Director of College Persistence and College STEPS

Summary

This role focuses on the persistence services provided to our youth. Each year we work with cohorts of young people to help apply and then enroll in college. Our College Success Programs provide intensive college preparation, enrollment and persistence services to support students throughout the transitions from high school to college. 

Our programs help low-income youth access college by having counselors assist them through the college exploration, application and financial aid processes. Counselors further facilitate the necessary matriculation steps from college acceptance to college enrollment ensuring that students successfully start their first day of college. Once students are in college, persistence counselors provide direct case management to our youth in order for them to persist through college. 

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in relevant field preferred
• Significant experience working with adolescents and young adults
• Familiarity with college admissions and student support services
• CUNY experience preferred
• Commitment to the youth development perspective
• Must possess strong teamwork, communication (verbal and written), and organizational skills
• Knowledge of college admissions and financial aid process
• Experience in working with young people from the youth development perspective
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred
• Passionate about ensuring young people's success in college
• Highly computer literate
• Demonstrated ability to engage students on a regular basis with consistent follow up, as necessary 

Duties

• Assume responsibility for all aspects of college persistence program and College STEPS, including direct services for young adults and development of more intentional career pathways for program participants
• Manage all elements of recruitment and hiring of persistence full-time and part-time staff
• Commit to provide scaffolded weekly supervision to a team of full-time persistence counselors to ensure program delivery and promote staff professional development
• Manage all aspects of transfer culture in CSP division and deepen staff competency for transfer advisement; in collaboration with Director of College Success Programs
• Develop and maintain relationships with strategic college campuses for the purpose of advocating for program participants and building base of institutional knowledge
• Coordinate with the Franklin K. Lane Student Success Center and Thomas Jefferson Student Success Center to ensure that students seamlessly transition from college access to college persistence services
• Conduct weekly meetings for persistence teams to review program priorities, clarify expectations and share feedback
• Actively manage persistence data: tracking participant progress, ensuring timely and accurate input, and producing reports for funders and for program evaluation, improvement and sustainability
• Participate in fundraising and advocacy for agency programs
• Represent program to funders; meet all reporting requirements for funding sources
• Monitor expenses and assure budget compliance in consultation with Director of College Success Programs
• Attend all required division and agency meetings
• Other duties as assigned