Job Description

High Desert ESD celebrates all cultures and languages and is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive considerations for employment without regards to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Importantly, we recognize and honor that the qualifications required to excel in this position can come from a range of both professional and lived experiences. Below we describe what we believe to be important qualifications for a candidate to have while remaining open to the diversity of experiences that can lead to these skill sets. Position descriptions are often presented in a way that leaves qualified candidates feeling unwelcome, intimidated, uncomfortable, and/or unqualified to apply. Recognizing that, we strongly encourage anyone who feels passionate about this work and believes they have what it takes to thrive in this role to apply.

Position: Better Together Executive Director 40 hrs/week, M-F, 250 day contract

Location: Better Together/Early Learning Hub Office, Redmond

Start Date: January 2, 2024

Salary Range: $88,000-$105,000 per year

Benefits include robust vacation, insurance and retirement package, including PERS retirement fund

Please see attached job description for more information, qualifications and position responsibilities.

Application Period: Closes at 5pm, Friday December 22, 2023

If you have a disability and need an alternate format in order to complete the employment process, you may call Human Resources at (541) 693-5600. Please leave a message describing the alternate format needed.

BETTER TOGETHER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Job Definition

The Executive Director of Better Together leads a robust collective movement in Central Oregon focused on transforming systems to eliminate gaps in opportunities that negatively impact outcomes for students and to ensure children and youth are thriving from cradle to career. This role will be responsible for overseeing work that aligns stakeholders across sectors and across communities, working with the Better Together Board of Directors, local school districts, local Education Service Districts, higher education, local business, community-based organizations, regional government and community members in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson Counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Better Together prioritizes work that is led by and for the community, elevating and resourcing strategies that are co-designed with the communities that those strategies are meant to support. The Executive Director will be charged with centering the voices and lived experiences of communities that are pushed to the margins in Central Oregon, and will work to align systems to increase the success of young people from these populations and all young people across the region. The Executive Director will use the Collective Impact model and other continuous improvement strategies to meet regional goals, and will work closely with the community, Better Together workgroup members, and the Better Together Board to lead initiatives focused on building equitable, human-centered systems in support of children and youth.

Essential Job Functions: * Lead a Cradle to Career framework using the Collective Impact model and deep community-centered engagement in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

• Represent Better Together and elevate the work of the Central Oregon community in professional spaces in cross-sector spaces at the local, state and national level
• Implement direction from the Better Together Board of Directors and community-led workgroups
• Understand and lead data management related to collective cradle to career outcome measures and demographic information on students, families, and communities throughout the county and state; includes working with data from local school districts, the Oregon Department of Education, the US Census Bureau and other sources.
• Lead in the development and management of budgets and funding, develop and manage grant/funding proposals, navigate and develop relationships with donors, oversee all organization finances
• Oversee the management of internal and external communications, including website, press releases, public speaking; market the work created by the collaborative workgroups
• Oversee the planning and facilitation of meetings and events to engage partner organizations and support collaborative action, while guiding the development and implementation of a data-driven action plan for collaborative workgroups
• Guide, support and supervise a team of dynamic leaders, getting them what they need to thrive and ensuring clear expectations and outcomes
• Relentlessly pursue opportunities at the local, state and national level for partnership, funding and strategy development focused on transforming systems to ensure all students are thriving
• Work to align systems between Early Learning, K-12, higher education and workforce development
• Produce professional written communication for a variety of purposes/audiences including community outreach and promotions and technical data analysis/synthesis
• Work closely with High Desert ESD and nonprofit bookkeeper to manage integrated financial and business operations
• Fulfill other related duties as assigned

Nature of Work:

Better Together Central Oregon is a non-profit housed within the High Desert ESD. The Executive Director leads within this complex context-with and between the guidance of the non-profit board of directors and the High Desert ESD leadership. The work of the Better Together Executive Director is to listen and facilitate collective action on the ideas, concerns and experiences of district leaders, educators, students, families, community partners and stakeholders. The nature of this role requires someone who is highly adaptable and relational across a diverse group of stakeholders.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong collaborative and relationship-centered leadership skills
• Ability to center voices of stakeholders impacted by our systems in the design and implementation of strategies
• Passion for education and commitment to justice and equity for children, youth and families of all cultures, neighborhoods, income levels, demographics, abilities and lived experiences
• Knowledge of national collective impact and systems-change networks, e.g. StriveTogether
• Comfort with the idea of going slow to go fast while maintaining a bias toward action and results
• Ability to identify, support and develop the potential of team members and community members
• Ability to take direction from a number of partners and sources and then act autonomously to get the work done
• A creative self starter that is comfortable with leading through ambiguity and improvisation

Qualifications:

• Experience managing multiple relationships with stakeholders that represent a broad cross-section of the community (from elected officials, school superintendents and CEOs, to teachers, early learning experts, service providers, youth, and families) through a strong ethic of equity, professionalism, and integrity
• Experience leading systems work and thinking from a cross-sector, systems change perspective to shift policies and practices that impact young people
• Experience engaging, partnering, and co-design in communities across race, ethnicity, income, geographic location, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability
• Demonstrated a commitment to equity and strengthening engagement of a diverse community and skill in communicating with a diverse population.
• Experience working within and/or leading in close alignment with private sector priorities and strategies \xc2\xb7 Experience formally reporting to and working with a cross-sector, high level governance board of directors and/or leadership committee
• Experiencing in a leadership position responsible for budget management and oversight
• Mastery of a variety of facilitation skills and techniques to guide groups toward consensus, gather and synthesize data, and achieve results
• Experience managing and supporting a team of strong, independent leaders
• Bachelor\'s degree in Education, Public Administration, Non-Profit Management or a related field. Lived and professional experience as it relates to the position may be substituted for education
• Reliable transportation (and ability to travel great distances) and consistent attendance is required
• Without significant risk of injury, must be able to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and at times lift/move up to 50 lbs.

Classification: Manager/Supervisor

Reports To/Evaluated By: Better Together Board of Directors & HDESD\'s Assistant Superintendent

Job Title : Better Together Executive Director (1.0 FTE, 8 hours/day)

Primary Location : Better Together/EL Hub Office

Salary Range : $88,000.00 - $105,000.00 / Annual

Shift Type : Full Time

High Desert ESD