The Opportunity
The candidate must live in Georgia and have experience as a Program Manager in the nonprofit space. The individual should be an experienced talented professional who provides technical and programmatic support to and coordination of Reach Out and Read programs in Georgia. The Program Manager will work closely with the Executive Director and all team members to sustain, expand, and enhance the quality of Reach Out and Read programs. The Program Manager will raise awareness in local communities among strategic partners and help to ensure that children across the state arrive at kindergarten prepared to succeed in school. The position provides a unique opportunity to take a nationally proven program to scale in Georgia, while simultaneously providing creative and collaborative leadership to an organization that partners with both the health care systems and early learning efforts. The Program Manager is responsible for selecting and ordering children’s books for program sites working with publishing vendors, providing multi-site program support and quality assurance to enhance the capabilities of our existing programs in Georgia. Additionally, the Program Manager will cultivate relationships with prospective new medical providers and strategic community partners to expand our reach and deepen engagement. The Program Manager will periodically lead events and deliver trainings to strengthen our partnership outreach efforts with volunteers, Site Coordinators, medical providers, and community organizations. The Program Manager is a visible leader for Reach Out and Read, a valued strategic partner for the Executive Director, and for the organization nationally by actively helping to cultivate and maintain public, private, and strategic partnerships and submit community level grants.
Key Responsibilities:
Quality Assurance and Training:
- Provide regular and on-going technical assistance and support to assigned program sites and to develop relationships with clinical and administrative staff in order to assess quality, deliver support and identify additional needs.
- Assess programs’ adherence to the Reach Out and Read program model and assign quality ratings.
- Support programs’ implementation of program quality improvement processes, monitor progress, and reassess, in partnership with the programs.
- Conduct site visits to programs in assigned region with a frequency appropriate for sites’ identified needs and quality rating.
- Cultivate Reach Out and Read champions and advocates from among each clinic’s medical providers and staff both internally at sites and externally as an additional resource to draw upon.
- Support program leaders to identify and overcome barriers that negatively impact their program’s quality and sustainability.
- Assess book inventory at sites and collaborate with team members and publishing partners to create orders aligned to funding and program deliverables.
- Ensure all programs have training processes in place for their providers, so that existing and new providers are able to provide a high quality program.
- Offer all providers ongoing professional development opportunities, and continually assess opportunities for professional development services that programs would find helpful.
- Guide new programs through the process of applying, training providers, and implementing Reach Out and Read.
- Strong presentation skills in person and virtually.
- Comfortable with presenting to physicians, residents, community partners.
- Convene Reach Out and Read Site Coordinators and Medical Consultants at least annually to discuss best practices, support and enhance programs, and facilitate dissemination of relevant information (by teleconference, workshop and/or meeting/Summit).
- Oversee training of new Programs, their medical providers and support staff within 60 days after join date. Ensure existing Programs’ have access to retraining opportunities as necessary.
- Identify, enlist, and support a group of 2-4 regional medical champions, to assure consistent training and retraining of Reach Out and Read Program Providers and Coordinators.
- Periodically collect and analyze information about Programs in order to assess their training and technical assistance needs.
- Assist in implementing, updating, and creating quality assurance or improvement tools.
- Host quarterly webinars on topics supporting special initiatives or needs of sites.
- Be proficient working in a virtual environment.
- Ability to establish relationships quickly to build trust with providers.
- Ability to conduct spontaneous pop in visits at sites and gain audience with providers.
- Host special events at sites in partnership with strategic and funding partners.
Program Development:
- Assure programs’ completion of twice-yearly progress report.
- Review progress report data for assigned programs and use it to inform technical assistance plans and quality ratings for each program.
- Continually track and document quantitative and qualitative program data using established tools and databases.
- Provide data summaries for assigned region to support funding applications, partnership development and advocacy activities, as requested.
- Develop and implement efforts to recruit new Programs serving additional children each year.
- Provide technical assistance and support to prospective Programs in the application and start-up processes.
Customer Service:
- Serve as a dependable, reliable contact for all Programs in the metro Atlanta region to ensure that 100% of inquiries are responded to within no more than 2 business days.
- Provide on-going technical assistance and support to ROR Programs, by phone, e-mail, and via site visits.
- Coordinate the distribution of book funds and/or books to Programs.
Partnership Development:
- Assist Executive Director in implementing local, regional and statewide partnerships to help Reach Out and Read and its Programs become integrated within existing statewide early learning and family support systems.
- Provide information and support to Programs about partnership opportunities that help sustain and enhance their programs long term.
- Assist Executive Director with fund development in connection with Programs (e.g., arrange Site Visits for prospective that are needed for program exposure to support regional fundraising).
- Assist in stewarding Georgia Advisory Board members as needed and requested.
- Engage providers as prospective donors to help sustain their annual book budget (appeals, Virtual Book Drives, Barnes and Noble Holiday Book Drive, other)
- Share expertise on National led Program Series calls as requested by Executive Director.
- Ability to articulate organizational values of diversity, equity, and inclusivity internally and externally and weave into all activities ensuring all voices are lifted, acknowledged and heard.
- Ability to articulate the Reach Out and Read model, framework and lens of foundational relationships including core program, Beginning at Birth, Mirrors and Windows, Early Relational Health and other special initiatives.
Other:
- Must live in Georgia.
- Regular travel, approximately 35% time throughout Georgia, plus availability to attend several statewide conferences, and one national meeting per year is required.
Qualifications and Experience
There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. We are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate the majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below:
The ideal candidate is a passionate and dedicated individual who wants to help lead a growing organization and at a minimum has the following skills and experience:
- At least ten years of program/project management and training experience in the nonprofit sector.
- Exceptional interpersonal communication abilities, including writing and editing skills, verbal skills, and strong presentation skills.
- Comfortable with presenting to physicians, residents, community partners.
- Excellent customer service skills with a strong desire to solve problems and work with doctors, nurses and medical practices.
- Positive, self-motivated, independent worker who functions effectively in both “virtual” and in person professional and medical environments, while being an enthusiastic, collaborative team member.
- Enthusiastic, self-motivated, independent worker while also being a collaborative team member.
- Demonstrated success cultivating and sustaining partnerships and relationships among organizations.
- Experience working with diverse populations and low-income communities.
- Ability to work in fast-paced environments.
- Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Classy, Zoom, and Salesforce.
- Ability to conduct spontaneous pop in visits at sites and gain audience with providers.
Additional qualifications (not required)
- Fluency in Spanish (speaking and writing)
- Experience with medical practice change efforts and quality improvement processes
- Education and/or experience within the fields of business, health care, early education, literacy, parenting support or related fields.
About Reach Out and Read
Founded in 1989, Reach Out and Read gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together. Reach Out and Read’s tens of thousands of trained pediatric providers use books as a diagnostic tool during regular check-ups and teach parents how to engage their child with a book to promote positive parent-child interactions during the rapid brain growth between birth and age five, particularly in economically disadvantaged families who are at risk for adverse outcomes. The daily practice of reading aloud with a parent supports children’s literacy and math skill development, their social-emotional development, and prepares them for future success in school. Through its national network of providers, Reach Out and Read is helping to set 4.7 million children a year on a path to a bright future, from birth.
Reach Out and Read is the only national early literacy intervention delivered through pediatric care providers. The program has been the subject of 23 independent studies, the largest body of scientific research for any psychosocial intervention in pediatrics. Research shows that children served by Reach Out and Read are read to more often, enjoy sharing books more, and have better expressive and receptive language skills.
The Impact
- Reach Out and Read program sites are located in more than 6,000 hospitals and health centers in all 50 states, Washington, D. C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Reach Out and Read serves more than 4.7 million children and their families annually.
- More than 7.2 million new, developmentally appropriate books are prescribed to children each year.
- More than 32,000 medical providers currently participate in Reach Out and Read
- 23 independent studies demonstrate that Reach Out and Read parents are two-and-a-half times more likely to read regularly to their children and, as a result, children’s language development is enhanced.
To learn more about Reach Out and Read, visit www.reachoutandread.org/georgia
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER------------------------------
Reach Out and Read is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, cultural heritage, ancestry, political belief, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability or veteran status. Reach Out and Read is compliant with the American with Disabilities Act and we are committed to making special accommodations for your interview or work as a member of our team. If specific accommodations are needed, please notify hr @reachoutandread.org and we will work to accommodate your needs.
