Managing Director, Community Engagement

Priority Application Deadline: February 1

 

Teaching Trust seeks a full-time Managing Director of Community Engagement to incorporate the voice of community in our organization’s programming. This positions reports to the Chief External Officer and begins July 2019.

 

What You’ll Take On

 

The Managing Director of Community Engagement will lead our effort to deeply and authentically engage Teaching Trust stakeholders across the state to ensure that their voices and feedback are valued, heard and leveraged to inform and influence organizational decisions. Reporting to the Chief External Officer, you will build trusting relationships with parents, community organizations, policymakers in the North Texas region and will manage ongoing outreach to these stakeholder groups.

 

The Managing Director of Community Engagement will lead development and implementation for all outreach and engagement efforts including (but not limited to):

 

• Engaging local peer organizations with advocacy expertise to understand education policy landscape and identify potential pathways for Teaching Trust action

• Shaping the strategic direction for Teaching Trust’s public dialogue and advocacy by listening to and valuing the expressed needs of diverse stakeholders and designing authentic and responsive community engagement processes, systems and structures

• Working closely with Teaching Trust staff to build their capacity for effective and authentic engagement

• Establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relationships with a full range of stakeholder parties of interest, civic organizations, and advisory groups to participate in, recruit community voice for, and co-host community engagement efforts

• Partner with the Director of Communications to shape communication campaigns that will precede and complement community engagement efforts with the goal of building awareness and understanding of issues concerning Teaching Trust mission

• Participate in local education coalition meetings

• Establish cooperative working relationships with other community engagement leaders within the region and across the country, sharing best practices

• Regularly participate in the creation of necessary materials to inform the Board of Directors of ongoing community engagement activity, successes, and needed resources

• Work with Director of Culturally Responsive Programming to formulate strategy to inform and advise approaches to incorporate the voice of community in our programs 

 

Additionally, in FY20 (ending June 30, 2020) you will:

• Build rapport within the four North Texas communities served by Teaching Trust by conducting outreach activities Including listening sessions, survey tools, etc (target: parents, community leaders)

• Research potential advocacy priorities to bolster support for school leadership development in Texas and programs that seek to close the opportunity gap; make recommendations for Teaching Trust’s organizational policy platform

• Design an outreach strategy that builds buy in from internal stakeholders and is informed by educator and community input

 

What You’ll Bring

 

We are looking for someone who is excited to use their relationship building expertise to help organizations amplify their impact to achieve educational equity.  

 

You believe in expanding the tent. Building inroads with values aligned organizations and leaders to strengthen support for your organization’s mission comes second nature to you.

 

You listen to understand. You are skilled at listening for cues from key stakeholders and are willing to consider new perspectives.

 

You believe in building trusting relationships with mutual benefit. You are genuinely invested in making partnerships valuable for others as much as your own organization.

 

You have proven results establishing or growing community outreach programs. You are able to name and take pride in the lasting relationships you have cultivated in other organizations.

 

You are skilled at leading by influence. Your impact is not determined by the size of your team. You excel at building buy-in and enlisting help from internal and external partners.

 

Ideal candidates will have:

• 5-7 years of experience leading a community engagement or advocacy program on behalf of a nonprofit organizations, preferably in education

• Cultural competence and strategic communications skills to effectively influence key stakeholders and partner with colleagues to execute with excellence

• Ability to facilitate group processes in consensus building, conflict resolution, planning, and decision-making

• Spanish language fluency a strong plus

• Ability to work independently with a high degree of responsibility, discretion and confidentiality

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment, demonstrating resilience and a growth mindset

• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with ability to influence, collaborate, and build trusting relationships to drive results

• High level of comfort taking and implementing frequent feedback to improve the work

• Ability to work well with people with a very wide diversity of demographic and cultural characteristics; must be capable of achieving results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative leadership style

• Passion to work at an organization focused on ameliorating educational inequity

• Strong desire and ability to innovate and adopt new approaches to achieve results

• Exceptionally strong project management and time management skills

• Authorization to work in the United States required

 

Additionally, alignment with our core values is essential for the success of any candidate:

 

Educational Equity: We prioritize work based on its impact in eliminating the achievement gap.

Disciplined Behavior: We are unapologetically results and competencies driven.

Courage and Resilience: We take risks, rebound and persevere.

Entrepreneurial Mindset: We own our outcomes and act with urgency.

Reflection and Growth: We seek feedback and modify behavior to achieve results.

 

Who We Are

Teaching Trust is a nonprofit organization grounded in the conviction that school leadership is the single largest lever to improve public education. We develop strategic, visionary leaders at multiple levels within schools and school systems to engage and lead accountable, collaborative teams. These teams in turn ensure schools have high quality teaching and learning and aspirational cultures, which are necessary to provide an education that eliminates the opportunity gap for low-income students and students of color.

 

We work in the following ways to provide education opportunities that eliminate racial and socioeconomic disparities and give our students choice for their life path:

 

• We train, develop, and support school teams to grow leadership capacity

• We collaborate with partners to transform principal preparation programs

• We build a community of educators through our work

• We influence the practices of the school systems with which we partner

 

What We Offer

Teaching Trust offers a competitive salary for this role. As part of our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and ensuring compensation equity for our staff, the salary for this role will be aligned based on level and tenure with the organization. We also offer flexible spending account options, a generous vacation and holiday schedule, and a Simple IRA retirement plan with employer matching. Teaching Trust also offers a one-time moving stipend to new hires who are relocating for the role.

Teaching Trust is an equal opportunity employer. Teaching Trust evaluates applicants for employment on the basis of qualifications, merit and work-related criteria and does not discriminate any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, marital or familial status, family responsibilities, veteran status, personal appearance, political affiliation, matriculation, or any other characteristic protected by law.

 

Teaching Trust positions are contingent on securing relevant contracts.