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Tree Trust

Career Pathways Director

Tree Trust, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, 55130


Job Purpose: To transform lives and landscapes by engaging people to build skills for meaningful careers.

Job Summary: The Director of Career Pathways believes in the potential of all young people and desires to help them succeed. This role directs the execution of Tree Trust's Career Pathways programs aligned with Tree Trust's mission, vision, and core values. Our programs offer youth and young adults with barriers to employment the opportunity to build sustainable and meaningful careers by equipping them with training and hands-on experience in the green and skilled-trades industries. The successful candidate will lead the following:

Summer Youth Employment Program - Tree Trust has worked with youth since 1977! This program provides many youth ages 14 - 21 with their first job experience through the completion of community-based projects.Branches - Tree Trust Branches program offers 10 weeks of paid training for young people aged 18-28 to develop transferable professional skills through hands-on landscaping and tree care training.Tree Trust Youth Build - A pre-apprenticeship program, Tree Trust Youth Build offers 16 - 21-year-olds the unique opportunity to learn construction and tree care skills, earn a paycheck, all while working towards achieving their high school diploma.Employment Success - A team of Employment Success Coaches provides social support services, employment readiness training, and other support services to current and past participants, focusing on moving them into employment and/or post-secondary education.This position is a key leadership role within the Tree Trust and serves as a member of our Leadership Team.

Essential Functions:

Leadership of Career Pathways Programs

Deliver programs that each have an effective team structure and documented project scope that include timelines, meetings, post-program reviews, continuous improvement goals and key success factors.Build and sustain collaborative and communicative relationships with all team members and stakeholders, including government and foundation funders, as well as nonprofit and employment partners.Understand and deliver funder requirements, including planning, promotion, evaluation, budget, and use of data, to achieve continuous improvement and ensure accurate reporting.Manage the performance of and lead professional development for a team of up to 20 direct and indirect employees dependent upon the season.Lead and direct our Community Outreach team to ensure recruiting strategies, events, and school outreach are aligned with our program goals and specific recruitment needs based on funding sources.Be a thought leader and active community member within the workforce development community in the Twin Cities.Training Program Design & Development

Direct the research and assessment of the workforce needs of green and skilled-trades industry to ensure participant training is current and relevant.Continuously evaluate and revise curriculum for skills training and employment readiness to ensure we meet organizational and funder-required key performance indicators.Develop and sustain partnerships with employer partners, credentialing partners, and other stakeholders to support us in building participant knowledge, skills, and abilities, so they can achieve family-supporting careers.Employment Success:

Position Tree Trust as a key source for entry-level talent to green industry and skilled trade employers through leadership of our Graduate Placement team.Place our graduates in family supporting employment or ongoing education after completing their Tree Trust program.Provide regular review and reporting cadence for all participant certifications, credentials, job placements, wages, and post-secondary placements.Provide leadership to our team of Employment Success Coaches providing employment readiness training and assessments, support services, case management and job search and placement support for Tree Trust Career Pathways participants.Program Operations

Collaborate with Development to understand program funding and compliance requirements and ensure Tree Trust Career Pathways program operations are compliant.Ensure accurate and timely program and participant data entry in Salesforce and external CRMs, databases, and other systems. This includes entering timely participant success stories to share with employer partners and funders.Monitor program activities against performance benchmarks and funding obligations regularly and recommend adjustments when needed.Develop a program evaluation framework with community partners and staff to assess participant learning strategies and quantify program strengths and opportunities for improvement.Collaborate with Human Resources to hire, train and develop Career Pathways program full-time and seasonal staff to meet program expectations.Collaborate with Finance to ensure oversight of the Career Pathways budget.Guide Program Managers with budget responsibilities to ensure funds are utilized and expenditures are approved appropriately.Collaborate with Marcoms to highlight programmatic successes and recruit participants.Participant Service Requirements

Mentor BIPOC participants and participants with all types of employment barriers, including participants with varied abilities including Autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, trauma, experience with the criminal justice system and substance abuse issues, and from underserved areas or living with low income.Model a strong work ethic, positive attitude, and commitment to quality.Provide deliberate and effective feedback to participants to foster continuous development within an employment training setting.Set appropriate boundaries with participants, staying focused on program mission and goals.Respond to challenging situations with composure and good judgement, modeling professional employment behaviors.Qualifications/Skills Required

Ability and willingness to demonstrate Tree Trust's core values of Professional, Integrity, Commitment, Resilient, and Stewardship.Bachelor's degree in education, business, human resources with a learning and development focus, nonprofit management, operations management, or project management, or equivalent experience.At least 7 years of demonstrated growth mindset through increasing program management responsibility with a focus on employment training or education of youth and young adults, preferably with individuals facing economic stability barriers.Experience leading multiple programs in a nonprofit environment is strongly preferred.Experience leading a team to reach their full potential, creating a high-performing, cohesive environment that achieves program, individual and organizational goals.Experience with the Twin Cities workforce development community, including schools, businesses, local governments, community-based organizations, and organizational funders.Strong operational experience in creating systems, processes, program plans, and managing and analyzing data.A proven track record of delivering quality employment training programs involving program planning, budgeting, operations, and execution.Experience with and a solid understanding of grant management, compliance, and reporting.Ability to understand and harness institutional knowledge and combine that with innovative ideas to continue to develop the Career Pathways programs.Proficient with Microsoft Office applications and Customer Service Management (CRM) Systems such as Salesforce, Workforce One (WF1), or similar. (Salesforce highly preferred)Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.Ability to pass a background and motor vehicle check.

Work Environment: Indoor office environment; Frequent visits to outdoor and indoor participant worksites.

Physical demands: Lifting and carrying up to 25 lbs. Reach with hands and arms. Standing or sitting for long periods of time. Significant screen viewing and keyboarding/typing time, repetitive movement of hands and fingers. Constantly required to communicate with the ability to talk and hear.

Tree Trust actively seeks to build a staff that reflects the diversity of the population and community it serves, and that's why we strongly encourage people of color to apply.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

If you are unable to submit your resume due to a disability, contact hr@treetrust.org to request an accommodation, or alternate application process.