Activities director Jobs in New York, NY

Director

The selected candidate will be offered $98,140.00. This position is only open to candidates who are permanent (not provisional) in the civil service title of administrative staff analyst. The Administration for Children's Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services and provides subsidized childcare vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement, and programs for youth in the community. The Family Services Division (FSD) and its network of contracted providers deliver one of the largest and most diverse continuums of community-based child welfare prevention services in the nation and across New York City to improve safety, well-being, and permanency for thousands of families and children each year.

The Director of Early Childhood Initiatives will report to the Executive Director or Assistant Commissioner. The preferred candidate will have at least 3 years of supervisory experience in a large agency or organization; will have substantive experience in child welfare and have a strong interest or experience in Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health and the needs of families with children under 5. The selected candidate will lead and facilitate work in accordance with the intracity agreement between ACS and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to support efficient and effective ways to achieve its intended outcomes.

This work will focus on sustaining the partnership between ACS and DOHMH to:

• Leverage DOHMH's existing infrastructure and clinical capacity rather than duplicating efforts.
• Implement communication and outreach strategies to reduce stigma associated with these services and enable both agencies (ACS and DOHMH) to reach additional families at risk of future child welfare involvement and who may benefit from early childhood mental health services or newborn home visiting.
• Build out additional capacity with teams to prioritize ACS-involved families who could benefit from specialized early childhood mental health support and/or newborn home visiting.
• Develop and streamline processes to effectively support contracted staff and other service providers who work with families involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in, child welfare, to more effectively identify and connect families who may need additional support and/or specialized services.
• Develop innovative, data-driven strategies to improve model implementation, service delivery, and collaboration among service providers.
• Coach and provide direct supervision of staff using a strengths-based approach, continuously offering feedback to support growth goals over time; this role will supervise other staff, such as Program Officers or Program Associates.
• Support staff with contract and budget oversight and serve as a liaison to DOHMH, procurement, finance, and business law unit colleagues.
• Monitor staff involved in the development and implementation of new initiatives/projects, by observation, conveying information, directing the analysis/analyzing data, to provide reports/recommendations to improve customer service and workflow.
• Train staff in performance of work activities, by holding individual and unit informational meetings, inviting and answering questions, demonstrating/providing examples of proper work methods, to increase employees' capacity.
• Conduct/participate in staff meetings, by attending/facilitating agenda, encouraging relevant discussion, to keep staff informed of unit goals and changes in programs/policies/procedures.
• Work closely with other ACS divisions, including: Division of Financial Services, Division of Child Protection, Division of Child and Family Wellbeing, Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement, and Division of Family Permanency Services and Procurement teams.
• Prepare documents and reports, make presentations, and guide goal-oriented meetings with key partners.
• Support the development of a system for the sharing of best practices among internal staff and service providers offering support to families with children under 5 and have child welfare involvement; leading collaboration between, and quality improvement of, providers of services and supports for serving a similar target population through a learning collaborative or other similar model.
• Collaborate with DOHMH to increase the availability of non-clinical supports to pregnant and parenting individuals, children under five, and their families served through family peer support.
• Collaborate with DOHMH to expand the number and type of training and evidence-based models offered through TTAC. This includes leading a strategy to disseminate information to ACS staff and contracted providers on available training opportunities through the TTAC.
• Facilitate the collaboration with DPS units (e.g Pathways to Prevention, the Support Line, Technical Assistance, Family Home Care) and with other ACS Divisions, including Policy, Planning, and Measurement, Child Protection, Youth and Family Justice, Family Permanency Services, and Child and Family Well-Being, to ensure that each unit and division is aware of the services available to families, the respective eligibility criteria, and how to make referrals in each borough. This also includes conducting outreach to ACS-contracted prevention and foster care, and other ACS-supported initiatives (e.g., Family Enrichment Centers, Community Partnerships, Safe Sleep) serving families with children under age five.
• Lead the work and direction to establish mechanisms to regularly track key activities and outputs as a part of monitoring between ACS and DOHMH.
• Play an active role in strategic planning and coordination for division policies and programs, specifically around program management and sustainability broadly, and programs serving families and child welfare involvement specifically.

Section 424-A of the New York Social Services Law requires an authorized agency to inquire whether a candidate for employment with child-caring responsibilities has been the subject of a child abuse and maltreatment report.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A master's degree from an accredited college in economics, finance, accounting, business or public administration, human resources management, management science, operations research, organizational behavior, industrial psychology, statistics, personnel administration, labor relations, psychology, sociology, human resources development, political science, urban studies or a closely related field, and two years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one or a combination of the following: working with the budget of a large public or private concern in budget administration, accounting, economic or financial administration, or fiscal or economic research; in management or methods analysis, operations research, organizational research or program evaluation; in personnel or public administration, recruitment, position classification, personnel relations, employee benefits, staff development, employment program planning/administration, labor market research, economic planning, social services program planning/evaluation, or fiscal management; or in a related area. 18 months of this experience must have been in an executive, managerial, administrative or supervisory capacity. Supervision must have included supervising staff performing professional work in the areas described above; or
• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four years of professional experience in the areas described in "1" above, including the 18 months of executive, managerial, administrative or supervisory experience, as described in "1" above.

Preferred Skills:

• Knowledge of child welfare, most especially prevention services
• Knowledge and interest in perinatal and early childhood mental health
• Must have at least 2-3 years of supervisory experience in a large organization and leading teams from various backgrounds
• Familiarity with reviewing and analyzing program budgets and invoices
• Experience in working with data and research to improve programs
• Experience delivering behavioral health interventions
• Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and produce high-quality documents
• Professional and responsive in interactions with external stakeholders
• An ideal candidate is flexible, open to new ideas, and comfortable with iterative processes.
• Consistently takes initiative to support other team members and peers an influential and empathetic leader who leads with humility to support staff.
• Familiarity with human-centered design
• Successful communicator who is comfortable speaking to large, varied audiences
• Team player who is flexible, grounded, and mission-driven

This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness:

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education's website at

Residency Requirement:

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

Additional Information:

The City of New York is an inclusive