Position Profile
Position Filled
Durham’s partnership for Children
More at Four Coordinator
Durham, NC
The Organization
Durham’s Partnership for Children is a nonprofit organization that works to make sure children across Durham County arrive at school healthy and ready to succeed. Their mission is to mobilize and unify the Durham community to create and support innovative and successful collaborative approaches to serving the needs of children 0 to 5 years of age and their families. The ages of birth to five account for the most critical time in a child’s development. That’s why the Partnership works collaboratively throughout Durham County to identify the needs of young children and their families. The Partnership also designs and funds model programs to ensure children and their families have the resources they need. Our funded programs focus on early childhood education, child health care, early intervention, parenting education and family support.
Durham’s Partnership for Children is one of 78 local partnerships across North Carolina to administer Smart Start funds at the local level. Smart Start is North Carolina's nationally recognized and award-winning early childhood initiative designed to ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. It is a public-private initiative that provides early education funding to all of North Carolina’s 100 counties through the network of local partnerships.
Durham’s Partnership for Children administers Durham County’s More at Four Pre-Kindergarten program, and works in collaboration with the early childhood professionals, Durham Public Schools, Operation Breakthrough Head Start, Child Care Services Association and Durham’s Alliance for Child Care Access. The More at Four program operates in private class rooms, Durham Public Schools, and Head Start. There are 29 class rooms across Durham County with high quality statewide standards to meet to prepare children for kindergarten. The program is working to provide high quality early educational experiences for 4-year-olds who are not attending preschool or are not experiencing a high quality early care environment for various reasons. The program is community-based, voluntary, and designed to prepare 4-year-olds for kindergarten. The program follows the Durham Public School calendar and runs 6.5 hours a day, 180 days a year.
The Area
Durham’s Partnership for Children is located in Durham, North Carolina. Flanked by Raleigh and Chapel Hill, the three cities form the internationally-known Research Triangle. Research Triangle Park is home to corporate giants and serves as the destination for many corporate relocations. The Triangle is one of the nation’s fastest growing areas, with a current total metro population of 1.3 million.
Situated in the beautiful rolling hills of North Carolina’s central piedmont, Durham lies a short drive from the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic coast beaches. The climate is mild with an average high of 88 degrees in mid-summer and 52 degrees in mid-winter. We boast an average of 220 sunny days every year!
Durham has tremendous resources where cultural and performing arts organizations such as the American Dance Festival, Durham Arts Council, Full Frame Film Festival, and the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science thrive. Featuring outstanding educational resources, the Triangle offers seventeen universities and colleges. Men’s and Women’s ACC basketball, professional Hockey and a Minor League baseball team, the Durham Bulls, all make their home in the Triangle.
For more information about Durham and the Triangle, visit http://triangle.citysearch.com/ and The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.durham-nc.com.
The Candidate
Durham’s Partnership for Children seeks an experienced Program Coordinator to oversee the Durham County More at Four program including planning, evaluating, supporting and monitoring activities. The More at Four program in Durham serves nearly 400 children in 29 classrooms, with a budget of approximately $1.6M. The More at Four Coordinator will be responsible for managing varied aspects of the initiative: overall administration of the program and staff, budget reporting and payment authorization, site development and monitoring, program evaluation, and data analysis. This position collaborates closely with and serves as a liaison for local, regional and state early childhood organizations, education agencies, and government offices.
The More at Four Coordinator must be a strategic thinker and self-starter who weighs initiative with necessary collaboration. The successful candidate will be organized and professional, able to balance competing priorities, promote high quality expectations, and handle multiple tasks simultaneously. The individual must have strong management skills, with experience establishing goals and obtaining desired outcomes. Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills are required to interact with diverse audiences, including excellent writing and public speaking ability.
The Position
The More at Four (MAF) Coordinator works with Direct Service Providers (DSP) to plan, evaluate and monitor activities related to MAF to ensure compliance with Durham’s Partnership for Children, federal, state and local policies and guidelines. As a member of the Partnership staff, the Coordinator joins other professionals, dedicated to providing high-quality services and leading effective programs. This is an exciting opportunity for the Coordinator to continue the strong legacy of this program, and have a meaningful impact on the children of Durham County.
Duties include, but are not limited to, the following. Other duties may be assigned.
- Plan, develop and oversee MAF in all early childhood programs.
- Evaluate and monitor all early childhood programs by measuring the degree to which each is meeting the requirements of the MAF Program goals/benchmarks and to provide useful feedback to guide programs towards meeting goals/benchmarks. This task includes consolidating and establishing baseline data and designing a system to coordinate and schedule data gathering.
- Monitor and support the development of spaces for at-risk four-year-old children in quality early childhood programs in Durham County; including research of program models, design of strategic program planning processes, and review of all proposals for providing care.
- Supervise and mentor the MAF staff and their work; establish sound communications systems; establish work priorities; provide daily advice and consultation as needed and conduct periodic performance reviews.
- Regularly provide summarized and analyzed data to use for public documents and community outreach.
- Report information to and be the contact person for the Governor’s MAF Office.
- Review monthly reports from early childhood programs; authorize payments to be made to programs.
- Approve requests from programs for start-up reimbursements.
- Meet with programs, parents or community partners as needed.
- Provide technical assistance for programs, including parent education, when needed.
- Serve as the MAF liaison with the Board and committees.
- Serve as staff support for the School Readiness/MAF Board Committee.
- Oversee the maintenance of all MAF records and ensure their accuracy and submission in a timely manner for audit purposes.
- Coordinate with partners in pre-k (DACCA, Head Start, DPS, CCSA) to determine eligibility of children to participate in the MAF program.
- Participate in all activities of the Partnership that include, but are not limited to, Board meetings, allocation meetings, contract reviews, events sponsored by the agency, trainings sponsored by NCPC, MAF or other trainings deemed important to the function of the job.
- Represent the Partnership and MAF to the community in a positive and appropriate manner.
- Any other projects, tasks or assignments considered necessary for the well-being of the agency.
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Specific Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, Child Development Social Work, Public Health, or related field from a college or university, Master’s Degree preferred
- Five (5) years related experience and/or training in childcare work environment, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Monitoring experience important.
- Understanding of current theory and practices of group child care and best practices for children; Knowledge of Day Care regulations, from the North Carolina Division of Child Development; Administration skills and experience, including North Carolina State practices.
- Ability to build counselor and mentor relationships with volunteers and community members.
- Computer skills that include word processing and spreadsheet and graphics skills. Ability to use or learn to use Email and Internet/intranet applications.
- Ability to read, analyze and interpret financial reports and legal documents.
- Strong communications skills: Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from childcare providers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community; Ability to write reports and proposals; Ability to effectively present information to management officials, public or community groups, and/or boards of directors.
Certifications, Licenses: Valid driver’s license
Safety, Security and Confidentiality: This position requires keeping complete confidentiality of all children’s information and protecting the confidentiality all child care facility files and records.
Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, speak and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, and ability to adjust focus.
Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
An individual in this position will be exposed to conditions typical of traveling office staff.
Please send cover letter, resume, salary requirements and a list of three references to:
Sherry Heuser, Senior Consultant
Capability Company
e-mail address: DPfCMAFC@capabilitycompany.com
web address: www.capabilitycompany.com
Telephone: (919) 926-0746
Submission of resumes by e-mail is preferred. Please include only your last name in the subject line.
