ABOUT JUMPSTART

Jumpstart envisions the day when every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. A national early education organization with operations in 14 states plus Washington, DC, Jumpstart drives outcomes for young children in three critical ways. Jumpstart provides language, literacy, and social-emotional direct service programming utilizing an evidence-backed curriculum for preschool children from underserved communities, workforce programming to expand the pipeline of qualified, diverse talent pursuing careers in early education, and policy advocacy to support the early childhood field and promote high-quality early learning for all. By leveraging nearly 30 years of experience serving over 157,900 children with the support of more than 62,500 college students, community volunteers, and alumni who are credentialed ECE teachers, Jumpstart executes these three objectives to improve the quality of the early education workforce and increase opportunity for young children to succeed across America. Learn more at www.jstart.org and join us in transforming the lives of young children!

POSITION OVERVIEW

The California State Director (CSD) is responsible for the development and execution of Jumpstarts statebased strategy in California. As part of its strategic plan, Jumpstart has selected three states in which it will play a catalytic role in enhancing the conditions for early educators and increasing the percentage of students entering kindergarten prepared to succeed. California and Massachusetts will lead the way as the first two selected states, followed by Georgia, and the CSD will coordinate the intentional integration of Jumpstarts direct service, workforce, and policy advocacy activities in the state. When these strands of work are integrated and reinforced, Jumpstart will maximize its impact, providing transformative and equitable programming and meaningful systemic change.

A fundamental responsibility of the CSD is to develop and leverage strong relationships with internal departmental staff and external stakeholders such as government officials, higher education partners, public and private funding partners, and local community organizations to facilitate learning, connection, and partnership to inform a broader, integrated state strategy.

The CSD will report to the Vice President of Policy & Government Relations and supervise the California Policy Manager. If you are excited to lead educational equity and transformative change across California as part of an integrated national network, then this may be the opportunity for you!

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy Development

• By leveraging Jumpstarts functional organizational structure and highly-matrixed nature of our work, lead a cross-departmental working group linking together Jumpstarts development, program operations, education and research, alumni, policy, and research and evaluation staff focused on California in order to seize opportunities and achieve impact for young children and educators across the state.

• Employing a grassroots engagement and social justice lens, deepen understanding of community priorities and opportunities to drive impact towards Jumpstarts vision.
• In collaboration with internal and external stakeholders with various roles, perspectives, and understanding of early childhood education impact for children and the workforce, build a three-year state plan that aligns with Jumpstarts national strategy and leverages all of Jumpstarts competencies and constituencies in California.

External Relationship Building & Collaboration

• Cultivate trusting relationships and high-impact partnerships with elected and appointed officials, school districts, early education and care providers, funders, advocacy organizations, influencers, and existing coalitions and initiatives to execute the plan across the early childhood education, higher education, and policy landscape.
• In partnership with the Director of Civic Engagement & Advocacy and development and alumni staff, engage the local Jumpstart community, including Jumpstarts donors and alumni across the state, to create an energized advocacy base to contribute to and support Jumpstarts policy agenda.
• Serve as a public-facing representative for Jumpstart in California, including engagement with the media, and expand Jumpstarts profile among other statewide organizations in the education and early education policy arenas.
• Collaborate with the national development team on local fundraising strategy and efforts, including helping to support relationships with funders focused on California and engaging Jumpstarts national and local board members to connect to and support the state strategy.

Internal Communication, Collaboration, and Management

• Collaborate with the program operations team to align strategy and execution regarding growth and expansion of programming.
• Develop strong communication structures and systems for collaboration resulting in an effective community with open, ongoing, and two-way communication among national staff/teams and with external stakeholders.
• Work as a team player in an integrated policy and government relations department, adjusting as needed to support other team member projects and expecting them to do the same for you in key moments.
• While practicing inclusive leadership, provide supervision, management, guidance, and support to the California Policy Manager.