the space - Proven ability to work in a dynamic environment with multiple priorities and deliverables; - Experience with data management and web-based platforms (i.e., SharePoint, Microsoft-suite: Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word); - Pro-active, energetic, detail-oriented, and manages deadlines independently; - Excellent communication and facilitation skills; - Ability to travel regionally and nationally up to 30% of the time. Preferred Qualifications - Masters degree or equivalent relevant experience Why you should join the Save the Children Team Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more. Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU! About Save the Children Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children every day and in times of crisis transforming their lives and the future we share. Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Childrens policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Keywords: Save The Children, Lexington , Senior Specialist, Community Engagement--Rural Education, Education / Teaching , Lexington, Kentucky