POSITION SUMMARY

Do you believe that all Nashville students deserve an equitable opportunity to graduate high school and go onto post-secondary education? Do you want to lead a team who purposely partners with schools demonstrating the lowest college-going rates and greatest need? As Senior Director, you will be responsible for leading MOBC’s High School Academic Student Unions (ASUs) which provides low-income, first-generation students with academic and social and emotional supports, post-secondary planning, career exploration, and wrap-around service referrals to ensure successful transitions, retention, and degree attainment.

MOBC’s ASUs are purposefully based at schools that have the lowest college-going rates, highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and greatest need for wrap-around college access and family success services. Today, we serve over 1,200 students annually across three high school sites—the Top Floor (Stratford High), the College Zone (Maplewood High), and the Hub (Hunters Lane High)—providing academic case management, subject-specific tutoring, homework help, ACT prep, job training, paid work experiences, enrichment clubs, post-secondary coaching, and college access support. ASU activities provide students with opportunities to interact positively with peers, explore their passions, build skillsets associated with college and career success, and develop support networks.

Remarkably, since our ASU model was founded in 2010, over 2500 students have been accepted to college and participants have received more than $137M in scholarships and financial aid.Our short-term goals are to see increases among students in key academic skills and improve knowledge of healthy social-emotional behaviors. Our long-term objective is to see all youth served excel in and graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary education.  As leader of this team, this position is responsible for creating accessible and inclusive environments that intentionally knock down barriers to success and ensure that all students are equitably equipped with the college and career supports they need most.

About the Martha O’Bryan Center

Founded in 1894 and located in the Cayce Place public housing community since 1948, Martha O’Bryan Center has evolved from a small group of volunteers to a sophisticated human services organization that develops, pilots, and scales solutions to intergenerational poverty. Our history and experiences have shown that entrenched poverty stems from interconnected drivers: low-performing schools, a lack of out-of-school-time programming and college access resources, limited and inconsistent employment opportunities, and fractured family support systems.? We partner with children and families to overcome these obstacles through education, employment, social capital, and wellness and stability supports —serving more than 7,000 clients each year.

Recent Accomplishments include:

• Scheduled to open in the Summer of 2023, and co-created through Human Centered Design with the community, MOBC has built a new two-generational building in the heart of Cayce Place. Designed to house our Family Success Network, this building will include an expanded Early Learning Center, adult education classrooms, enhanced career spaces, counseling and wellness offices, a family library, and community recreation spaces.
• In 2022, as backbone agency to the Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility (TAEM), MOBC was awarded a $25 million TDHS pilot grant to lead 32 partner organizations across seven Middle Tennessee counties, in an effort to mitigate the effects of the benefits cliff.
• In 2019, Martha O'Bryan Center was one of five nonprofits selected by the Kresge Foundation as a "Next Generation" agency, for its successful strategies in moving people out of poverty.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Essential duties and responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Researches, designs, and implements all high school programming, including, but not limited to, college access, academic achievement, social and emotional development, work readiness, parent engagement, and fall, summer and spring break out of school time programming.
• Provides direct supervision and leadership to Program Leads, Site Coordinators, College and Career Specialists, Tutors, and AmeriCorps members, including hiring, setting goals, managing performance, and overseeing professional development in support of program goals.
• Researches, designs, and ensures all high school sites to ensure space is warm, inclusive, creative, safe, academically conducive, and promotes a college going culture.
• Researches funding opportunities and writes proposals for grant requests in partnership with the COO, VP of Children and Youth, Senior Director of Data and Evaluation, and MOBC’s grant writers.
• Reviews program in effort for quality improvement. Regularly visits sites and reviews files.
• Assumes responsibility for grant outcomes and reports, and all contract compliance, both internal and external. Meets or exceeds funders’ expectations and standards.
• Works collaboratively and facilitates flow of information and integration by attending and/or conducting meetings with other Martha O’Bryan Center staff members, partners, and others.
• Develops strong networking ties to other youth, college access, and social service agencies in the Nashville area by collaborating on topics of mutual interest, advocating in the interest of customers, and making customer referrals both internally and externally to other agencies.
• Works collaboratively with the Senior Director of Elementary and Middle and the Director of Post-Secondary Initiatives, along with other MOBC teams and departments, to develop successful transitions into high school, and from high school to college or the work force.
• Oversees all high school budgets and expenses.
• Utilizes data to inform programming, employing Salesforce Martha O’Bryan’s data management system, including data tracking, reporting, and analyzing program progress and effectiveness.
• Serves as subject matter expert on out of school time programming, developing college going cultures, and older youth engagement.
• Maintains close contact with school officials, parents, post-secondary institutions, and partner agencies.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Education or related field
• Master’s degree strongly preferred.
• Supervisory and program leadership experience in a social service organization. College access or out of school time experience strongly preferred.
• Grant management, including reporting and compliance for government grants.

The above qualifications express the minimum standards of education and/or experience for this position. Other combinations of education and experience, if evaluated as equivalent, may be taken into consideration.

Knowledge and Abilities:

• Knowledge of factors affecting student persistence and related research on successful retention programs.
• Ability to work effectively with a diverse population.
• Ability to plan and direct the work of others.
• Ability to look at numbers, trends, and data, and come to conclusions based on findings.
• Ability to find, manipulate, and interpret data effectively to inform programming decisions.
• Ability to translate data into understandable documents/presentations.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas.
• Strong interpersonal skills; excellent customer service skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Maintains credibility through sincerity, honesty, and discretion.
• Builds and maintains positive relationships with internal and external constituents.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Strong time management skills; uses time effectively; consistently meets deadlines.
• Strong project management skills.
• Maintains a high level of confidentiality regarding sensitive information.
• Documents regularly, thoroughly, accurately, and completely.
• High level of detail and accuracy.
• Exercises good and consistently fair judgment, courtesy, and tact in dealing with the staff and public in giving and obtaining information.
• Computer literate including familiarity with word processing, spreadsheet, database, desk top publishing software, email and the internet.

THE MARTHA O’BRYAN CENTER IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER