Executive Director
Job Announcement
December 2019

Apply by: December 30^th, 2019 by 5pm
Submit to: Rusia Mohiuddin, Principal of Universal Partnership, rusia@universalpartnership.org

Connecticut Students for a Dream (C4D) is a statewide, youth-led network fighting for the rights of undocumented youth and their families. We are a fiscally sponsored project of United We Dream, a multi-ethnic immigrant youth-led organization committed to achieving dignity and humanity for all immigrants and people of color in the U.S by empowering, organizing, and developing our members’ leadership. We are building a sustainable grassroots movement by organizing and advocating at the local, regional, and national levels from a racial justice and intersectional analysis while also providing transformative leadership development, tools and resources to support our leaders.

Whether we’re organizing in the streets, clearing pathways to education and fighting for education equity, stopping deportations, running advocacy campaigns to win legislation, or creating alliances across social movements, C4D puts undocumented immigrant youth in the driver’s seat. C4D is a fast paced, dynamic organization which has become a leading voice in social change in Connecticut.

We are driven by the priorities and needs of our members and community, have trained hundreds of individuals, and have worked with and supported countless local youth organizing groups and campaigns. Our grassroots-driven approach has a proven record of accomplishment and we’re looking for talented folks to join our team!

 Position Summary

 C4D is seeking a dedicated, passionate, and hardworking Executive Director who is committed to building power with and for young people of color while centering experiences of undocumented youth. Reporting to the C4D Board of Directors, the Executive Director will bring overall strategic and operational capacity to support C4D’s staff, programs, partnerships, and execution of its mission. The ideal candidate must possess strong leadership qualities, good planning and organizational skills, and outstanding communication skills as they will be responsible for three primary areas of work: Organizational development and fundraising, management and supervision, and board coordination.

Responsibilities:

Development of C4D’s mission and vision:

• Provide assessment and analysis of external political conditions, opportunities and threats towards the articulation of clear and concise vision and purpose;
• Drive forward vision and mission in collaboration with C4D’s leadership and ensure that agreed upon organizational goals and priorities are met;
• Provide visionary leadership and work with C4D’s leadership to build consensus towards collective action and achieving movement building objectives and broad political priorities.

Leadership & Management

• Provide guidance and oversight in hiring, review and (where necessary termination) of staff to carry out central functions of the organization and offer support to primary responsibilities of the ED.
• Oversee development of appropriate staff structure and methods of internal communication and coordination (e.g. setting staff meetings, 1-on-1 meetings, staff retreat and orientation sessions), and accountability systems (e.g. performance review);
• Staff Development and Training – Oversight of means by which staff develop appropriate skills and expertise to effectively run the organization and engage in external responsibilities;
• Supervise key managing staff, and consultants.

 Development & Fundraising

• Overall fundraising strategy development of the organization in conjunction with leadership and staff
• Oversee Foundation relationship building including:
  • Foundation prospect development
  • Relations with foundation program officers
  • Supervision of grant proposal and report writing,
• Cultivation and stewardship of foundations and individual donor relations,
• Identification of event planning opportunities, and
• New resource identification outside of individual donor and foundation.

Board of Directors Coordination

• Develop methods of communication and coordination with Board of Directors, including: routine Directors’ calls; sector or issue specific strategy sessions; and overall organization planning and strategy retreats;
• Ensure availability of appropriate staff to advise and support the board as a whole, its committees and individual members to assure appropriate, efficient and on-time completion of board-led projects;
• Coordinate information & reporting to directors of other C4D leadership bodies;
• Execute decisions made by the Board of Directors.

Alliance & Movement-Building

• Promote C4D’s visibility and reputation through alliance-building, media and general relationship building;
• Develop and maintain relationships with movement partners and allies to advance C4D’s vision and ensure C4D’s voice contributes to cross movement building strategy;
• Operate from a perspective that deeply understands the local, state, and national political landscape and being able to envision the opportunities for strategic engagement for C4D members;
• Establish & maintain key relationships with local organizations, movement building partners and alliances leading work on the ground; and
• Internally and externally across multi-sector issues central to the networks primary purpose and function, as a public spokesperson

Fiscal Oversight

• Oversee creation, implementation, and management of the organization’s annual budget utilizing prudent fiscal practices;
• Ensure that the Board of Directors has the information necessary to fulfill its fiduciary responsibility by providing regular financial reports and any additional information required,
• Supervision of organizational personnel (staff and consultants) engaged in organizational financial activities

Qualifications include:

• Mission-committed: We encourage input from our diverse staff and members when making strategic decisions. Once a decision is made, you are willing to stand behind it even if it’s different from what you would have suggested.
• 100% follow-through: No dropped balls policy! Stay on top of all specific tasks/follow-up items and general areas of work; consistently meet deadlines.
• Positive attitude and flexibility: Approach work with a spirit of “yes”; strike a positive tone; push work forward through obstacles and adapt quickly as things change (which they inevitably will!).
• Internal Accountability: As an integral member of the team, respond to staff member requests in an efficient manner to assure and support their effectiveness.
• Solutions-oriented:  Strong ability to proactively develop effective solutions to challenges and collaboratively work with staff to ensure those solutions are implemented.
• Responsiveness: You stay on top of communicating with members and partners, prioritizing inquiries and responding in a timely manner.
• Attention to detail: Ensure all external communication is polished – meaning accurate (right content, no misspellings, grammatical errors, etc.) and precise (reflects nuances, captures subtleties, etc.) and “fits” the situation (should have our “look and feel” generally but can be casual when situation calls for it).
• Organizer mentality: Commitment to building capacity through strategic organizing (shift from service-orientated and mobilizing-oriented mentality)
• Practice discretion and good judgment: Our movement is made up of young people with varying viewpoints, some of which are in conflict with one another. You seek out opportunities to work with unlikely allies, and have good judgment about what conversations are best kept private.
• Values leadership development: As a youth-led organization, provides training and coaching opportunities for field leaders as well as being intentional about own personal development.

Desired Skills/Abilities

• Fluency in Microsoft Office and Google Suite
• Multilingual will be an added asset for any candidate, but these skills/experience are not required.
• Strong commitment to social justice, immigrant rights, and equitable access to education
• Experience working with young people of color preferred
• Sense of humor!

TO APPLY: We will begin considering applications as of Monday, December 9^th, 2019. Please send a cover letter, including where you heard about the position, your current engagement with C4D (if any), and resume to rusia@universalpartnership.org. Subject line: C4D – Executive Director. Please do not send duplicate materials. All applicants will receive a response to their application. Please include contact information of 2 references (Professional and/or personal references).

TENTATIVE TIMELINE:

• Application Period: December 4^th-30^th, 2019.
• Interview(s) Period: December 9^th– January, 15^th, 2020 (due to the short timeframe, we may invite applicants to interview before the end of the application period)
• Decision & Notification to All Applicants: end of January 2020.
• Tentative/Ideal Start Date: February 10^th, 2020

C4D is a fiscally sponsored by United We Dream. UWD is an equal opportunity employer; people of color and individuals from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. UWD does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnic background, citizenship status, religion, political orientation, genetic information, sexual orientation, age or disability.

Interested in working with C4D but don’t quite fit the box we’ve described?

We are committed to the development of undocumented youth, womxn of color, black immigrants, and individuals from diverse backgrounds. Contact us and we can work with you on your development.