Director of Center Operations

About the Gary Comer Youth Center

Opening our doors in 2006, Gary Comer Youth Center is the flagship organization of the Comer Education Campus (CEC). Located in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, the campus is anchored by the state-of-the-art Gary Comer Youth Center, Gary Comer College Prep High School and Gary Comer Middle School, we serve over 2,000 young people annually.  The CEC has been recognized as one of the most unique youth-serving organizations in the nation.  Our mission is to prepare young people, aged 11-24, for college, careers and futures as well rounded, global citizens. We operate programming in five focus areas: Academic Success, Culinary Arts & Nutrition, Sports & Leadership, Urban Agriculture, and Youth Employment. 

Position Summary 

A Director at the Gary Comer Youth Center is a significant part of organizational leadership, guiding, curating and developing the processes, culture, and operations to support our mission, vision and values. In collaboration with other organizational leaders, they will lead the organization’s efforts in the design, coordination and execution of building operations for our youth and community at the Gary Comer Youth Center.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Organizational Leadership:
  • Maintains organizational processes and documentation to ensure compliance, sustainability, and resiliency
  • Seek out partnerships and relationships that will create deeper, more relevant, and more impactful experiences for members
  • Responsible for overseeing the growth of partnerships, community outreach and center operations as it relates to our mission, vision and values
  • Represent GCYC at external events and opportunities, including fundraising, partnership opportunities, conferences, and other engagements

• Culture/Values:
  • Embrace/demonstrate the values of the Comer Education Campus: 
    • Youth Power
    • Innovation
    • Wellbeing
    • Community Commitment
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • Joy
  • Leads major organizational initiatives and ensures all initiatives align with GCYC’s mission and workplace culture.
  • Develop and implement strategies to create and maintain a productive and engaging work environment where employees feel safe, comfortable, engaged, and capable to be successful.
  • Believes in continual improvement and has high expectations of themselves and their colleagues
  • Implement methods to obtain employee and stakeholder feedback (e.g., surveys and interviews) and use this information to improve CEC’s culture and environment.
  • Develop and implement ways to support employee collaboration, celebration, and team building.
• Supervisory
  • Directly oversees Safety & Security, Database & Compliance, and IT departments, while working closely with Programs, Events, and Facilities
  • Responsible for the supervision and leadership of department staff (includes trainings, achievement of goals, adherence to policies and procedures, creating work schedules & time clock approvals and performance evaluations).
  • Train, develop, engage, and retain staff members.
  • Review and evaluate staff performance. Develops strategies to motivate staff and achieve goals, foster staff engagement and development.
  • Utilize GCYC tools and standards in completing and administering performance evaluations and individual development plans.
  • Plan and organize staff meetings to ensure consistent communications, directions and accountability.
  • Provide oversight for bi-weekly payroll hours for accuracy and approval.  Ensure staff members are following timekeeping guidelines.
  • Intentionally and continuously strives to promote a culture that values and strengthens diversity and inclusion.
• Building Operations:
  • Oversees the implementation and customer experience of space usage for GCYC community, including collaboration between departments and program areas, with campus partners, and external users
  • Responsible for maintaining a calendar of program and partner offerings that is balanced, with an appropriate capacity, hours, partners and staff to meet the needs of our population of members and grant and mission deliverables
  • Ensure that operations are equitable for all members and community – considering all age groups, genders, races, abilities and sexual orientations feel welcomed, supported, represented, and have access to all programs and services
  • Keep abreast of current best practices, research, and trends in related fields
  • Responsible for organizing and carrying out periodic internal evaluation of  operations, procedures, and processes, to ensure the overall execution of organizational excellence
  • Responsible for managing and executing deliverables and compliance for related grants, including budget management, data management, and periodic reporting
  • Ensures the timely and accurate entry of data into internal data systems (e.g. Salesforce, Share Point, Financial Edge, Micromain), as well as assigned external systems (e.g. CitySpan) for grant compliance
  • Responsible for special projects assigned by Executive Director

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree is preferred.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of demonstrated growth mindset through increasing responsibility in management. A significant portion of this should be in roles working in community serving organizations focused on youth and young adults, especially with individuals facing barriers to economic stability.
• Experience leading multiple projects in a nonprofit environment strongly preferred.
• Strong operational experience in and an affinity for the detail-oriented tasks of creating systems, processes, agendas, and managing and analyzing data.
• A proven commitment to delivering quality service through documented work experience in project management, budgeting, operations, and execution.
• Experience with grant management, compliance, and reporting.

Core Competencies:  

• Strong project management and organizational skills.  Must be able to initiate and finish projects.
• Excellent coaching skills to assist executives and managers. 
• Able to communicate effectively with youth, co-workers, stakeholders and families in a respectful and culturally competent manner via written and verbal communication. 
• Must enjoy working with teams but can also work independently. 
• Enjoys being the leader but is also confident enough to take direction from others. 
• Must be able to take initiative and problem solve.  Must be a creative thinker. 
• Demonstrates attention to detail in all areas of work and possesses adaptive vitality. 
• Demonstrates an understanding of guidance and discipline principles & conflict resolution strategies. 
• Must have basic computer literacy skills – including Microsoft Office, independent use of the internet and ability to learn and properly utilize software systems.  
• Abides by the employee handbook and established GCYC policies and procedures. 

Physical Work Requirements & Environment:  

The GCYC environment is consistently bustling with youth and community members.  The Center’s work is fast paced and varied.  Our work is done on site where our youth and families are.   Therefore, it is required that team members meet the following requirements: 

• Have the ability to lift up to 25 pounds. 
• Able to complete administrative work in a shared office space within a youth center.