Director of Impact & Evaluation

About Oakland Promise:

Oakland Promise (OP) is available to young learners (from newborns to postsecondary students) and their families who reside in Oakland. OP offers every child financial resources, educational programming, mentorship, and a supportive community to help them and their families, to seek out and thrive in higher education and the career of their choosing. The mission of the Oakland Promise is to engage the Oakland community to advance equity and economic mobility through cradle to college and career achievement. The Oakland Promise includes four programs: Brilliant Baby, Kindergarten to College (K2C), College Access, and College Completion. Our program strategies touch the lives of children and families in early childhood (ages 0-5), elementary, middle and high school; and culminate in multi-year scholarships and support for students in postsecondary.

About the programs:

The Brilliant Baby (BB) program supports children’s early healthy development and school-readiness by setting up College Savings Accounts (CSAs) for babies, offering financial coaching and early learning resources to parents and caregivers, and building a supportive community for the whole family. Brilliant Baby supports parents’ early expectations for their child’s educational success.

Kindergarten to College (K2C) helps K through 5th graders in Oakland think of themselves as college-and career-bound individuals. We provide scholarships, as well as technical support and incentives to families who open a family-owned college savings account. Additionally, we provide program support to build a college- and career-going identity within students, which includes Cal Day, college visits, family and student workshops, scholarship celebrations, and more.

College Access serves both middle and high school students in Oakland’s district and charter schools! Our vision is to support all students in accessing a clear and solid path to post-secondary educational experiences that lead to a variety of career options – 2-year, 4-year, and vocational or technical programs. Our goal is to offer integrated programming to students and families that targets the elimination of structural and cultural barriers to intergenerational social mobility.

College Completion supports college and CTE students with scholarships and persistence support and equips students with social and emotional support through mentoring, peer advising, counseling, retreats, and scholarship distribution. Oakland Promise designs holistic educational programming to create a culture of career and college preparedness in students, families, and educators, so we can dramatically increase the number of college graduates from Oakland public schools.

About the role:

Oakland Promise (OP) seeks a Director of Impact and Evaluation (Director of I & E), who will be responsible for oversight and coordination of organization-wide impact and evaluation activities. In collaboration with Senior Leadership, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Program Officer (CPO) and other leaders, the Director will ensure a robust evaluation strategy that is aligned to our strategic goals is in place.  The Director of I & E will ensure that OPs partners, funders, and all stakeholders understand OP’s impact and have the analytic insights, family/student stories, and data visualizations needed to communicate these experiences. In addition to crafting compelling data stories about the impact of OP programs and partnerships, the Director will lead our data collection and management strategy and guide the development of our data visualization and dashboarding products.

Successful performance requires knowledge of data for action, OP functions and activities, and the ability to develop and oversee all impact and evaluation activities.  This position receives general direction from the CEO and CPO and will report to the CPO or CEO (to be finalized). This position is responsible for managing, training, and supervising all Impact & Evaluation team members (~2-3 total), and will also be responsible for directing and coordinating the work of consultants.

This role is an in-person/hybrid role, and we require you to reside in Oakland/Bay Area.

Key Responsibilities:

Impact & Evaluation

• Build and execute a data and insight strategy so that OP has the tools and processes we need for high-quality data analysis, visualization, and storytelling
• Design processes to ensure that strategic plans and outcomes metrics are valid, reliable, and aligned with best practices in the field
• Conduct data analyses and build strong learning agendas that generate insights about our OP’s impact for children, students and families, and communicate the impact of our services
• Lead short-term and long-term strategic planning and development efforts, communicating important timelines and progress
• Provide strong partnership to all teams within the organization to identify the needed data analysis and evaluation, interpret findings and support in making sound decisions
• In collaboration with Senior Leadership, key stakeholders and an external evaluator, develop an overall evaluation and accountability plan with defined outcomes, indicators, and performance measures, including the data collection systems, procedures, and instruments needed to measure the impact of OP’s strategic plan
• Direct all aspects of OP’s evaluation framework from design to implementation, ensuring the framework measures and monitors the effectiveness of OP strategies and programs
• Supervise all evaluation staff, directing work within each function and working across the organization and with external partners to support program integration, policy advocacy, and promote best practices
• Analyze and identify evaluation and research needs for special projects, program and organizational planning, and work closely with Impact & Evaluation team to execute and make recommendations to organizational leadership
• Provide data insights, statistical analysis and narrative to support OP’s leadership, fundraising and partnership efforts

Coaching & Managing

• Work closely with Impact & Evaluation staff to ensure organization-wide metrics and data measures reported on by funded partners are captured in OP data systems
• Coach & manage a team of 2-3
• Participate as a member of the Management Team

Systems Support & Management

• Deliver clear and powerful presentations, analyses of findings and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders that produce actionable insights.
• Liaise with OP staff and other key stakeholders (e.g. community partners) and represent the organization with a variety of external groups
• Oversee development of impact and evaluation updates, working closely with OP communication staff in crafting collateral materials and organizational messaging, especially with the Children’s Initiative
• As needed, collaborate with the Development team in fundraising and external relations efforts
• Oversee the delivery of impact and evaluation technical assistance and training for staff, contractors and any relevant partners
• Negotiate contracts with providers, ensure that contracts are prepared and executed accurately and timely, and ensure compliance with contract deliverables
• Collaborate with the evaluation team on the maintenance and enhancement of data information systems for tracking outcomes and program performance
• Develop fact sheets, presentations, and ad-hoc and routine reports
• Oversee the development of the OP policy agenda, and the tracking and monitoring of relevant legislation at the local, state, and national levels
• Lead data governance and security strategy to develop organizational resilience to data exposure incidents
• Implement and interpret data compliance strategies for data privacy laws. such as FERPA
• Contribute to a culture of data-driven decision-making across the team
• Additional projects and duties as assigned

Key Qualifications:

• 10+ years of professional experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare, Public Administration, Data, Research & Evaluation or a related field (Master’s in these areas preferred)
• Strong believer in and committed to OP’s mission, vision and our unity principle: Transparency, Accountability, Integrity, Joy, Community & Equity
• Enthusiastic mentor that is invested in growing and developing the skills of team members and a trusted leader that represents the Impact & Evaluation team’s point of view and interests
• Experienced with designing and executing learning agendas (including lean tests, pilots, and evaluations) that will allow us to pilot and evaluate, and refine services
• Skilled at data visualization, and use it to synthesize, simplify, and present complex data to audiences of varied technical skill, inspiring and empowering stakeholders to move from insight to action
• Someone that enjoys working independently and is an enthusiastic, organized and detail-oriented team player
• Flexibility and adaptability in work schedule
• Comfort with ambiguity and entrepreneurship
• Ability to interact effectively with diverse groups

Compensation and Benefits:

• Full time exempt position
• Hiring range for this role is $ 125,000 to $ 150,000 based on skill sets and experience.
• Oakland Promise offers a competitive benefits package, which includes dental / health/ vision, paid vacations and sick days and a 401k match up to 3%.
• Oakland Promise currently has a hybrid work policy.
• The ability to learn and grow within a supportive team environment.
• An opportunity to network and interact with leaders in the community
• Some evening and weekend hours may be required

Application Process: We are looking for candidates with availability to start immediately and encourage you to apply if you are interested in and qualified for the position. The deadline to submit your application is March 3, 2023.

To Apply:

Send a single PDF (NOT a Microsoft Word document) of a resume and thoughtful cover letter to [email protected] with “Director of Impact and Evaluation ”– [Your Name]” in the subject line. Please use your last name and first initial (ex: Doe_J) as the filename of your PDF containing your resume and cover letter.

Failure to follow these instructions may delay the review of your application. Applications will be reviewed immediately and candidates with the best fit will be contacted for interviews. Unfortunately, the volume of applications will prevent us from responding to all applications received.

Oakland Promise is a place-based organization located in Oakland, California. Oakland Promise requires that employees work in person at various engagements. Currently, Oakland Promise staff are working in a hybrid model, with some work being done remotely and some work being done in the office or at specific locations in or around Oakland. It is a requirement that all staff reside within commuting distance to the main office, located at 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza #430, Oakland, CA 94612. Please note that at any time, a full in-person work plan may be required, and it is of utmost importance that all staff are able to meet this requirement.

Oakland Promise is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Oakland Promise is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and disrespectful or other unprofessional conduct based on sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), sex stereotype, race, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), color, gender (including gender identity, gender expression, and transgender), national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver’s license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, sexual orientation, military, and veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law or ordinance or regulation. It also prohibits discrimination, harassment, disrespectful or unprofessional conduct based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics, or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.