With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and opportunities in more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the United States and one of the largest employers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. As an employer, the City of Philadelphia operates through the guiding principles of service, integrity, respect, accountability, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. Through these principles, we strive to effectively deliver services, to resolve the challenges facing our city, and to make Philadelphia a place where all of our residents have the opportunity to reach their potential. 

Agency Description

The Mayor’s Office of Education (MOE) provides leadership to improve education in the City of Philadelphia.  To achieve this mission, MOE creates policies and programs to expand access to quality pre-K for Philadelphia families; support students and residents through Community Schools; facilitate collaboration and partnership among many stakeholders to strengthen the local education landscape; and advance key educational policy.  MOE works with public and private partners to support local schools and make educational opportunities more accessible for all.

The Community Schools Director (CSD) manages the Mayor’s Community Schools Initiative and is a strategic thought partner responsible for executing the coordination and alignment of resources within 12 Community Schools to achieve the shared goals of both the City and School District of Philadelphia.  

The core functions for this position are to manage planning, implementation, and communication across multiple partners and multiple strategies. More specifically, the Director focuses on deepening partners’ engagement and trust in the collaboration.  The CSD must ensure that stakeholders understand and follow through on their individual commitments to further shared goals. In addition, the Director will lead or assist with fundraising, data collection/analysis, program design, sustainability planning and other critical elements that energize this work. 

The CSD is expected to carry out all his or her work in partnership with others and under the vision and direction of the Chief Education Officer and reporting to the Deputy Chief Education Officer.  The CSD must also work effectively and in collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia. The role of the Director is complex and requires a dynamic person who can effectively navigate and interconnect multiple systems to achieve success for children and families.   

Essential Functions: 

Project Management

• Oversee and implement data-driven interventions in community schools related to key priority areas.
• Provide project support and management to all individuals working to support the community school effort.
• Manage development of community school strategy, work plans, and milestones, and ensure and track the progress of achieving results and provide status reports to partners.
• Oversee administration of grant funds that includes making recommendations, drafting the scope of work and contracts for sub-grantees.
• Oversee and monitor the day-to-day operations and fiscal management to ensure contract requirements and serve as the point person in driving excellence in fiscal management and compliance processes.

Leadership and Communication

• Oversee and manage the budget supporting coordination of fiscal management processes, program oversight, and contract compliance monitoring.
• Manage a team of 20+
• Serve as strategic and implementation partner with the School District of Philadelphia, City Departments (e.g. Department of Human Services, Parks & Recreation, Office of Workforce Development) as well as city-wide initiatives (e.g. Read by 4th Campaign, the Citywide OST Initiative) and various organizations (e.g. United Way, etc.)
• Ability to manage and facilitate the coordination of executive and steering committee, work groups, and community engagement activities.
• Experience in building consensus among diverse stakeholders working toward a common goal and the ability to motivate stakeholder action.
• Navigates different sectors and professional environments, as well as engage with various levels of leadership, from neighborhood activists to corporate CEOs.
• Leads from the middle and motivates senior leadership to deliver on commitments.
• Humble and understands boundaries—knows when to nudge partners and when stop pushing.
• Comfortable working in an environment of uncertainty.
• Communicates effectively and can distill complex ideas into simple messages.

Capacity-Building and Strategic Partnerships

• Lead planning and implementation of strategic partnerships projects.
• Develop and submit annual reports for internal and public audiences.
• Coordinate efforts with local and national evaluators and data partners.
• Other relevant duties as assigned.

• Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Policy or Education is preferred and at least five years of experience are performing budgetary, administrative and operational support work for schools.
• Strong ability to work effectively and in collaboration with school leaders.
• Superior data management and analytics skills; intense attention to detail.
• Ability to manage up as well as work across and with several other departmental teams.
• Knowledge of grantmaking and philanthropy a plus.
• Skills in facilitation and experience in conflict resolution.
• Strong delegation skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Must have experience with Government Contracts.
• Able to develop and maintain relationships with multiple internal and external parties.
• Proactive and able to work strategically to meet short- and long-term goals.
• Highly motivated, self-directed team player and experienced team leader.
• Strong people management skills, interest in mentoring and cultivating leadership skills in junior staff.

Successful candidates must have a demonstrated ability to coalesce diverse groups of stakeholders. A track record of persistently achieving intended organizational, community, and personal outcomes is paramount

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in each team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Organizational Agility: Knowledgeable about how the City government works; knows how to get things down both formally and through informal networks.
• Planning: Accurately scopes out the length and difficulty of tasks and projects; sets objectives and goals; measures performance against goals; evaluates results.
• Process Management: Good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done; knows how to organize people and activities; can see opportunities for synergy and integration where others cannot.
• Managing through Systems: Can design practices, processes, and procedures which allow managing from a distance; is comfortable letting things manage themselves without intervening; can make things work through others without being there.

Successful candidate must be a City resident within six months of hire

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age,disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to pchr@ phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website at: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations