ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

We partner with Black and Latinx communities to build power to re-design education, health, economic, and justice systems to be just and equitable for all. We envision a future where we all have the power to lead, so every community prospers. One of the ways we do this is by training community members to create new policy solutions, organize, and lead change. We also invest in early-stage companies ready for scale and provide curriculum, coaching, and connections as they spark wealth-creating job growth in communities with whom we partner. Lastly, we engage the community, facilitating meaningful connections, and amplifying resident voices to inform critical decisions that impact their lives. 

ABOUT OUR K12 SYSTEMS DESIGN INITIATIVES

Community members, public, and institutional leaders alike are calling for a cohesive, citywide plan, driven by those closest to the issues at hand, that combats fragmentation and inequity in St. Louis City's K-12 education system. 2020 was an unprecedented year in which families and school communities navigated racialized police violence and uprisings, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on (virtual) learning and the economy, as well as a recent round of school consolidations that disproportionately impacted Black families and communities in North St. Louis. Along with an uncoordinated emergence of new charter schools across the city and a continued loss of families to St. Louis County, K-12 stakeholders have a unique opportunity and responsibility to come together and address the root causes of our current inequitable St. Louis City K-12 public education system. 

Through intentional collaboration over the next 12 months, we will be guided by a shared vision, outcomes, and a K-12 St. Louis City roadmap for education transformation. This roadmap and the broad coalition committed to its implementation will better equip us to realize an equitable St. Louis region that values all of our children—including every child of color—by 2039, within a generation after the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson Uprising. 

As a core partner in advancing a K12 Citywide Design initiative, WEPOWER will 1) help steward a set of key activities forward that lead to a clear plan to advance educational equity and 2) launch its second-ever cohort of the Tomorrow Builders Fellowship to build the capacity of parents, educators, and students of color to facilitate important community design conversations and experiences with a broad coalition of stakeholders. Through the Tomorrow Builders Fellowship (TBF), we support community members with using collective impact, design-thinking, and (the six conditions of) systems change practices to 1) help facilitate the process of St. Louis City K12 stakeholders reimagining our currently inequitable system and 2) publish a playbook/plan charting a path for how to redesign the system. 

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Director of K12 Systems Change Initiatives (DK12), the Program Assistant for K12 Systems Change Initiatives (PAK12) is a part-time, non-exempt employee. The PAK12 will support the DK12 with preparation and follow-up for community member capacity building workshops (including TBF) and coordination of partnerships to support community capacity building efforts (including TBF), and system designs that emerge, as well as provide administrative support for TBF. WEPOWER is seeking a dynamic leader who is agile and can thrive in a fast-paced environment managing a diversity of responsibilities. 

BY SUMMER 2022, WE WILL CELEBRATE… 

1. Tomorrow Builders Fellows communicate feeling well supported by effective communication, sufficient materials and resources, and smooth operations and logistics throughout their 12-month fellowship. 
2. A well-documented community-designed plan is published to transform the St. Louis City public education system so that students of color, students with economic disadvantages, students with disabilities (as defined under IDEA), and English language learners can thrive.

YOU WILL…

_MANAGE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION, OPERATIONS, AND LOGISTICS OF TOMORROW BUILDERS FELLOWSHIP (50%) _

• Manage the process of ensuring Fellows receive consistent communication and updates in between workshops and convenings and have a system to communicate among each other. 
• Leverage technology such as WEPOWER's CRM to track attendance and engagement of Fellows as well as work with the evaluation team to collect and analyze Fellow data on a regular basis. 
• Partner with the operations team to ensure Fellow workshops and convenings are well prepared with the venue, catering, and childcare confirmed. 
• Ensure successful setup and prep leading up to Fellow workshops and convenings. 
• Work with the DK12 and operations team to ensure Fellows are equipped with appropriate print and electronic materials and supplies. 
• Work with DK12 to ensure cohesion between TBF and the larger Citywide K12 Design Process. 
• Work with the DK12 to ensure meeting minutes and key takeaways are documented, synthesized, and summarized through the Fellowship. 
• Help project manage TBF curriculum design, facilitation, and follow-up task throughout the Fellowship.
• Manage scheduling for the DK12 and yourself.

SUPPORT CURRICULUM AND WORKSHOP DESIGN FOR TOMORROW BUILDERS FELLOWSHIP 2021 (50%)

• Help develop content for the Fellowship in the form of presentation decks, worksheets,  handouts, checks for understanding, and assessments that support Fellow learning. 
• Serve as a thought partner to the DK12 when developing content, curriculum, and other materials for the Fellowship. 
• Support the DK12 with partnership efforts and recruitment of facilitators for Fellow workshops, including researching and identifying prospects and communicating and coordinating with them leading up to the Fellow workshops.
• Support the DK12 with recruiting and coordinating subject matter experts and policy research partners to support the “Reimagine the System” phase of the K12 Citywide Design process.

YOU ARE... 

1. THOROUGH. You ensure that one's own and others' work and information are complete and accurate; carefully preparing for meetings and presentations; following up with others to ensure that agreements and commitments have been fulfilled. You set up procedures to ensure high quality of work. You monitor the quality of work and verify the information. You check the accuracy of your own and others' work. You develop and use systems to organize and keep track of information or work progress. You carefully prepare for meetings and presentations. You carefully review and check the accuracy of the information in work reports (e.g., production, sales, financial performance) that you create or provided by other management, management information systems, or other individuals and groups.

2. A STRATEGIC LEADER. You are constantly vigilant, honing your ability to anticipate by scanning the environment for signals of change. You challenge your own and others' assumptions and encourage divergent points of view. You take decisive action after careful reflection and examination of a problem through many lenses. Because you challenge in the right way you invariably elicit complex and conflicting information. You are also able to interpret. Instead of reflexively seeing or hearing what you expect, you synthesize all the input you have. You recognize patterns, push through ambiguity, and seek new insights. In uncertain times, you make tough calls through insistence on multiple options at the outset and you don't get prematurely locked into simplistic go/no-go choices. You have the courage of your convictions–informed by a robust decision process. You find common ground and achieve buy-in among stakeholders who have disparate views and agendas. You promote a culture of inquiry and search for the lessons in both successful and unsuccessful outcomes. (Source) 

3. A CHAMPION OF RACIAL & CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT. You are self-aware including conscious of your social identities, cultures, biases, and perspectives. You are aware of your internalized superiority and/or internalized inferiorly.  You also have knowledge and appreciation of the social identities, cultures, and worldviews of other people. You consider the larger socio-political and historical context of which we are part. You have a grasp of different forms of privilege and oppression and how they affect people's experiences, opportunities, and access to social power. You have the ability to adapt to and work collaboratively with diverse people in a range of situations. You understand that people's social identities affect their interpersonal, communication, and work styles, as well as their views of conflict, notions of leadership, and sense of time (among many other things). You are also able to identify and address inequities and choose appropriate interventions to create environments, policies, and practices to ensure diversity, equity, justice, and fairness. (Source) 

4. RESULTS-ORIENTED. You have the ability to take direct action in order to attain or exceed objectives. You set high standards and define challenging yet feasible objectives. You evaluate regularly what the situation is regarding your objectives. You take directive action when objectives are in danger of not being attained. You look for alternatives when certain actions have not led to the desired result. You look actively for the best way to achieve goals and consider your options carefully. You mobilize means and people, even when others need to be persuaded of its necessity. You redirect processes regularly, focusing on objectives. You do not give in, and you look actively for alternative possibilities when confronted with adversity.

YOUR EDUCATION & EXPERIENCES INCLUDE...

• Partnering with communities of color and communities harmed by poverty while applying a racial equity lens. 
• Strong project management. 
• Work on collective impact, systems change initiatives, and/or coalition building. 
• Comfortable using technologies such as Slack, Asana, Google Drive. Experience managing learning management systems such as Canvas, Teachable or Thinkific a plus. 
• Designing and creating new things. 
• Community outreach or organizing. 
• Successfully working on teams to bring complex plans to life.

WORK ENVIRONMENT 

Fun. Fast. Focused. Values-driven. Community-centered. Collaborative. Innovative. Lots of brainstorming and imagining what's possible and then chasing each possibility until it is reality!

WEPOWER is a startup with ambitious goals and impact plans that will demand extreme commitment and agility, AND we value each team member's personal life circumstances and priorities. Work schedules will be flexible and respectful of those circumstances and priorities. We will work together to ensure the organization prioritizes the health, social-emotional wellbeing, and morale of each team member! Some evening and weekend work will be expected. 

There will be 24-hour access to a co-working space with printing, conference rooms, phone booths, snacks, drinks, and the opportunity to be in the community with other innovators, entrepreneurs, and entrepreneur support organizations.

COMPENSATION

This is a part-time (approximately 20 hours per week) position.  The Program Assistant will receive $20 per hour. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

At WEPOWER, we don't just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our team, our programs, and our community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, veteran status, political affiliation or belief, or genetic information.

This position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.

PROCESS

Step 1: Submit an application to Breezy by July 29th at 11:59CST. Step 2: Interview and performance activity the week of August 2nd. Step 3: Reference checks and offer the week of August 9th. Start: Week of August 16th.