Program Associate

Job Description

THE SELECTED CANDIDATE WILL BE OFFERED A SALARY BETWEEN $62,868.00 - $72,298.00

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services and provides subsidized childcare vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement, and programs for youth in the community.

Within ACS, the Division of Preventive Services (DPS) is a beacon of support to families by connecting them to community-based resources. The division works to provide resources that maintain the safety and well-being of families. DPS provides guidance and resources to our contracted providers that strengthen their ability to assess and address the service needs of families.

The Office of Program Management and Sustainability (OPMS) within DPS is committed to strengthening prevention services for children, families, and communities through collaborative program management and strategic initiatives that leverage innovation, data and research, and human-centered design. The team’s work seeks to enhance racial equity, incorporate multi stakeholder voices, and elevate family choice. The team within OPMS is charged with overseeing a coordinated implementation of evidence-based and research-informed prevention service models; designing a robust and consistent system to monitor and support programs’ sustained alignment to service model fidelity, contractual expectations, and ACS standards for service delivery; and partnering with contracted providers to ensure services are high quality and socially just, including the development of meaningful race equity plans at each provider agency. We are seeking exceptional candidates to serve as Program Associates on the team.

The responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

- Provide administrative and operations support to the team. Ideal candidates are highly organized problem-solvers with excellent communication skills who can connect with people, exude warmth, and goes the extra mile to get things done.
- Plan and manage prevention services events (virtually and in-person) with internal divisions and external community partners, including service providers, advocates, and families.
- Represents CBS, and the Division of Prevention services in service provider, family, and advocate community convenings, workgroups, and meetings.
- Support communication strategies with key external community stakeholders, including service providers, advocates, and families.
- Actively engage in the development of a strong workplace culture characterized by warmth, creativity, teamwork, and responsiveness.
- Cover meetings for the team as assigned and write/distribute high quality meeting summaries promptly following meetings.
- Collect and track data as needed for projects - enter, track, and present data using electronic systems.
- Perform special projects and tasks including, create and administer staff well-being surveys, track and manage project assignments and staff workload, plan and execute big events, in-person or virtually, with many stakeholders.
- Support Director and/or Program Officers to prepare documents, make presentations, and facilitate goal-oriented meetings with key stakeholders to generate buy-in, improve the quality of families’ experiences and circumstances, and effectively manage projects and workstreams.
- Gather system-wide and program-specific data, monitor and assess outcomes of service delivery, conduct site visits, facilitate ongoing feedback and collaboration from families being served, and support ongoing collaboration with all stakeholders in alignment with sustainability derived from best practices and/or implementation science.

Note: Multiple Program Associates are needed for various programs as described below. Selected candidates for Program Associate will be reporting to one of the Program Officers or Directors on the team who each oversee a portfolio of programs listed below. Applicants will be considered based on their interest and/or experience and/or expertise in one or more of the following:

- School-Based Early Support programs are prevention programs that partner with elementary and middle schools in the community to offer families a menu of flexible service options to connect families to community resources through case management, families’ concrete needs, support parents/caregivers, and avoid unnecessary investigations. School Based Early Support programs provides an option for school staff and providers to help families in need of concrete support, psychoeducation, social connections, and/or resource navigation, and to prevent unnece