Director Sought for Community Foundation Student Achievement Initiative
New Haven, CT - (March 2, 2010) The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is
launching a multi-pronged, multi-year initiative designed to enhance
levels of student achievement in the New Haven Public Schools. The
Foundation is seeking to hire an individual with the knowledge,
experience, leadership potential and skills to conceive, design,
implement and lead this initiative.
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, founded in 1928, is the
charitable endowment for a twenty-town region in South Central
Connecticut. Governed by a board of eleven community leaders, The
Foundation comprises more than 700 separate philanthropic funds
and manages total philanthropic assets of almost $290 million as of the
end of 2009. The Foundation is the region’s largest grantmaker, making
approximately $14 million in grants in 2009. The Foundation raises
substantial new philanthropic resources each year as well, with new
gifts to The Foundation averaging almost $10 million annually over the
last five years.
Given The Foundation’s size, scope and deep long-standing relationships
in the region’s philanthropic and non-profit communities, The
Foundation has a long track record of leadership on important community
issues. In 2009, The Foundation decided that it would focus significant
effort, resources and attention in the coming years on enhancing
student achievement in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) through a
new initiative (the Student Achievement Initiative). This decision was
made in the context of the public commitment of the City of New Haven
in 2009 to undertake its own comprehensive school reform initiative
designed to achieve exponential progress in closing within five years
the achievement gap between the academic performance of students in
NHPS and the academic performance of students in Connecticut generally.
The Community Foundation’s Student Achievement Initiative will be designed to be
aligned with, supportive of and at the same time independent of school
reform as it is taking place within NHPS.
The Student Achievement Initiative will encompass a comprehensive set
of inter-related activities that will go far beyond The Foundation’s
traditional education grantmaking. At the center of the Student
Achievement Initiative will be a dedicated Foundation intervention
strategy designed to achieve specific defined goals over a period of
five years related to enhancing student achievement in NHPS. The
Director of the Student Achievement Initiative will take the lead role
in defining this strategy, including its long-term and annual goals,
and in defining how it will be pursued. While no direction has yet been
established, examples that have been mentioned as areas in which The
Foundation might undertake this dedicated strategy include enhancing
teacher quality, strengthening school administration through training
of principals, and encouraging parental engagement in school reform.
Other elements of the Student Achievement Initiative will include:
· Grantmaking. Starting in 2010, The Foundation intends to undertake a
dedicated competitive process to provide responsive grants to
non-profits that are providing services that will enhance student
achievement in NHPS (funding for these grants is over and above the
budget for The Foundation’s dedicated strategy mentioned above). The
Foundation expects to work with NHPS and the United Way of Greater New
Haven regarding these grants. The Director of the Student Achievement
Initiative will work closely with The Foundation’s grantmaking staff in
this process.
· Development. The Foundation will make a priority of raising funds for
the Student Achievement Initiative. This will involve extensive work
with corporate and institutional funders and with individual donors. In
addition, The Foundation expects to play the role as needed of
intermediary for governmental and private philanthropic grants to
support elements of NHPS school reform. The Director will work closely
with The Foundation’s development and donor services staff in this work.
· Community Knowledge and Accountability. The Foundation, through its
participation on the Regional Leadership Council, is involved in
discussions with local private sector leaders as to establishment of an
accountability mechanism that will be designed to track the progress of
and keep the community’s leadership informed about the status of NHPS
school reform. The Director of the Student Achievement Initiative will
work closely with the President of The Foundation in this work. In
addition, the Director will work closely with The Foundation’s
communications staff and community knowledge staff on developing our
strategy for keeping the broader community informed as to The
Foundation’s Student Achievement Initiative.
· New Haven Promise. Building on The Foundation’s long-standing
leadership in raising funds for and in administering local
scholarships, The Foundation is likely to be the administrative home of
New Haven Promise, which will be a comprehensive financial assistance
program for higher education for graduates of NHPS. The Foundation will
work closely with Yale and with the City of New Haven on New Haven
Promise. While it is not yet clear how The Foundation’s work with
respect to New Haven Promise will be staffed, the director of the
Student Achievement Initiative will work with New Haven Promise staff
as appropriate.
The Foundation is establishing a Student Achievement Task Force to
guide, shape and oversee the Student Achievement Initiative and to act
as the interface with The Foundation’s board on these matters. The task
force will consist of Foundation board members as well as non-board
members who have significant and varied experience in K-12 education,
in school reform and in related educational issues. The Director of the
Student Achievement Initiative will work closely with the task force.
The Director of the Student Achievement Initiative will report to the President and CEO of The Community Foundation.
The Director will have a minimum of 5 years of experience in urban
public education or related urban policy work with a graduate degree in
a relevant discipline being desirable but not required. It will be
important that the Director of the Student Achievement Initiative has
the following skills, experience and attributes:
· Experience in successfully managing people and projects;
· Deep knowledge of school reform best practices;
· Experience in translating programmatic goals into powerful and persuasive presentations to potential funders and partners;
· Experience in and commitment to working to address the challenges of inner-city communities;
· Creativity and experience in designing and implementing social change activities;
· A collaborative working style and experience working in situations demanding complex coalition-building; and
· The political savvy, stature and self-confidence to interact with the
public and private sector leadership of Greater New Haven.
Inquiries with respect to this opportunity should be directed to:
Leon Bailey
Vice President, Human Resources
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
70 Audubon Street
New Haven, CT 06510
203-777-7094
lbailey@cfgnh.org