Inspiring Minds Job Description
Job Title: Family and Community Engagement Coordinator
Range $20-$30/hr
Status: Part-time March – April, Full-time May – August 2024; position may extend past August dependent on funding
Location: Inspiring Minds March – July; on-site at a Providence Public Elementary School July – August
Reports to: Program Director
About Us: Inspiring Minds is a non-profit education agency founded in 1963. We are a student-centered organization, ensuring our programs promote positive outcomes for the youth we serve.
Inspiring Minds Mission: Inspiring Minds empowers students to succeed and thrive in school and life by developing trusted relationships with community members who are knowledgeable of the culturally responsive, academic, and socio-emotional needs necessary for student success.
Vision: Inspiring Minds is an antiracist organization committed to closing equity gaps based on race, ethnicity, first language, and economic status that impact RI students and families. We believe in the power of relationships, and that caring and committed adults can empower our students to achieve with the right guidance, training, and support.
Inspiring Minds delivers effective programs that build academic and social-emotional skills using a developmental relationships framework. We serve a diverse population of exceptional, intelligent, and resilient students. We believe all students deserve an educational environment that fosters a sense of belonging and purpose shared with everyone who is part of the school community and the community at large.
We recognize the impact that systematic barriers such as racism, poverty, housing insecurity, and hunger have on learning, especially in under-resourced schools. Therefore, we work in partnership with school districts, higher education institutions, civic groups, and the community to provide quality programs that empower students to succeed and thrive in school and life.
Only extraordinary people work here. Our goals are ambitious but achievable. We have high expectations for ourselves, our students, and our volunteers. We do whatever it takes to achieve our mission ethically. Our ideal candidate is someone who works hard and will have fun while dreaming big.
MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Community Engagement Coordinator is responsible for community engagement, recruitment, and partnerships within Inspiring Minds’ In-School and Out-of School programming. This position is grant-funded for Summer 2024’s KidsBridge Summer Learning program with a possible extension into the 2024-2025 school year.
KidsBridge Responsibilities
From March through August, the position supports recruitment, enrollment, and attendance in our KidsBridge summer learning program. In the spring, the Family Engagement Coordinator will support the recruitment of students by attending school and city events, staffing the office for walk-in registrations, and following up on enrollment paperwork. During the summer learning program, the coordinator will support families in understanding the school norms, policies, protocols, and routines to prepare themselves for their child to begin kindergarten. In addition, the Family Engagement Coordinator will support the attendance data collection and follow-up to ensure the program meets agreed-upon deliverables. More than 65% of our targeted enrollment is Spanish speaking; therefore, the position requires oral and written fluency in Spanish and English.
Recruitment and Enrollment (March-May)
- Actively recruit qualified children to the summer program through various methods, including but not limited to door-knocking, phone calls, text messages, information sessions, and written communication.
- Work to meet the enrollment targets on which program funding is based.
- Facilitate family information sessions at convenient times for parent participation.
- Seek out and attends community events to recruit students and volunteers for our program.
- Create recruitment and presentation materials in English and Spanish. Distribute recruitment materials to community agencies.
- Create enrollment packets. Schedule appointments to meet with families and support them in completing all enrollment paperwork.
- Staff the office and respond to walk-in registrations. Answer phones and enroll students in the computer system.
- Understand all program policies and protocols. Attend staff training, including USDA food service training.
Summer Program Responsibilities (July and August)
- Work with site staff to develop meaningful opportunities for families to support their children as they enter kindergarten.
- Develop a weekly newsletter for all sites.
- Greet parents at the program sites. Authentically engage in the program.
- Ensure families know the norms, policies, protocols, and school routines.
- Research community resources and support for families
- Plan and implement a mid-summer and end-of-summer family event.
- Create and distribute weekly rosters.
- Accurately enter attendance data into the computer daily. Summarize the attendance and make follow-up calls for absent students daily.
- Document absences and family engagement efforts in our database.
- Support the program’s administration in organizing the forward-facing sign-in/out area.
- Performs other job-related duties as assigned.
Relationship Building
- Establish and maintain appropriate relationships with students, parents, staff, school personnel, and community members with tact, courtesy, and confidentiality.
- Maintain a professional appearance and demonstrates behavior that is conscientious and responsible.
- Do not engage in discriminatory practices, including race, origin, gender, socio-economic status, disability, religion, or political beliefs.
- Support our parents/families as our students’ first teachers and role models. Research and inform parents of programs that will help their child and opportunities available for the adult members of the family.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Fluency in Spanish and English is required.
- High School Diploma or GED preferred.
- Attention to detail
- Persistence and patience
- You exemplify our core values of continuous learning, antiracism & equity.
- You can describe your personal and professional racial equity journey related to undoing racism and dismantling oppression in marginalized communities. You can readily share your learnings from various resources that have most profoundly led you to learn about antiracism and anti-oppression.
- You are skilled at lifting up the power and promise of marginalized groups vs. focusing on the problems and pathologies put on them by the dominant society.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
- Excellent verbal and written communication.
- You know how to slow down and help your colleagues pause to disrupt any false sense of urgency or push for productivity at the expense of personal and collective well-being.
- You are skilled at prioritizing and setting boundaries so you can focus on each project with clarity and a feeling of accomplishment.
- Basic computer skills required. Must be able to produce documents, flyers, and presentations in English and Spanish.
- Skill in establishing and maintaining effective working relations with co-workers, vendors, students, parents, the general public, and others having business with Inspiring Minds
OTHER REQUIREMENTS:
- Seeks out, attends, and actively participates in training supporting family engagement.
- May be required to demonstrate fluency in Spanish and English (written & oral).
- Attend and actively participate in pre-service training and staff meetings.
- Follow RI DOH and CDC COVID protocols.
- Must be able to pass background clearance checks.
- May be required to work outside normal working hours.
- Participate in additional activities, including recruitment events, field trips, daily enrichment time, parent-engagement events, and other required programs as needed throughout the program.
- Submit bi-weekly timesheet for approval.
This position is grant-funded seasonally. Dependent on funding, the position may become full-time, full-year beginning in August 2024.
If funded, School Year 2024-2025, the Community Engagement Coordinator will
- follow and continue to support the KidsBridge 2024 cohort during their Kindergarten year in Providence schools, and
- manage community engagement across the Inspiring Minds’ organization.
More detailed information pertaining to the proposed extension of the position available upon request.
To Apply: Email resume and cover letter to jobs@inspiringmindsri.org.