Start Early (formerly known as the Ounce) is an energized, future-focused organization devoted to providing quality early learning and care across the country.

Our desire to close the opportunity gap and build more equitable early learning experiences for our youngest learners guides everything we do. As a leader in early learning and care, we scale our deep expertise across program, policy and research through partnerships across the country.

We are recruiting individuals who want to join us in this mission and share a commitment to our core values of appreciation & respect, empowerment, diversity, excellence, learning and communication.

Become part of our rewarding, mission-driven culture! We want our employees to feel empowered, motivated, energized, and passionate about the work they do!

Community partnerships and centering family, community, and provider voice is critical to effective strategies for impactful parent support services (including home visiting). Likewise, community voice needs to advise how to build effective infrastructure to support diverse parents and providers to advise systems and policies to meet community needs.

This position will lead implementation and strategies for supporting community partnerships for Start Early Washington.

Reporting to the Director of Programs, you will:

• Focus primarily on home visiting services, lead community engagement efforts including: Connecting with BIPOC families and organizations to ensure services and funding opportunities meet their needs. Creation of recommendations, reports, analyses, etc. to support community-based engagement.
• Capacity building in preparation for upcoming expansion of services (with a focus on home visiting), with priorities in understanding what it takes to effectively meet the needs of BIPOC families and communities, a range of sizes of organizations, and families in rural and isolated regions of our state. This includes conducting outreach, supporting identification/assessment of family/community needs and desires, aggregating data on gaps in services, and supporting analysis/information sharing on what types of services and supports fit community and family priorities. Likewise, the position needs to partner with funders to understand opportunities and priorities in expansion.
• Support ongoing coordination of services when applicable.
• Partner with the Home Visiting Hub at Start Early Washington to define frameworks such as “accountability to community” and strategies to ensure equity is at the forefront of implementing services that meet family priorities. Conduct research and interviews, and identify strategies that support improvements/opportunities to hold “fidelity to the community” central in practice.
• Support and staff the implementation of Start Early Washington’s Community Advisory Committee including communications support, meeting preparation, note-taking, agenda preparation, coordination, and ongoing tracking. The Community Advisory Committee is meant to ensure family, community, and provider voice is advising the organization on strategies for effective organizational direction. The position will support the implementation of the necessary infrastructure to support community participation and engagement.
• Support Start Early Washington’s advocacy efforts by elevating family and provider voices. This will require working with the Director of Programs and the Director of Advocacy & Policy to ensure connections with program and policy efforts are coordinated.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 7 years of experience working with families and/or leading teams that work with families.
• Experience with community engagement efforts.
• Experience engaging diverse perspectives in an advisory capacity.
• Ability to travel across Washington state to meet communities where they are.
• Comfort with working in an ‘all remote team.’
• Must live in WA/be willing to relocate to WA.
• Strong facilitation skills.
• Expertise in DEIB and restorative justice.
• Strong organizational skills and/or project management skills.
• Ability to take initiative and create structure to support work that is in development.
• Deep commitment to advancing diversity, racial equity, and inclusion into organizational routines and practice.

We recognize that few candidates might meet every single piece of knowledge, experience, or education listed here. Research shows that women and people of color, among many other historically excluded groups, are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Start Early is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your qualifications don’t perfectly align with everything in the job description, we still encourage you to apply!

Salary:Although the full salary range for the position is $77,400-$129,000, we expect the hiring range to be between $80K - $88K, based on skills, experience, and internal equity.

Our generous benefits plan includes:

Comprehensive Health Plans, Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Holistic Wellness Program, Professional Development Program, 401k Contribution, Paid Volunteer Days, 6 months paid parental leave, and much more.

Start Early is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to our core values by creating an inclusive environment for all staff.