About NYC Kids RISE

NYC Kids RISE is a nonprofit organization working with the City of New York and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) to manage the Save for College Program (the Program). Through the Program, eligible students enrolled in an NYC public school (including participating charter schools), starting in kindergarten, automatically receive a free NYC Scholarship Account with an initial allocation of $100 by NYC Kids RISE on their behalf, invested in a NY 529 Direct Plan, and opportunities to receive additional rewards over time. Their families can open and connect their own college savings account on their child’s behalf, and communities can contribute to groups of these NYC Scholarship Accounts as both a targeted and universal platform for community-driven asset-building in every neighborhood. This approach draws from a variety of best practices and disciplines across the fields of asset building, child savings accounts, financial empowerment, education, community wealth building, urban poverty, neighborhood effects and social capital research, collective impact, and more. Read more about NYC Kids RISE and the Save for College Program and listen to stories from partners who helped build the platform during its pilot phase from 2017 to 2022. You can also view recent articles in Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and the NYCHA Journal; and read more about NYC Kids RISE theory of change in a recent report by the Urban Institute.

After a successful pilot phase in the communities of School District 30 in Queens, NYC Kids RISE
expanded citywide during the 2021-2022 school year. This school year nearly 150,000 Kindergarten
students across more than 1,000 elementary schools have an NYC Scholarship for their
educational futures.

Deputy Director, School Networks (District-Level)

Elementary schools are at the heart of every neighborhood and the most central institution in directly supporting educational achievement, equity, and college and career readiness. As a key piece of building and enabling a universal, community driven wealth-building platform, NYC Kids RISE is working to support the capacity of school districts and elementary schools throughout New York City to use the Save for College Program as a tool to advance their own goals of college and career readiness, family empowerment, and strong family-community ties.

NYC Kids RISE seeks an exceptional relationship builder, communicator, and project manager, to serve as the Deputy Director, District-Level with a focus on engagement and participation at the district-level within DOE. This role will lead NYC Kids RISE’s system-building work around engaging district leadership, including superintendents and district office staff, across the city to effectively support and integrate the Save for College Program within their school communities. The Deputy Director will be a generalist that can toggle between complex project management, relationship management, compliance oversight, policy analysis, communication planning, research and facilitation.

The Deputy Director, District-Level will join the School Networks team alongside a Deputy Director, District Schools, a Deputy Director, Charter Schools, and a Project Lead, and will report to the Director, School Networks.

The Deputy Director’s responsibilities may include but are not limited to:

• Manage relationships with district-level stakeholders, including school district superintendents, designated District Liaisons (primary contacts), and other district-level stakeholders; develop, iterate and implement the right engagement strategies with an eye towards advancing institutionalization within districts.
• Support the capacity-building and technical assistance to districts with the Executive Director, Chief Platform Officer and other members of the School Networks team.
• Coordinate, develop, and facilitate monthly learning community meetings with district-level liaisons, highlighting best practices and centering the voice of district leaders; conduct regular one-on-one meetings with individual district-level liaisons and regular meetings with each superintendent and NYC Kids RISE Executive Team members; lead and support district-stakeholder advisory groups as necessary.
• Support the tracking of performance management for districts, share data with district leadership, and help to course correct as needed.
• Develop and execute strategic communications plans to support district and school engagement.
• Attend district-level meetings with principals and parent coordinators; lead/support (as makes sense) event planning for special district-level events.
• Become fluent in the Save for College Program and Program tools and resources for district stakeholders (including relevant NYC DOE systems); provide ongoing support to district leaders throughout the year including answering questions and providing support regarding general program understanding and tools/resources, the roles that schools and district-level leaders play in the Program, and the pieces they must execute.
• Implement feedback mechanisms to improve Program operations at the district-level and to improve support provided by district leaders to schools in their districts; develop turnkey communications and other tools to facilitate district leaders work with school leaders and liaisons.
• Document interactions (including via email and phone) with district leaders and stakeholders in NYC Kids RISE CRM system and complete or follow up from initial interactions as necessary.
• As part of the School Networks team, conduct the following activities, which could include any or all of the following:
  • Coordinate and collaborate with team members to provide additional support to various school partners as needed, working together and with leadership to iterate around the development of longer-term systems.
  • Develop, adapt and lead professional learning sessions for school partners, as needed, to maximize engagement and learning objectives.
  • Develop toolboxes (materials, scripts, mapped integration opportunities) and support schools to use the tools as appropriate.
  • Provide short 1:1 “technical assistance” sessions to individual school partners by appointment for questions and requests for support that require problem solving / brainstorming.
  • Respond to inbound inquiries from school partners that come in via the NYC Kids RISE hotline or schools email address.
  • Host scheduled group Q&A sessions throughout the course of the year for any interested school network stakeholders and manage logistics of promoting, scheduling and running virtual sessions as well as data entry and follow up.
  • Collaborate with Parent Foundations team members on school requests related to individual parent support and ensure follow up.
• Identify, track and work with interdisciplinary NYC Kids RISE team and partners to proactively identify any questions or issues that may come up and problem solve accordingly including outstanding policy questions.
• Submit regular reports summarizing technical assistance provided and analyzing trends; make recommendations for future school support and work with the Parent Foundations team, to implement these recommendations.
• Working with NYC Kids RISE team, further develop, as needed, and implement compliance measures to ensure adherence with Save for College Program policies and procedures.
• Participate and share in the organization’s work to advance racial equity and anti-oppression in the organization’s and program’s operations and practices; proactively identify opportunities to advance the development of an anti-racist organization; share and solicit ongoing feedback and conversations to advance this work.
• Maintain, and support other staff and volunteers to maintain, strict adherence to NYC Kids RISE data security and privacy policies.

Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in relationship management, community organizing, performance management, economic and community development activities, education, or financial empowerment service-delivery, or comparable experience;
• Experience working with or in government preferred;
• Experience system-building preferred;
• Team and collaborative orientation and able to work independently;
• Superb communication and relationship building skills, including writing, public speaking, facilitation, and presentation to diverse audiences;
• Adaptable, flexible and effective problem solver in fast-paced settings;
• Proven project manager, highly organized, good attention to detail;
• Ability to analyze trends and distill observations into actionable recommendations;
• Strong judgment;
• Experience working in or with New York City district and/or charter schools and/or the NYC Department of Education preferred;
• Experience with training and capacity building for diverse stakeholders preferred;
• Experience in a start-up setting preferred.

Due to COVID-19, the application process for this role will be conducted virtually. The entire team is currently working remotely and depending on the timing of this hire, the Deputy Director, School Networks (District-Level) will likely begin this position remotely as well. The office is otherwise based in Long Island City (Queens, NY), and the entire team is expected to return to the office once health conditions allow.

To apply, a cover letter and resume is required. Please list the name of the position “Deputy Director, School Networks (District-Level)" in your cover letter. The potential salary for this position is from $110,000 to $125,000 which represents a range commensurate with experience.

NYC Kids Rise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate in employment on the basis of basis of gender, religion, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, marital status, caregiver status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, unemployed status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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