The Context

Atlanta leads the nation in income inequality and has one of the lowest rates of social mobility in the entire country. In fact, recent research suggests that a child living in poverty in Atlanta has about a four percent chance of moving out of poverty and into a higher income bracket in his or her lifetime.

Despite these odds, Atlanta’s students have dreams for their futures and their families. In 2015, Achieve Atlanta (AATL) was launched by a group of local leaders determined to support these dreams. Coming together initially with the goal of dramatically increasing the number of Atlanta Public School (APS) students who earn a degree. Achieve Atlanta today, inspired by the power of strategic, coordinated action, and using data as the spark for change, has expanded its vision for the future to include eliminating the degree attainment gap in the city, and making Atlanta a place where race and income no longer predict postsecondary success or upward mobility. A new Strategic Plan deepens and augments the organization's programming and support and expands its geographic footprint in the Atlanta Metro area. The Achieve Atlanta team is now growing to lead this exciting next phase of work, and to help us scale organizationally. 

The Work                                                                                                               

In pursuit of its vision, Achieve Atlanta’s mission is to help APS students access, afford, and earn postsecondary credentials. To do this, Achieve Atlanta:

• partners with college advising providers with proven results to serve APS students while they are in high school;
• establishes strategic formal relationships with postsecondary institutions that can successfully serve APS graduates, especially those who are first generation or come from underrepresented populations;
• is progressing along a plan to mobilize broad community support by leveraging data to accelerate collaborations that further college access, persistence, and completion in Atlanta; and
• provides Achieve Atlanta Scholarships to students to reduce financial barriers to college enrollment and completion.

The Results

It’s clear that Achieve Atlanta’s endeavors are yielding significant gains; driving an increase in college enrollment and persistence, creating greater access to financial aid and scholarships, securing meaningful commitments from partners, identifying and removing barriers to college completion, and supporting APS to institutionalize a culture that raises awareness of and encourages the pursuit of postsecondary education, thereby enhancing individual students’ ability to realize their own potential.

The Opportunity

Achieve Atlanta is seeking a service-oriented Program Associate, College Succes to deliver holistic socio-emotional support to a caseload of Achieve Atlanta Scholars and provide resources to help Scholars successfully manage the personal and institutional barriers they face to postsecondary persistence and degree completion. Reporting to the Senior Manager, College Success and serving as a member of the Program team, this key role entails triaging student issues through program channels, building relationships with postsecondary and nonprofit partners and supporting college success programming through administrative and logistical tasks as Scholars persist to complete a postsecondary credential.

Primary Responsibilities

Scholar Outreach and Coaching:

• Provide outreach and case management coaching to potential and current Scholars
• Deliver comprehensive coaching support services to Scholars through degree completion and career exploration
  • Conduct one on one socio-emotional check-ins;
  • Build capacity in Scholars to manage immediate barriers, create and implement strategies to avoid future issues, and serve as a contact for status updates; and
  • Coordinate resources across partnerships to work through issues contributing to academic and other alerts
• Collaborate across the Program team and designated partners to support scholarship retention and student persistence and success, researching and connecting Scholars to existing resources at partners and ensuring seamless service delivery and support
• Maintain accurate tracking data and notes for each assigned Scholar and use of support resources, recommending appropriate referrals and opportunity programs

College Success Programming:

• Assist the College Success and Program teams with developing program content and materials
• Collaborate with postsecondary and nonprofit partners to plan and facilitate events that support Scholar persistence and completion (e.g., campus visits; Campus Ambassador recruitment; Scholar Nights)
• Collaborate with Achieve Atlanta Ambassadors to support peer mentoring

Program Administration:

• Maintain a thorough understanding of scholarship policies and processes to effectively triage student persistence issues and facilitate referrals to appropriate resources and partners
• Log and track all communication with students, partners, and institutions in the Salesforce database, and synthesize and disseminate information to relevant stakeholders, such as scholarship policies
• Provide high-quality customer service and continuously improve processes and the Scholar experience
• Serve as a member of the Scholarship Appeals Committee for making decisions regarding Scholar eligibility
• Collaborate with program partners to help resolve Scholar inquiries and payment status issues
• Manage and escalate issues internally and with external partners as necessary

The Profile

The Program Associate, College Success role will be a positive, energetic, proactive, and service-oriented team player who exhibits professional maturity and brings a strong commitment to Achieve Atlanta’s vision and mission. They will have the utmost integrity and a reputation for doing things the right way. The candidate will be a consummate multi-tasker and have the capacity to master the learning curve quickly to produce results. They will be a self-sufficient professional with strong problem-solving and organizational skills, who demonstrates exceptional attention to detail, and a commitment to follow-up and follow-through.

Education, Experience & Knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• Minimum of one year of working with undergraduates or students in advising, coaching, academic, or career services counseling capacity preferably in a higher education support setting, or at a high school level
• Demonstrated knowledge, skills and/or experience in the development of socio-emotional and executive function skills in undergraduates or students
• Experience using data to track progress and comfort with spreadsheets and data dashboards
• Demonstrated flexibility to change course and integrate feedback to achieve more successful outcomes
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite

Skills & Abilities

Project Management and Execution:

• Demonstrates exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Maintains accuracy and precision in all tasks while efficiently managing and prioritizing multiple responsibilities, acting with a sense of urgency when needed

Customer Focus and Relationship Management:

• Focuses on doing what’s right for Scholars, stakeholders and colleagues
• Demonstrates a natural ability to maintain a customer service mindset and advocate for Scholars

Communication:

• Exhibits excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Demonstrates active listening skills to understand and address Scholars and colleagues' needs and concerns
• Demonstrates an empathic nature, acknowledging and honoring all people's humanity
• Approaches working and learning with humility

Adaptability and Autonomy:

• Demonstrates adaptability and flexibility in various tasks and situations
• Willingness to learn new skills and technologies

Analytical and Problem-Solving:

• Applies problem-solving, analytical, and abstract reasoning skills to overcome challenges
• Displays exceptional attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and reliability in data analysis and reporting

Technical:

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite
• Familiar with Salesforce (preferred)

Organizational Competencies 

• Mission and Values Driven: Understands how job contributes to the greater mission of AATL; operates within the core values; supports and performs responsibilities with Mission and Vision in mind. 

• Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrates awareness of one’s own and others’ emotions, attitudes, biases, belief systems, strengths, and limitations to adjust behavior and thus manage interactions successfully and create a psychologically safe workplace.  

• Strategic Approach: Understands and processes complex information for use in long-term planning and execution. 

• Partnership: Works collaboratively across internal and external boundaries to build relationships and achieve common goals.  

• Growth and Development: Actively seeks to improve skills and knowledge to meet the organization’s vision and commitments, to fulfill current job responsibilities and prepare for future career goals and opportunities.

• Leading: Takes personal accountability for the organization’s success. 

Organizational Culture 

Achieve Atlanta is a value-driven organization, grounded in principles that guide everything we do.

• Unwavering Belief: A steadfast confidence in our students is the inspiration and fuel for everything we do.  Their dreams are the foundation for our work.
• Champion for Students: We back our belief in students by acknowledging historical inequities, breaking down systemic barriers, earning students’ trust, and building their agency to become their own champions.
• Expectation of Excellence: We foster a culture of excellence through consistent effort, tenacity, and integrity, resulting in work we can stand behind. It is the standard we set for ourselves and the example we model for our students and community.
• Intentional Collaboration: We cannot achieve our vision alone. We deliberately work together internally and build strategic partnerships externally to identify and accomplish shared goals in changing environments.
• Continuous Improvement: We are constantly learning, remaining curious, and reflecting on our systems, processes, and outcomes to meet our mission.  We encourage critical analysis of our work to make thoughtful adjustments, innovate, and take risks to create solutions.

Salary and Benefits

• This is a full-time position offering a competitive salary, and comprehensive health, dental, and retirement benefits.
• Anticipated salary range: $52,000 - $65,000

Location 

• Achieve Atlanta currently operates a hybrid model for all staff. Team members work in the office at our downtown Atlanta location for at least two days each week to allow for collaboration and in-person connections. Team members have the flexibility to work the remaining three days from the office, home, or another location. 

Achieve Atlanta is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of qualifications. Achieve Atlanta policy prohibits unlawful discrimination in any employment decision based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, race, religious creed, color, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law or ordinance or regulation.