Program Specialist
High Aspirations, Inc. Position Description
Program Specialist (full-time)
About High Aspirations, Inc
Founded in 2003, High Aspirations, Inc, (HA) serves the social, emotional, academic, and spiritual needs of African American males ages 8 to 18. High Aspirations stresses respect for self and others, family and community responsibility, academics and places these young men on a path toward becoming productive members of society, loving husbands, and dutiful fathers. Our mentors set the example and guide our young men on their life journey.
HA’s core programming consists of 2-hour sessions held four Saturdays of each month. Sessions alternate between chess and strategy, leadership development, entrepreneurship, financial education, college readiness, and community service. Since its founding, HA has earned agency certification from United Way, Greater Kansas City Foundation, and Combat (Community Backed Anti-Crime Tax). Its corporate and community partners include JE Dunn, H&R Block Foundation, AB May, and the University of Kansas.
HA has big ambitions for the near future:
- Grow the program four-fold to serve up to 280 young men, with the support of 40 mentors, 40 active volunteers, and additional staff.
- Develop and deploy HA’s mentoring mobile app to better facilitate mentor-mentee relationships, provide access to the program’s tools, and use of HA resources to better serve the HA community.
- Implement a comprehensive marketing program to raise the program’s profile locally across various media channels.
Job Description Summary
HA is seeking a dynamic and motivated Program Specialist to manage the day-to-day operations of its mentoring program. The Program Specialist must be organized and have strong written and verbal skills to prepare formal documents and presentations for HA participants and leadership. Managing HA’s day-to-day program will involve planning and coordinating weekly mentoring sessions on Saturdays, drafting high-quality session activities, following up with program participants in order to maintain maximum engagement in HA, and continuously seeking ways to improve and grow the program. The Program Specialist will work with a variety of other HA stakeholders, including Mentees, Mentors, Parents/Guardians, community partners, and select HA Board of Director committees.
A Program Specialist must be ambitious, confident, self-driven and be able to quickly learn new skills, processes, and juggle multiple responsibilities at once. The Program Specialist must also be able to adapt in a fast-paced and high-growth environment and work collaboratively with other HA staff members, own tasks and projects and drive them to completion with the highest quality and discipline. A successful Program Specialist must be forward-thinking, versatile, curious, and always seek ways to advance HA’s operations and programming in a way that will further and enrichen the overall program and establish a culture of continuous improvement. The Program Specialist will have high visibility and interactions with HA leadership by working directly with the Program Director.
Core Skills
Skills that a successful Program Specialist will have include, but are not limited to the following:
- Leadership – Lead tasks in teams and maintain full accountability of projects that are central to HA’s operations.
- Critical Thinking – Use advanced logic and reasoning to craft solutions to problems and challenges.
- Communication – Enhance written and verbal communications in business formal and informal settings.
- Technical Skills – Use proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to create program-ready documents.
- Analysis – Leverage data, analytics, and business intelligence tools to improve HA’s operational processes.
- Partner – Partner with agency’s that fit with the HA design.
- Resource Management – Manage tools and resources at HA’s Mentoring Center and maintain pristine premises.
- Leadership Support – Support leadership with creation of drafts and reports, as needed.
Responsibilities
- Manage each HA Mentees’ document portfolio, including application, grade card, Mentor contact form, Pre/Post-test, grade card (obtained twice a year), and “5 Step Action Plan” of Mentees’ annual goals.
- Schedule one-on-one appointments with Mentees and their Parent(s)/Guardian(s) to complete a 5 Step Action Plan outside of an HA session, as needed.
- Enter and efficiently track data for all HA program Mentees’, including attendance, academic performance, individual goals, program levels, and chess ratings.
- Develop and implement innovative programs for weekly mentoring sessions.
- Lead projects and initiatives to grow HA’s program, and document and share progress and status.
- Coordinate logistics support for sessions, meetings, events, seminars, and field trips.
- Draft and deliver weekly communication about HA’s programs and logistics via email, text, or recorded messages to program’s stakeholders.
- Work with HA Concerned Mothers group to arrange meal service during weekly Saturday sessions.
- Manage and update weekly activity calendar on website and on social media pages.
- Mentor and develop junior HA staff.
- Assist HA leadership with tasks as needed or assigned.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree from accredited college or university.
- Professional experience in nonprofit setting, or in youth development.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
- Excellent interpersonal, team building and communication skills (written and verbal).
- Exceptional presentation skills in professional and social settings.
- Passion for working with youth.
- Availability to work at The Mentoring Center (803 E. 27th St., Kansas City, MO 64109) at least 40 hours each week.
- Availability during the week, Saturday’s and possibly Sunday’s as we grow from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Salary Range: $50,000 - 74,999
