Community Outreach Manager, Philadelphia School Partnership

Posted by Philadelphia School Partnership on January 22, 2018

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY

The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) works to give every child in America’s fifth largest city the opportunity to attend a great school. We invest philanthropic funds in high-impact schools so they can serve more low-income students—whether they be in the traditional public, public charter or private sectors. Our aim is to catalyze the creation or transformation of enough schools to ensure better options for 50,000 students, or nearly one in four of all Philadelphia schoolchildren. Since 2011 PSP has invested in more than 50 schools, creating new educational opportunity for 21,000 students. PSP also works to create the conditions that enable great schools to grow and thrive, including a strong pipeline of qualified teachers and principals, resources and initiatives to empower parents and families, and policies that enable entrepreneurial school leadership and create opportunity for high-performing schools to grow. Additionally, PSP invests to catalyze collaboration, facilitating the sharing of best practices among schools and support organizations. Nonpartisan and data-driven, we work with government officials, business leaders, education leaders and practitioners, and community groups to pursue the promise of a great school for every child.

PSP believes that in a city as large as Philadelphia, there is not one best or right kind of school. Two hundred forty thousand children need a wide variety of schools from which to choose. The city has numerous examples of high-performing schools, and they span all three primary sectors: charter schools, district schools and private/Catholic schools. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of quality options in all three sectors. More than 35,000 students sit on waiting lists for the city’s best schools—which include private, charter, district magnet, and district neighborhood schools. Our work centers on leveraging philanthropic capital to attract entrepreneurial leadership and overcome inertia and financial and political barriers so that Philadelphia can have more great schools.

Like all cities, Philadelphia has finite resources for K-12 education. PSP believes the route to effectively educating all of the city’s children lies in fomenting and sustaining an educational ecosystem that steers resources toward effective schools, regardless of sector or type of school, so they can grow; increases equity of access to all school choices for families; and utilizes multiple measures of school performance to hold schools accountable for outcomes, thus ensuring support and—if necessary—intervention for struggling schools.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) believes that helping to empower parents to find, choose, and advocate for higher quality schools of all types (district, charter, and private) is a critical part of our strategy to ensure every child in Philadelphia is enrolled in a great school.  We seek to deepen our relationships with partner organizations including school operators, nonprofits, and advocacy groups to empower parents and community members to engage in local education reform efforts. Specifically, we are working to better equip families with information to find and choose great schools for their children.  As part of this work, we have created “GreatPhillySchools,” (GPS) a print and web-based resource giving parents access to data on academics, safety, and more.  The Community Outreach Manager will plan and execute efforts to increase awareness of the website and manage relationships with partner organizations to reach thousands of stakeholders across the city.  The Community Outreach Manager will report to will report to the GreatPhillySchools Director and work closely with the entire time including the Project Manager, Coordinator, and other staff as needed.

PSP is an equal-opportunity employer with good benefits and an entrepreneurial, results-oriented work culture.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Developing and managing the grassroots component to promote GreatPhillySchools.org and the GPS print guides; this will include partnering with numerous community, nonprofit, political, and other organizations throughout the city in an effort to reach parents and caregivers
• Building and strengthening external partnerships across the city to support our new work in early childhood
• Overseeing a part-time outreach team to plan and execute parent engagement and organizing events including: trainings, school visits, testimonies, op-eds/letter writing campaigns, speaking events, GPS demos and more
• Representing GPS at public events and community meetings
• Providing consultative assistance to partner schools on how to build and execute parent engagement initiatives including trainings, planning assistance and other support; and
• Additional duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS
• Knowledge of and commitment to K-12 education reform, including a willingness to work on behalf of high-quality schools of all types – including District, charter, and private – in the face of organized resistance to reform
• Ability to derive, set, and achieve ambitious goals within the context of relationship building and advocacy; ability to demonstrate experience achieving results in community organizing or coalition building and issue campaigns
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to lead and motivate others
• A self-motivated and entrepreneurial approach; confidence in high-pressure tight deadline situations and willingness to work as part of a team.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
• Bachelor’s degree required
• Minimum of three years’ relevant work experience
• Fluency in Spanish (written and verbal), strongly preferred
• Familiarity with early childhood education strongly preferred
• Experience working with families of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
• Experience working in education reform preferred, but not required
• Willingness and ability to work nights and weekends; this role occasionally requires nontraditional hours

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Ability to physically perform the duties and to work in the environmental conditions required such as:
• Traveling to schools – valid driver’s license and/or access to transportation when necessary
• Functioning in office space – reaching file cabinets, filing, faxing, scanning, coping, typing, mailing, making phone calls
• Must be able to sit for up to two hours looking at a computer monitor, using a keyboard/mouse and typing
• Must be able to lift up to 25lbs on a frequent basis

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Email resume and cover letter to Molly Farley, Human Resources Consultant, at [email protected].Salary commensurate with experience, along with excellent benefits. A modest relocation package may also be available for out-of-state candidates.