Senior Learning Coordinator Dept: Programs Organization Overview Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Our comprehensive approach to whole girl development equips girls to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers and grow up healthy, educated, and independent. These positive outcomes are achieved through three core elements: people - trained staff and volunteers who build lasting, mentoring relationships; environment - girls-only, physically and emotionally safe, where there is a sisterhood of support, high expectations, and mutual respect; and programming - research-based, hands-on
and minds-on, age-appropriate, meeting the needs of today’s girls. Informed by girls and their families, we also advocate for legislation and policies to increase opportunities for all girls and address the systemic barriers that impede girls’ success, particularly girls in low-income communities and girls of color.
Position Overview Girls Inc. of Chicago has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Learning Coordinator. The Senior Learning Coordinator is responsible for ensuring program quality through demonstrated effective facilitation practices, program planning, and collaboration with Program Leadership Team, with attention to data-driven program practices. As a thought-partner on the Program Leadership Team, the Senior Learning Coordinator will implement a broad perspective of program practices and work closely to support the continuous improvement of the Girls Inc. experience.
Primary Responsibilities Coaching/Supervision – 60%
General (Year-round)
- Responsible for raising standards for program execution through leading, implementing, monitoring and evaluating practices, policies and initiatives.
- Responsible for supervising a team of Full-Time and Part-Time Facilitators, Interns and Volunteers at the assigned program partner sites, including maintaining coverage, approving time-off, and evaluation program effectiveness
- Through effective Coaching, ensure the efficient running of all day-to-day aspects of your assigned school year and out-of-school time programs, including effective communication, regular monitoring, and feedback, establishing and leading weekly program planning meetings
and maintaining high quality work environment.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of programs and strategies within your sessions and across programs through pre-post survey administration and defining initiatives for the Girls Inc. Strong Smart & Bold Outcomes Measurement Survey
- Model exemplary engagement of auxiliary staff in alignment with grant-specific requirements (I.e. LCSW, case management resources, etc.) and community impact priorities
- Assist in the completion of grant programmatic reporting.
- Participate in Program Team hiring process and onboarding
- Effectively communicate with girls and their families, when engaging during sessions, by phone via email and online
- Be a strong advocate for change and champion program improvement
- Participate in all staff meetings to share ideas and concerns and works collaboratively with staff to ensure the goals and objectives of Girls Inc. of Chicago are being met.
- Convey a positive “can do” attitude, motivate and inspire staff and present a positive ‘united front’ to secure successful outcomes of organizational initiatives
- Must be able to work a flexible schedule including occasional evenings and weekends (e.g. gala, InnovateHer, She Shines) in addition to business hours
- Follow Girls Inc. progressive disciplinary procedures for direct reports that fail to uphold GIoC’s policies and procedures, code of conduct, team values and expectations.
- Other duties and responsibilities as assigned Seasonal
- Collaborate with Director of Programs to develop schedule of programming for the entire year.
- Once in the fall semester (before October 31) and once in the spring semester (before February 28), conduct program observations of Program Department staff (including but not limited to Learning Coordinators (formerly called Lead Facilitators), Program Aides, and the Youth Mental Health Counselor to support quality program implementation
- Collaborate with the Director of Programs and the Senior Director of Finance and Operations to report findings and recommendations for improvement based on observation findings
- Lead trainings on themes and areas of focus that should be addressed during department meetings.
Program Implementation Support and Curriculum (20%) General (Year-round)
- Reviews pre/post assessment data to inform the creation of appropriate training content for Learning Coordinators so they can meet programmatic outcomes and ensure continuous quality improvement in collaboration with Director of Programs.
- Work with the Director of Programs, Director of Development, and Learning Coordinators to identify donor cultivation opportunities and success stories that can be shared with funders, board members, and other stakeholders.
- Creating and facilitating workshops for both professional development and curriculum training for program team.
- Review all session plans for completeness and adherence to Girls Inc. Programming model by the designated deadline
- Follow the Girls Inc. progressive disciplinary procedures for direct reports who fail to complete their session plans and inform the Director of Programs and Human Resources.
School-Specific
- Develops and coordinates all logistics for parent workshops and school partner professional development including but not limited to scheduling, outreach communication, securing internal (GIoC staff) and/or external (non-GIoC) speakers, ensuring instructional materials are secured, etc.
Camp-Specific (Seasonal)
- Responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing programming (curriculum and activities) for spring break and summer camps in collaboration with Director of Programs
- Collaborate with Director of Programs to create a staffing plan that includes hourly duties for all Program Department team members and creating professional development and training schedules for all Program Department team members
- Creates pacing guide for seasonal curriculum in collaboration with Director of Programs
- Lead the coordination of spring and summer camp logistics including but not limited to
- collaborating with the Community Engagement team to schedule a site visit to the venue
- ensure that all girls are entered into Compass 360 and that attendance is entered weekly into Compass 360
- coordinate attendance roster data
- create a staffing plan for staff move in/move out
- identifying and creating the curriculum framework
- ordering of instructional supplies
- dissemination of instructional supplies including but not limited to t-shirts
- creating a plan for securing snacks from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and
distributing snacks and lunches
- coordinating logistics for exposure experiences including but not limited to compiling contact information for all campers and staff, ensure first aid kits are prepared and available, conduct safety briefings and emergency response training, ensure all staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities, coordinate appropriate items including name tags, storage bins for lunches, first aid kits, etc., ensure camper to chaperone ratios are appropriate
Facilitation – 20%
- Must be able to facilitate programming to girls in groups of 15-25 and between the ages of 5-18 inperson;
- Prepare for, and facilitate hands-on and intentional programming activities within our Core Essential
Services (Healthy Living, Academic Enrichment and Support, Life Skills);
- Develop content according to the guidelines and delivery schedule outlined in Girls Inc’s in-person programming models;
- Maintain safe spaces by implementing in-person and online safeguards for engagement;
- Conduct essential tasks to ensure the maintenance of program equipment and activity supplies;
- Identify ways to encourage, collect, and share girls work;
- Provide feedback and creative input on programming;
- Work to understand school priorities, and use this information to evolve implementation practices
- Serve as point of contact to all full-time and part-time facilitators, volunteers and interns, who may be assigned to your site.
- Support the planning and implementation of special events/projects;
- Support goals for girl engagement and family outreach;
- Attend regular staff meetings, trainings and work in collaboration with Girls Inc. staff and partner contacts;
- Maintain relationships with girls & their families and provide individual support ensuring their ability to effectively engage in the program;
- Create and share family engagement activities for independent projects;
- Support the collection of data related to program outcomes, girls’ interests, and/or family needs;
- Effectively communicate with girls and their families, by-phone via email and online
Essential Knowledge and Skills
- Must be a high-energy, caring, self-starter, innovative and have high level of competency in cultural
diversity, ability to coordinate a multi-faceted program, facilitate cooperative work and manage a team
- Passionate about the Girls Inc. mission and values and working with youth in grades Kindergarten- 12th
- Proficiency and/or experience using Google Suite, Word, Power Point, Excel, Microsoft Teams and Canva.
- Must have proven success in ability to communicate with youth and foster their involvement and participation in program, planning, problem solving, and decision making.
- Must be able to develop and implement programs which are responsible to the needs and interests of the girls.
- Demonstrated ability to build strong partnerships internally and externally while maintaining a high level of professionalism and decorum
- Committed to the values of diversity, inclusion, and empowerment.
Qualifications
- Achieved Bachelor’s degree in Education, Youth Development, Human Development Social Work, or related discipline; Master's degree Preferred
- A minimum of 3 years’ experience (4 or more preferred), teaching and/or facilitating, preferably in a school setting (Chicago Public Schools a plus) or youth-serving organization that includes experience in youth mental health, direct-service supervision, administration, curriculum/course design, and developing community/school partnerships, with knowledge of equity issues facing girls of color.
- Must have reliable and consistent transportation and the ability, and flexibility to work between the hours of 7:30am-6pm in various neighborhoods, across Chicago.
- Ability to work a flexible schedule including some evenings and weekends in addition to business hours
- Candidates must pass a criminal history records check, and drug screening, in addition to other Chicago Public Schools safety requirements.