Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Children’s Programs (DCP) will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for Our House’s children’s programs, including our licensed, curriculum-based child development center for children ages 0-5 and our out-of-school-time program for school-aged youth. These programs currently serve more than 220 children each year. The DCP will also be responsible for working with the staff of our housing programs to ensure that they meet the needs of the children who live in our 80-bed shelter or our 13-unit transitional housing facility; and working with the staff of our adult education program on shared goals related to parenting skills and parenting education.  The DCP will be required to develop deep knowledge of the field, program operations, regulatory requirements, funding opportunities, and other areas as described below.

Responsibilities

• Ensure ongoing programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems relating to the Our House children’s programs
• Lead, coach, develop, and retain a high-performance management team for the Our House children’s programs, with responsibilities including recruitment, management, training, background checks, and time sheets. Current children’s program staff size is 11 full-time plus 13 summer staff.
• Oversee program and facilities planning for the new, 20,000 square foot, $3.5 million children’s facility that Our House is planning to build by 2013. Lead an inclusive process of visioning and program development that includes staff, volunteers, clients, board members, and other stakeholders.
• Oversee the development and implementation of high-quality curriculum and programming for the children’s programs, built on best practices in the field, innovation,  and sharing of resources
• Develop and maintain policies and procedures for the Our House children’s programs.
• Oversee the safety of children served by the Our House children's programs through policies and procedures, staff training, facilities oversight, and other methods
• Oversee legal issues related to children’s programs and risk mitigation strategies
• Ensure compliance with all requirements of regulatory agencies and funders of the children’s programs, including requirements related to licensure and grant reporting
• Ensure effective systems to track children’s program development and outcomes and regularly evaluate program components  to ensure that the requirements of funders and regulatory agencies are met and that outcomes measurements are produced that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other constituents and that can be used to drive program improvement
• Work with Our House development staff to expand fundraising activities to support existing program operations and programmatic / capital expansion
• Manage and grow revenue-generating activities of children’s programs, including child care billing and voucher programs
• Actively engage and energize Our House staff members, volunteers, board members, event committees, partnering organizations, donors, and grant funders in the children’s programs
• Build partnerships with outside organizations to improve services to our children and families and coordinate Our House services with other community resources
• Liaise with schools and school districts to support the academic success and integration of clients of the Our House children’s programs.

Qualifications

The DCP will be thoroughly committed to Our House’s mission. All candidates should have proven leadership, management, and program development experience as well as proven experience in programs that work with high-risk children. Concrete demonstrable experience and other qualifications include:

• At least 5 years of management experience; track record of effectively leading a performance- and outcomes-based program and staff; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have grown the capacity effectiveness of programs
• At least 5 years’ experience working in a leadership position in a program or organization serving high-risk children or youth
• Master’s degree or higher is strongly preferred
• Unwavering commitment to quality programs and data-driven program evaluation
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills
• Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people
• Passion, idealism, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed

To Apply

Please send a resume and cover letter to ben@ourhouseshelter.org.  Include the words “Director of Children’s Programs” in the email subject line.