Job Title:  Director, Viable Pathways to Prosperity

Setting: Full-time hybrid

Application Deadline: April 21, 2025

Reports To: Chattanooga 2.0, Executive Director

Compensation: $70,000- $85,000 commensurate with experience with competitive benefits

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 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. 

About Viable Pathways to Prosperity:

Viable Pathways to Prosperity reimagines and redefines traditional career paths by addressing an ongoing disconnect between today’s workforce development and tomorrow’s workforce needs. Viable Pathways is a cross-sector initiative connecting Hamilton County students with industry-aligned, innovative pathways directly linked to thriving wage careers. 

Viable Pathways is a national model in the education-workforce space; we are reimagining and redefining the traditional postsecondary model for a local school system, community partners, and employers. Viable Pathways represents a new set of options for upward mobility and economic independence.

Viable Pathways to Prosperity is a comprehensive, student-centered model that addresses the pervasive disconnect in the education to workforce pipeline by offering (1) clear and compelling pathways for students to achieve economic mobility and (2) the academic, wraparound, and financial supports to succeed. Put succinctly, there are well-established challenges locally, statewide, and nationally in college-going, postsecondary success, and postsecondary-workforce alignment. Chattanooga 2.0’s Viable Pathways to Prosperity is one of the only examples of a program that is:

1. Addressing all of these challenges at once
2. Well into the implementation phase of work (successfully serving students now)
3. Actively scaling to serve a number of students that would result in systems-level impact across the community.  

Chattanooga 2.0 plays a unique role in the Hamilton County ecosystem as an intermediary that can clearly see, impact, and coordinate the entire field. While there are other programs emerging across the country that aim to align education and workforce needs, those finding success are often highly specific, limited in their ability to scale, and focused on a singular job pathway and the associated training.

Overview of Role:

Chattanooga 2.0 is hiring a Director of Viable Pathways to Prosperity to provide project management and implementation support for the Viable Pathways to Prosperity initiative. Chattanooga 2.0 has identified ten pathways for Hamilton County. The Director will oversee the three existing pathways and support the design and launch of the remaining pathways over the next two years with the goal of serving at least 300 students by 2027.  Each pathway will have engaged business/employment partners and start with a thriving wage and defined links to career pathways with opportunities for advancement. At the same time, the pathways will track from upper elementary grades through high school and on to postsecondary training. Each pathway will share the following characteristics:

• Leads to a starting thriving wage of $50K or more with clear and defined opportunities for advancement. 
• Provides innovative, industry-aligned training beyond high school whether that be a degree, credential, or non-credit training rooted in local employer needs. 
• Co-designed with local employers who shape skills-based training, support pathway development, and hire pathway graduates. 
• Starts early with intentional inspiration and exploration opportunities beginning in upper elementary school to give students and families time to decide.
• Removes barriers to access and completion through vital wraparound supports to support students to and through to a career with supports extending through the first years of employment.

In addition, the Director will also support other key strategy areas as needed particularly when connected with the viable pathways to prosperity initiative, including kindergarten readiness, K-12 literacy and math, college and career ready graduates, postsecondary attainment and thriving wage jobs for young adults. 

By working together—business, K-12, higher education, non-profit, local government—we will identify and build career pathways linked to economic prosperity that prepare our students for and intentionally connect them to the thriving wage careers of today and tomorrow in our community. 

Duties:

The Director of Viable Pathways to Prosperity will:

• Support and expand the viable pathways to prosperity initiative with the goal of maintaining the current three pathways and launching seven more over the next two years;
• Activate, facilitate and support partnerships tables for each pathway;
• Manage Viable Pathways team members and contracted support;
• Work with organizational partners and community stakeholders to improve alignment of existing services for youth and their families; 
• Build strong partnerships with other organizations to facilitate data-sharing;
• Represent Chattanooga 2.0 as required to promote the achievement of the organization’s mission and goals, particularly as it applies to systems change and capacity building. Make presentations as required; 
• Build and maintain a meeting culture guided by our core values and ground rules to advance collaboration and results;
• Follow up on all action commitments from meetings;
• Build internal and external support for the viable pathways to prosperity initiative and identify new opportunities to advance our strategies and goals;
• Work with communications staff to update the broader coalition and external audiences and advance the common agenda;
• Research and curate information needed for various working groups, including best practices from other cities, to develop, implement, and measure evidence-backed strategies; 
• Continue the work of Chattanooga 2.0 backbone staff to prevent siloes of communication across sectors.

Qualifications: Seeking a highly-organized, personable candidate with a passion for driving positive change for children and families in Hamilton County, TN. Must demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to issues related to opportunity and access for young people across Hamilton County, TN. Strong background in project management, bachelor’s degree or higher, relevant work experience, willingness to work collaboratively; demonstrated verbal and written communication skills; demonstrated ability to think in strategic, analytic, and innovative ways while also executing in plans with urgency and excellence. Experience in workforce development a plus.

Interested candidates can send a resume with a cover letter to Dr. Keri Randolph at info@chatt2.org.