Community Program Manager

City of New York•New York City, NY

About The Position

THE SELECTED CANDIDATE WILL BE OFFERED A SALARY BETWEEN $62,868 - $76,509.00. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services, and provides subsidized child care vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement, and programs for youth in the community. The Division of Child and Family Well-Being (CFWB) works to ensure families and children have the critical supports they need to thrive and exercise self-determination. CFWB leverages concrete resources, stakeholder relationships, and community and family strengths to drive toward greater equity and social justice, reduce disparities and disproportionality - including in the child welfare system -, and create conditions that foster well-being for families and children across New York City. Our work includes the provision of child care assistance; support for caregivers and child-serving professionals to prevent child injury; and investment in community-based approaches. Through the Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships (OCEP), CFWB invests in and collaborates with eleven Community Partnerships (Partnerships), which have been operating since 2007. Community Partnerships are neighborhood-based coalitions of service providers, community/business leaders, residents, faith-based groups and others who work together to help strengthen the community. Partnership members share resources and information with each other, design and carry out community engagement initiatives to help families learn about resources in their neighborhoods and let families know who they can reach out to for housing, food, childcare and mental health care, and other services. Community Partnerships are staffed and operated by not-for-profit organizations. The staff and Community Partnership members share resources and information with each other, design and carry out community engagement initiatives to help families learn about resources that might be hard to find. With the help of Community Ambassadors, Community Partnership staff also provide direct support to children, youth and families in the form of completing forms/applications and distributing back-to-school supplies, free tickets to cultural and sporting events, food and clothing, to name a few. The Community Partnerships use methods such as newsletters, social media, television interviews and handing out fliers to let families know where they can find help. All of these efforts are aimed at: 1) connecting providers to each other in order to reduce duplication and increase communication; 2) improving families’ awareness of and utilization of resources and thereby; 3) promoting equity. The Community Program Manager provides strategic oversight and technical support to up to four Community Partnerships and will ensure that these coalitions effectively organize their membership meet the other goals as defined by ACS. The team of Community Program Managers also review and approve budgets, monitor spending, track invoices and troubleshoot financial issues in collaboration with the provider agency and ACS’ Division of Financial Services. This role is comprised of both internal and external and responsibilities. Inherent in this dual approach is the importance of working within and across 2 dependencies – supporting and informing nimble and sustainable internal information mining processes, as well as communications systems that support model fidelity. The Community Program Manager role is strategic, creative and technical, each skill relying on and driving the other. When successes and challenges occur, the Community Program Manager is expected to work as a trusted supporter and navigator and communicate with key partners. The responsibilities below reflect OCEP’s commitment to communication, learning, accountability, technical support and relationship building. The Community Partnership model is unique for a child welfare agency and therefore requires staff who, while carrying out their responsibilities, bring an understanding of child welfare policies, racial disproportionality and ACS’ focus on infusing equity in all of its initiatives and programs.

Requirements

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or 2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or 3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.

Responsibilities

Manage a portfolio of up to four (4) Community Partnership contracts – including budget, invoicing and payments to ensure provider compliance with the contract and implementation guidelines
Participate in strategic thinking and other OCEP planning meetings and make recommendations about program direction and special projects (within and outside of the Division)
Assume leadership or co-leadership roles on special projects
Create and manage a project management workplan for all work and document progress
Conduct outreach to cross-divisional colleagues as a liaison to the Community Partnerships
Review, clean, synthesize and analyze Community Partnership data reports for assigned contracts and share results with OCEP and other audiences; utilize data to inform provider evaluation reports and performance reports
Manage the flow of communication between the Community Partnership staff and provide technical assistance, strategic support and guidance to Community Partnerships based on community organizing best practices - OCEP to ensure model fidelity and anticipate implementation challenges
Regularly attend and actively participate in key in-personal and virtual Community Partnership meetings and interact with the purpose of building relationships, trust and communication
Monitor progress while providing performance tracking on strategic plans, troubleshoot operational challenges and offer decisive direction and guidance on course corrections
Maintain a positive working relationship with Community Partnership staff and members as a liaison and partner by helping to strategize, design and execute local outreach events
Represent ACS at outreach events through public engagement and deliver presentations
Create strategic development and implement innovative methods to inform and engage the community regarding ACS services.
Build interagency collaboration and maintain effective working relationships between ACS and other City agencies
Navigate and mediate sensitive community dynamics and manage confidential information with discretion
Lead with a passion for community change initiatives and creating an organizational culture that respects lived experience as a valuable source of community data
Design program development and implementation processes with and for community-based providers
Regularly interfacing with provider leadership and staff to design model fidelity tools and processes
Implement effective contract management and project management systems to support a community coalition program model; this includes developing data collection tools, training content and leading related planning meetings
Utilize a cross-systems thinking approach to inform planning and implementation
Manage multiple priorities in a large bureaucracy
Build a culture that advances organizational change, informed by community perspective
Coach a team of program managers in building their technical support capacity in coalition building model development and implementation
Manage and analyzing provider data, monitoring adherence to the fidelity guidelines, and establishing an inclusive evaluation model
Engage with Partnership program staff to co-design learning circles/communities of practice, distill findings and devise solutions to integrate promising practices into the existing program model