Job Title: Director, New Initiative

Hours: Full-Time

Pay: $85,000- $100,000

Work Location: Hybrid

Reports To: Executive Director, Chattanooga 2.0

For more information or to apply, please reach out to Keri Randolph, keri@chatt2.org.

About Chattanooga 2.0: 

Chattanooga 2.0 is the collaboration of dozens of organizations across sectors, who began work in 2015 with the goal to transform education and workforce outcomes. The Chattanooga 2.0 backbone organization supports partners in creating proof points, driving collaboration, measurement, and in the alignment of policy and practice to ensure all children and youth in the county receive a quality education and career opportunities that help them realize their full potential. In the early childhood space, we’re changing the educational landscape by removing barriers to access for quality early childhood care and educational services and implementing innovative and evidence-based strategies informed by data and stakeholder input. 

About the New Initiative: 

Earning a degree or credential after high school opens up incredible opportunities for Hamilton County kids, but the high costs of college and career training can be a major barrier for families. A new community initiative will work to remove this barrier and make college and career training more accessible to all students. Over the next five years, each Hamilton County Public School student in kindergarten or middle school will receive $100 in a career and college savings account. This money will grow over time, and when a student graduates, can be used to help pay for education-related expenses. The fund is flexible. It can pay for apprenticeships, technical training in high-demand, high-wage jobs like linework or welding, or 2- or 4-year colleges and universities. It can also cover basic needs like housing, transportation or technology while a student is earning a degree or credential. 

By 2030 – only six years from now – 82% of local jobs will require a degree or credential beyond high school. Today, only 38% of Hamilton County residents have one. Earning a degree or credential after high school is a pathway to a bright future for Chattanooga and our kids.

These opportunities lead to higher wages, better health outcomes, and higher economic productivity. 

We believe in our kids and want to provide them with opportunities for a hopeful future. This new initiative will provide a tool that families, businesses and community organizations can use to invest in our children’s future and help them thrive. Families will claim their child’s account and can regularly add money into the account to help it grow. Businesses can offer their employees a matching program, contribute directly to their employees’ accounts or sponsor a local school and its students’ funds. Community organizations can invest in funds on behalf of children in their programs or connect this opportunity to other career and college programs. 

About the Position: 

Chattanooga 2.0 is seeking an experienced professional to support the launch of this new initiative. This new executive team member will be able to build on the work and strategies to date, while creating infrastructure to support implementation, maximizing impact for Hamilton County students, families, and communities. 

The Director will be responsible for engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including parents/guardians; school leaders; community-based organizations; civic, anchor, business, and faith-based institutions; and others to support enrollment. 

Reporting to and partnering with the Chattanooga 2.0 Executive Director, and serving as a member of the Executive Team, the Director will oversee additional team members and support the growth of the team as the initiative is implemented and grows. 

Duties: 

The Director will create systems and infrastructure to engage partners across the county in enrollment and growth of the initiative and includes different stakeholders that require various approaches to communication and engagement. The current objectives include: 

• Sharing Information: Informing each core stakeholder group about theinitiative, its goals, and enabling them to take ownership over key elements of the program and their role within it
• Co-Creating the initiative: Enabling stakeholders to meaningfully contribute ideas, resources and activities to advance the goals of the initiative
• Advancing Action: Encouraging and influencing stakeholders to take key relevant actions to participate in and advance the platform
• Exchanging and Showcasing Learnings: Fostering learning communities (including with schools, financial empowerment centers, community organizations, and parents and guardians) to raise up the best ideas and learn from each other about what is effective in advancing the platform
• Building Momentum to Support Collective Impact: Generate momentum to support ongoing engagement through the expansion, implementation, and customization of the initiative across neighborhoods
• Supporting a Team and Coalition: Manage a small team, as well as strategic contracted support to implement and grow the initiative.

Qualifications: Demonstrated success and experience in community outreach and fostering collaboration among partners. 

• A track record in developing and managing strategy to drive stakeholder action ● Superb oral communication and relationship building skills, including public speaking and presentation to diverse audiences
• Adept at engaging in nuanced conversations with a range of stakeholders ● Adaptable, flexible and effective problem solver in fast-paced settings ● Experience in managing people and teams
• Demonstrated experience overseeing diverse portfolio areas in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
• Degree in public policy, education or related field preferred, but extensive related experience is equally valued
• Experience working with and/or in government agencies, community-based organizations, or other key stakeholders
• Passion for increasing economic opportunities and long-term financial security for Hamilton County families and neighborhoods

Schedule and Location: Flexible. Core work hours are 9am -5pm, M-F. Our work involves convening community stakeholders, which means meeting with busy people when they are available to meet, as well as hosting evening and weekend meetings if necessary. The position is hybrid, with a mix of virtual and in-person meetings in Hamilton County, Tennessee required. 

Backbone Values 

• Relationships – We know that no lasting change can come without trusting and authentic relationships. We nurture, build, and hold relationships as a core tenet of our work. 
• Continuous Learning – We continuously learn from data, community voice, and research to improve our work. We are committed to “not getting comfortable”. We fight against stagnation and the status quo. 
• Opportunity and Access – We include stakeholders with both content and context expertise at every turn. We lead with inclusive opportunity. We disaggregate data to ensure that we uplift gaps in subgroups, because all means all. 
• Quality and Excellence – We have high standards. We execute on the details. We take pride in our work and drive forward as a team toward our mission. We always strive for excellence and are unconstrained by the way things have always been done.
• Passion – We take pride in our work and bring our A-game to all interactions. We encourage rigorous discourse and never settle for anything but the best. We have an uncompromising and relentless focus on community impact. We believe in the possible.
• Strong Leaders – We work tirelessly to support and build capacity for student-centered visionaries. We work to create the conditions for success that empower and retain leaders at all levels who are critical to the success of our community.