Overview
Community Engagement Associate – San Francisco Bay Area
Reading Partners is changing the education landscape. We are a leader in working to solve the literacy crisis in our country by leveraging community volunteers in under-resourced schools. Our diverse and expansive volunteer base provides one-on-one tutoring to students twice weekly, and our program is proven to help children master the reading fundamentals they need to unlock their potential as successful, happy and confident readers in school and in life. Our people are our heartbeat and our greatest resource; we are all passionately rallied around our mission to help children become lifelong learners by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction that works. Join our stellar team leading the charge to deepen our impact and expand our service. Watch this video to learn more about Reading Partners.
The high level:
The Community Engagement Associate (CEA) is part of an energetic team of relationship builders working together to leverage Reading Partners’ mission in the community. The CEA’s main role is to support volunteer recruitment, retention, training, and celebration efforts for the region. Reporting directly to the Community Engagement Director of San Francisco Bay Area, the CEA leads regional marketing, communications, recognition programs, engagement campaigns, and event planning to train, celebrate, and retain a diverse and robust portfolio of volunteers to serve as literacy tutors in our reading centers. The CEA is relationship-focused, goal-oriented, and is excited by both higher level and on-the-ground work.
What you’ll do:
Each school year, execute on a comprehensive community engagement strategy to enhance a positive volunteer experience through various events, campaigns, and appreciations:
- Support CE team to recruit and onboard a minimum of 1,200 volunteer tutors with a goal to increase this number annually.
- Lead and improve upon regional volunteer appreciation efforts and tutor events with the support of the CE and program teams.
- Coordinate communications and logistics for tutor events and trainings.
- Project manage regional campaigns to impact volunteer referrals and tutor retention.
- Increase tutor survey response rates and satisfaction ratings of 90% or more.
Lead on development of regional volunteer and AmeriCorps-focused marketing and communications to promote Reading Partners brand:
- Manage 1-2 Marketing and Communications volunteers to design social media content to promote campaigns and recruitment.
- Manage and improve upon the region’s ambassador program(s) with support of Community Engagement Director and Volunteer Coordinators.
- Customize regional slide decks for tutor orientation and training content.
- Create regional flyers and marketing materials for campaigns and recruitment.
- Collaborate with other team members to support their marketing needs.
Each school year, support the recruitment, hiring, and training for our Reading Partners AmeriCorps members toward successfully reaching or exceeding volunteer recruitment, retention and training goals, with support from the Community Engagement Manager, Community Engagement Director, Program Managers, and Program Director.
- Participate in interviews and onboarding for new AmeriCorps members.
- Help lead trainings and assist AmeriCorps members throughout the region with volunteer recruitment, orientations, onboarding, and ongoing coaching.
Other duties as needed.
How you’ll do it:
Relationship Development & Collaboration:
- Leverage existing relationships and build new transformational relationships in the community. Establish highly collaborative cross-functional relationships, and work effectively with all internal stakeholders for both organizational fundraising and program delivery. Celebrate wins with all stakeholders.
- Serve as an external face and evangelist for the literacy movement representing the organization at meetings and community events.
Communication:
- Externally, demonstrate the ability to genuinely promote Reading Partners and our mission through a variety of strategies. Provide excellent customer service to partners and volunteers. Have a high level of comfort with public speaking and with crafting mass communications. Be able to differentiate communication depending upon your audience.
- Internally, set up strong systems for communication and messaging, tailor communication to audiences, and contextualize messaging. Demonstrate a strong aptitude for effective communication, remotely and in person, with school and community stakeholders, and other Reading Partners staff. Be able to conduct difficult conversations with grace and ease.
Project Management:
- Create innovative solutions in the face of competition for resources, time, etc. with a high degree of adaptability and flexibility. Anticipate challenges and/or questions, and proactively execute solutions. Understand larger strategic priorities and make measurable progress against these larger goals. Be able to make quick, sound, and on-the-fly decisions that consider all stakeholders. See the bigger picture and also drill down to smaller details to connect the dots.
Leadership & Management:
- Demonstrate a genuine interest in coaching, inspiring, and developing emerging professionals toward goals. Demonstrate an ability to provide clear guidance and goals, to delegate, and to provide growth opportunities while supporting progress along the way.
- In collaboration with regional managers, support the recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and delivery of high-quality training to AmeriCorps members and volunteers. Support our emerging national network of community engagement staff. Demonstrate a strong ability to manage up to supervisor and across teams.
About you!
You’ll be successful in this role if you:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area education landscape and broader community
- Have 2+ years of progressive experience in customer service, marketing, client management, community organizing or similar field
- Have experience with Canva or other design platform
- Have experience with public-speaking, presentations, or trainings for diverse audiences
- Have database management experience and high level of comfort with MS Office, Google Apps
- Have direct management experience of volunteers, interns and/or emerging professionals
- Have access to reliable transportation to travel within a defined geographic region on a daily basis (when needed)
- Have reliable internet access, to be able to work from home (when needed)
- Have flexibility and adaptability in work style and work schedule, including some night and weekend time
- Hold a Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience
- Can prove eligibility to work in the U.S. legally
- Boast a deep belief in our mission
- Root your work in our core values
- COVID-19 vaccination is required unless a medical or religious accommodation is requested and approved. Please review our Vaccination Policy.
Bonus Points if you:
- Have experience working in the launch phase of projects or programs
- Are an AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or other national service alum/alumna