Director, Program (Employment and Education)

Covenant House seeks talented individuals who are motivated to help us carry out our mission of ending youth homelessness.

Overview

Since 1972, Covenant House has served and advocated for youth and young families experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. Our overarching goal is to end homelessness among youth and young families by helping them achieve housing stability, heal from trauma, tap into their innate resilience, and hone their interests and skills to forge new pathways to independence. This work is carried out across Covenant House sites in 34 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

About the Role

As the Director, Program (Employment and Education) you will lead the strategic development, implementation, and oversight of employment and educational programming that helps youth experiencing homelessness across the Americas access meaningful employment, career pathways, and academic advancement.

Reporting to the VP, Program, you will ensure your work aligns with Covenant House’s Journey Home roadmap as well as our organizational standards including equity, dignity, and youth voice. You will collaborate closely with Covenant House site leaders and foster strong partnerships across sectors to expand opportunities for young people, approaching all initiatives with a strength-based, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed lens.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Employment and Job Readiness :

• Collaborate with CHI’s Program team to support the development and rollout of standards, guidelines and best practices around site-based employment and education programs
• Identify, build, and support site implementation of career pathway programs that reflect employment trends by site location and that support the goal of establishing occupational pathways for Covenant House youth that pay a livable wage, don’t require a college degree, have low potential for automation, and represent fields of growth
• Support site education and employment leads in identifying and connecting to local skilling partners
• Assist in cultivating relationships with employers, training providers, schools, post-secondary institutions, and workforce systems to expand opportunities for youth with limited education credentials and / or work experience
• Take a leading role in identifying and nurturing employment partners at the national and local level to help youth with job placements post credentialing
• Provide hands-on support with local implementation of employment and training programs
• Identify appropriate online resources and assessments related to job and life skills, micro-badging, and credentialing
• Support the ongoing work of CH’s Workforce Development Learning Community
• Develop and expand specialized training opportunities (e.g., pre-apprenticeships, industry-recognized credentials, internships, etc.) that align with youth interests and local labor market needs
• Lead existing national employer partners (Accenture, Delta, Cisco) and help identify and bring in new partners

Education

Additional Responsibilities :

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Required Qualifications

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Qualifications

Travel Requirements

Our Community

Our critical mission demands that we have all voices at the table. A team of diverse people, perspectives, and experiences is smarter, stronger, and more effective for our young people. At Covenant House, every team member is valued, respected, heard, and supported, and we welcome honest and courageous self-reflection on any aspects of our work that are based on biased or outdated viewpoints. We deliberately create opportunities for our staff to grow and thrive.

Covenant House International is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind : CHI is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at CHI are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, family or parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. CHI will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics and encourages all qualified applicants to apply.

If you have a disability or medical condition and need a reasonable accommodation, such as an ASL interpreter or a different interview format, or if you have physical accessibility needs, let us know. Contact us at 1-800-388-3888, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time or email us at chipeopleandculture@covenanthouse.org.