Child Care Aware Referral Specialist & Administrative Assistant

Job Title:      Child Care Aware Referral Specialist & Administrative Assistant

Accountable to:  Director of Student Services  

Department:    Student Services 

FLSA Status:    Full-Time Exempt 

Location:       SEEC Fargo Office

Salary:        $45,000-48,000

Benefits:        Eligible for benefits. 13 paid holidays, sick and vacation leave, ND state retirement (TFFR or ND PERS), employer health insurance contribution of 80% for employee, HSA option. 

Employees under their Direct Supervision: None. 

Standard Office Hours: Twelve-month position, Monday-Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm and other times to reach agency goals or job duties. 

Position Overview:

Join our dynamic team at the South East Education Cooperative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing education in North Dakota. We collaborate closely with K-12 school districts and early childhood providers, fostering innovation and collaboration through quality services and visionary leadership.

This position will support the overall goals, objectives and strategies of the South East Education Cooperative, and represent SEEC in a positive way to staff, visitors, member schools, child care programs/providers and community members. This position will require excellent customer service and communication skills, along with the ability to collaboratively work across multiple teams.

Position Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Essential Functions

A critical part of every position is achieving the goals set for the position while delivering high levels of satisfaction to internal and external stakeholders. This is realized by building positive internal individual and team relationships, positive relationships with external partners and exhibiting behaviors that contribute to the success of short and long-term goals of the agency. These behaviors include a focus on timely completion and high quality of work (with or without supervision) while following all legal, compliance, departmental, documentation, safety, timelines, program and other standards per company policies and procedures.

Position requires close collaboration with Director of Student Services, SEEC employees, child care programs/providers, member schools, stakeholders, families, other Regional Education Associations, and visitors.

Performance is equally a function of goal attainment; timely and accurate completion of assignments; building positive internal and external relationships; and planning, communicating, and coordinating work to avoid last minute confusion and adherence legal/compliance guidelines and policies/procedures.

Significant Job Duties

50% Child Care Referral Services

• Manage the statewide child care referral services telephone number
• Provide child care referrals to parents, families or community members through phone calls, email correspondence, or chat bot feature in a timely manner.
• Assist child care providers in accessing and utilizing the resource and referral module in the ND Early Childhood Bub
• Deliver training and support resources to assist child care providers in understanding and effectively using the referral module
• Review providers “About Us” responses on a rolling basis
• Assist providers in setting up their referral profile
• Conduct quarterly vacancy and tuition rate updates with providers
• Support statewide data collection and reporting, including outreach and support for the market rate survey by conducting virtual information sessions, distributing the survey link to providers, answering questions, and providing personal follow-ups with child care providers who have not yet responded to the survey.

20% SEEC Medicaid Consortium Administrative Assistant

• Generate Held Services reports monthly and provide follow-ups as needed
• Submit Medicaid Reimbursement Claims twice per month
• Provide quarterly reports to participating Special Education Units and Districts
• Add new providers as needed to the Relay Service Portal
• Send eligibility reports monthly
• Monitor and respond to Medicaid Admin questions in a timely manner

20% General SEEC Administrative Assistant

• Greet visitors; make and receive phone calls; answer or refer inquires;
• Order and pick-up needed office and training materials
• Assist with preparing for meetings, trainings, conferences and other events by creating and printing name tags, sign-in sheets, ordering and picking-up printing, etc.
• Provide the follow-up support necessary from various meetings, trainings, conferences and other events
• Responsible for general cleanliness and organization of the SEEC office

5% Professional Development

• Build and extend own knowledge through a variety of professional development activities including but not limited to webinars, training classes, special certifications and by engaging in other professional development activities.

5% Sustain Long-Term Viability and Growth

• In conjunction with the Director of Student Services, review the current programs and identify potential funding opportunities that align to the agency's strategic goals.
• Participates in the strategic planning and implementation for the agency through attending meetings and planning sessions.

Essential Skills, Experience and Expertise:

• Education: High School Diploma/GED or Associates Degree; Prefer Bachelor’s Degree
• Experience: One to three years of experience working in an office setting delivering services to a variety of stakeholders, early childhood experience would be beneficial but not required
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills: Requires excellent customer service and interpersonal communication skills. Able to effectively collaborate with diverse groups and develop high performing teams; yet smoothly manages individual and group conflicts.
• Action-oriented; Handles last-minute pressure and keeps calm when faced with competing demands and priorities.
• Attention to Detail and excellent organization skills required.
• Confidentiality: Requires proper protection, handling, storage and disposal of confidential and personally identifiable information (PII).
• Presentations/Speaking skills: Can develop and deliver presentations to a variety of stakeholders.
• Math Skills: Adept at addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, fractions and basic descriptive statistics.
• Reading and Writing Skills: College Level: Requires analysis, synthesis and evaluation skills in a variety of areas per Bloom’s taxonomy.
• Driver’s License: Required.
• Use of software and office equipment: Ability to use smart phones and tablets, cloud based and internet apps, standard office equipment (copier, fax, etc.), computers, Office 365, other specialized software and the internet. Working knowledge of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to create and alter documentations, forms, presentations and graphs. Able to retrieve / store documents on computer (desktop/laptop), shared site or on cloud based service.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

• Interaction levels with others: Requires high levels of interaction with others internal and external to the agency.
• Position requires limited amount of travel within the North Dakota and beyond to fulfill job goals.
• Ability to work under pressure and deadlines while maintaining professional demeanor.
• Sit / Stand / Walk / Stoop: Up to 8 hours a day for each activity individually or combined.
• Use of Phone/ Computer /Software / Office Equipment: Up to 8 hours a day for each activity individually or combined.
• Climb / Pull / Lift: Up to 8 hours a day for each activity individually or combined. Move and lift up to 25 pounds.
• Temperatures ranges for work environment: Mostly a typical office environment with temperatures of 60-85°F but can experience temperatures from -40 °F to 110°F when performing tasks outside of office.
• Noise: Noise levels reflect typical office environment and may require hearing protection when using certain equipment or entering certain areas.
• Hazardous Conditions or Chemicals Exposure: Exposure to small quantities of hazardous chemicals found in office supplies such as toner, glues, etc.

Special Position Requirements

• Travel: Low travel; primarily within North Dakota.
• Clothing: Professional attire that creates positive impression on staff, stakeholders, Board Members and funding or partner organizations. 
• Background Check: Pass a background check.