Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways

Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways

United Way fights for the education, financial stability, health and basic needs of everyone in our community.

We pursue this vision in all we do as we ask our community to give, advocate and volunteer. We believe that vision can only be achieved if pursued with shared values, and therefore place great emphasis on building a team that will pursue this vision together with ICARE.

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Position Summary

The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways leads a portfolio of work related to the development and scale of programs, initiatives, and investments to increase access to education for children, youth, and families, with emphasis on leveraging a two-generation approach to reduce poverty throughout Central Indiana. The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will develop, implement, and scale strategies that ensure children and youth have access to a pathway of educational opportunities that prepare them later for the workforce. These may include but not be limited to early childhood education investments, K-12 programming and investments, out-of-school-time programming and investments, and experiential learning or internship opportunities. The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will partner and engage with direct service education providers, schools and other education institutions, government offices, and community-based organizations in support of connecting children, youth, and families to foundational and ongoing learning opportunities.

Position Duties & Responsibilities

The following statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. 

• Strategy Execution: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will draw from a keen and thorough understanding of the overarching, multi-faceted focus areas within education and lead the build-out and execution of strategies supporting children, youth, and adults. Specifically, the Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will lead the implementation and execution of UWCI’s Early Childhood Education 5-year strategic plan while simultaneously providing visionary and strategic leadership for established and future programs, initiatives and investments within the K-12 and Out-of-School Time areas of focus.
• System-Level Collaboration:  The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will participate in community-wide efforts and represent UWCI on funding collaboratives, working groups, and meetings or community convenings and work in cooperation with nonprofit organizations, foundations, collaborative groups, and government agencies. The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will extract and leverage system-level collaboration to inform and shape UWCI’s execution of education-based initiatives and investments by analyzing and synthesizing information across a variety of sources to make recommendations to UWCI’s Impact Team Leadership and Executive Team.
• Leadership and Support: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will manage and lead select members of the Family Opportunity Team (education-based) by providing direct oversight, visionary guidance, collaborative leadership, and hands-on support for short- and long-term projects, programs, initiatives, and investments.
• Convening and Engaging with Partners: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will regularly convene and engage with education-based partners, community-based organizations, system-level intermediaries, and other stakeholders to uplift best practices, and identify new solutions that inform and shape UWCI’s education-based efforts.
• Grantmaking Support: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will review and assess grant proposals, conduct site visits to grantees and potential grantees to assess program relevance and organizational integrity, provide technical assistance to current and potential grantees, and assess organizational stability and scalability. Additionally, the Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will assist in reviewing and approving funded grantees’ evaluation reports and monitor grantees’ progress in achieving key objectives and outcomes.
• Integration and Collaboration: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will collaborate in an intentional and forward-thinking way with external partners and stakeholders, and internal partners within and across the organization to maximize the impact of the UWCI's resources.
• Research and Evaluation: The Director of Education Initiatives and Pathways will constantly stay abreast of key issues, evidence-based best practices, and research to inform and shape current and future investments, initiatives, and programs that support education-based outcomes for children, youth, and families throughout Central Indiana.
• Performs special assignments and other work, on an as-needed basis.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job function satisfactorily and be present in the office while performing those functions. The requirements listed are representative of the basic knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  The individual in this role must display the highest level of integrity and confidentiality. United Way also values innovative thinking, and a successful candidate will be a self-starter who can work within the team to achieve goals and objectives.  The individual should have effective communication skills, attention to detail and organization, and flexibility and adaptability. The individual will also maintain knowledge of trends in his/her area of responsibility and reviews literature to understand key issues.

Education and/or Experience

• Required: Bachelor's degree required; master’s degree preferred. Work experience may substitute for education requirements on a case-by-case basis.

• Required: At least eight (8) years of experience working in a relevant field including nonprofit management, education leadership and administration, and/or early childhood education leadership
• Required: Experience working within and across systems and intermediaries to advance education-based outcomes is required.
• Required: Experience working with a broad range of education-based partners, institutions, and stakeholders.
• Preferred: Nonprofit and/or intermediary education-based experience preferred.
• Preferred: Significant and demonstrated experience leveraging systems-level partnerships and opportunities to identify systemic barriers and levers for change.
• Preferred: Significant and demonstrated experience building and managing diverse networks that support efforts to produce systemic change. 
• Preferred: Ability to acquire a baseline level of knowledge about UWCI's other strategic priorities so that education efforts can both build upon and contribute to the success of other areas. 
• Preferred: Project management skills with demonstrated ability to execute and follow through to achieve intended results, by following through on commitments, prioritizing work, and managing time and resources well. 
• Preferred: Ability to make decisions and advance work with incomplete information and to thrive in an outcomes oriented, continuously evolving work environment.
• Preferred: Capable of applying adaptive problem-solving skills in response to unforeseen challenges and new assignments. 
• Preferred: Ability to prioritize a wide range of duties and responsibilities, organize tasks, and remain flexible to changing and multiple requests. 
• Preferred: Excellent verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate accurately, effectively, and in ways appropriate to different audiences. 
• Preferred: Strong writer, with the ability to review, revise and synthesize a variety of information and help connect UWCI’s work to broader discussions within the relevant landscape. 
• Preferred: Must possess excellent interpersonal, writing, and oral communication skills, as well as a sense of humor, diplomacy and discretion, critical thinking and judgment.
• Preferred: Ability to work collegially and diplomatically across the organization and audience groups.
• Preferred: Knowledge of the Central Indiana region highly desirable.

Core Competencies

United Way of Central Indiana’s team is evaluated on the following core competencies:

• Inclusion
• Courage
• Accountability
• Respect
• Excellence
• Thinking Strategically
• Stakeholder Experience
• Effective Communication

Position Reports To: Family Opportunity Senior Director          

Position Leads: Education Initiatives Manager

FLSA Status: Exempt, Full-Time            

Salary Range: Market  

Benefits: Complete Benefits Package Available

Equal Opportunity Employer

Please apply at uwci.org/careers

This position description does not constitute a contract of employment or a guarantee of any terms or conditions of employment.  UWCI employees are employed on an at-will basis. In addition, nothing in this position description restricts UWCI’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this position at any time.