Career Pathways Coordinator - Trying Together

Position: Career Pathways Coordinator
Full-Time | Salary Range: $40,000-$45,000

Culture:
Trying Together’s mission is to support high-quality care and education for young children.

Trying Together is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that supports the work of early childhood by providing advocacy, community resources, and professional growth opportunities for the needs and rights of children, their families, and the adults who interact with them. A fast-paced organization, Trying Together looks for dedicated and passionate staff who bring positivity to their work and a solution-oriented sensibility.

Trying Together encourages its team, partners, and communities to interact compassionately and honor the range of cultures, ideas, and identities that root each person. Young children develop and learn by example; this means that children whose early learning environments reflect just actions, equitable opportunities, diverse representation, and inclusive approaches experience healthier interactions and build relationships that enable them to thrive.

Trying Together is an equal-opportunity employer. Trying Together does not discriminate and encourages qualified candidates of any gender, race, class, sexual orientation, faith, disability, or age to apply. All candidates will be evaluated on a merit basis.

Purpose:
Working closely with the Career Pathways Program Manager, and the Quality Initiatives Professional Learning and ELRC teams, the Career Pathways Coordinator serves as the main intermediary between Trying Together and the ECE Professional Development Organization (PDO) at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The PASSHE PDO provides a crucial source of funding to students pursuing credential programs in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The Career Pathways Coordinator also supports the Quality Initiatives Professional Learning team in facilitating comprehensive workforce development opportunities for early education and school-age professionals that are aligned with the field’s interests, needs, and trends as well as the organization’s mission, vision, and efforts. The Career Pathways Coordinator is a member of the Quality Initiatives Professional Learning Team, will report to the Career Pathways Program Manager, and should be available to work evenings and weekends to support early childhood educators. 

Responsibilities:

• Commitment to racial equity and inclusion and a willingness to do the ongoing personal work to bring about a more just society by actively participating in professional growth opportunities. 
• Actively work with peers to create a culture of belonging at Trying Together. 
• Willingness to disrupt practices that do not honor children’s, families’, educators’, and colleagues’ humanity. 
• Process and provide technical assistance for all PASSHE PDO funding applications from Allegheny County student residents interested in pursuing credentialing or higher education in the ECE field.

• Serve as a resource to identify students in need of career advising and connect them with the Institute for Early Childhood Career Pathways at Trying Together.
• Be familiar with and assist in the coordination of professional development participants’ access to T.E.A.C.H., the PA CDA voucher system, PASSHE PDO, and other available professional development resources. 
• Participate in the development, coordination, facilitation, and evaluation of sequential, Trying Together workforce professional learning opportunities for early educators, such as the Child Development Associate credential (initial and renewal), PA School-Age Professional Credential, and workforce Apprenticeship. The facilitation of such opportunities includes in-person, virtual, and online professional development coursework as well as participant and program coaching and mentoring. 
• Develop, facilitate, and evaluate professional development opportunities for early learning professionals and stakeholders on relevant topics that meet the needs of the field, including but not limited to: developmentally appropriate practice, child development, family-child program relationships, and professionalism within early learning programs. 
• Aid in the reflection and evaluation of projects and programs, working directly with other team members to ensure that Trying Together programs and resources pertain to the mission and vision of the organization and more importantly reflect the needs and interests of the communities at large. 
• Work collaboratively across departments within Trying Together to meet the mission and accomplish the work. 
• Participate in initial and ongoing professional development for continuous learning and expanding one’s professional knowledge base. 
• Consistently use the NeonCRM platform to build relationships with constituents, record data that measure project performance, and support continuous quality improvement in the organization's resources and services.
• Other duties as assigned. 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Human Services, Child Development, Early Childhood, or related field, or three (3) years of related experience in Early Childhood Education career development. 
• Experience facilitating professional development is preferred.
• Value the collaborative, reflective, and reciprocal nature of consultation. 
• Approach educator career development with a growth mindset and believe all educators can improve, whatever the starting point. 
• Use reflective practice strategies and skills. 
• Be extremely organized. 
• Be flexible. 
• Be a creative problem solver.
• Have a keen eye for detail and the ability to multitask. 
• Be proficient in Microsoft Office suite and Google Workspace. 
• Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills. 
• Ability to work both independently as well as part of a team.
• Ability to work occasional evenings and/or weekends.

Required Clearances: 

• Clean Act 33 Child Abuse Clearance.
• Clean Act 34 PA State Police Clearance.
• Clean Act 73 Federal Criminal History Clearance.
• National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) Verification.
• Valid Driver’s License and proof of insurance.

Required Training:

• Mandated Reporter Training (must be completed in the first month of placement).
• NeonCRM Training (required and recommended online courses must be completed in the first three months of placement).
• PQAS Professional Development Instructor Certification (must be obtained within the first year of employment for staff with a Bachelor’s Degree).

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation and benefits package.
• Appreciative inquiry and strengths-based review process.

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