Job Description

The Basics

Location: Cambridge, MA; mostly remote (through at least summer 2021) with some in-person shelter support

Annual Revenue: ~$1,000,000

Total Employees: 10

Supervisor: Y2Y Associate Director; dotted line reporting relationship to Phillips Brooks House Association Deputy Director

Supervises: Approx. 5-8 shelter staff

Start date: Immediate

Hours: Full-Time

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Y2Y Overview

Y2Y Network is building student-led programming to interrupt the cycle of homelessness for a generation of young adults. Y2Y employs a youth-to-youth model to provide a safe and affirming environment for young adults ages 18 to 24 experiencing homelessness. In partnership with Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) at Harvard University and First Parish Church, Y2Y operates Y2Y Harvard Square, a twenty-two bed overnight facility, to address the critical community need of lack of beds for young adults experiencing homelessness. Y2Y catalyzed the Cambridge and Boston community to develop and build an innovative, student-run model that provides very safe and low-cost shelter to young people. Five years into Y2Y’s organizational life, we are working to grow our impact for young adults experiencing homelessness and are on track to open our second site, Y2Y New Haven, within the next year. Y2Y Network is laying the foundation for future growth with the goal of interrupting the cycle of homelessness for a generation of young adults.

Y2Y’s work has been locally and nationally recognized for its innovative approach and shelter design. Our co-founders Sam Greenberg and Sarah Rosenkrantz have been honored as Forbes 30 under 30, and Honorable Mention for the Boston Globe Magazine’s Bostonian of the Year. For more information about our work, our team, and our partners, please visit www.y2ynetwork.org. Click here to hear Sen. Elizabeth Warren talk about the power of the Y2Y model.

At Y2Y, our core values are Dignity, Safety, Adaptability, Collaboration, Affirmation. We actively work to pursue an inclusive workplace every day. We work hard, have fun, and value mental health and work-life balance. Another way that we walk in our values is having monthly closed days, optional sick-of-work days every other month, and flexible options schedule to help you re-energize and show up to be the best you that you can be!

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Y2Y’s COVID-19 Response

With generous community support, Y2Y Harvard Square is committed to keeping the shelter open during the pandemic. Y2Y’s traditional program model relies on university students and lost its primary workforce when schools closed in early March 2020. Y2Y has employed a temporary hybrid staffing model that consists of a combination of professional staff and local student staff. The PM role has been integral to helping us manage this model successfully. You can learn more about our COVID-19 response here.

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Position Overview

Y2Y is seeking a dynamic self-starter that has demonstrated experience collaborating and managing relationships with multiple stakeholders and takes a project management approach to their work. The Program Manager will serve as a project manager for Y2Y Harvard Square and will coordinate all of the stakeholders operating the shelter (PBHA student leaders, staff, and network staff ) to maintain quality operations and ensure mission fidelity. The ideal candidate is equally passionate about student and youth leadership development and disrupting youth homelessness and thrives in a highly collaborative environment. Additionally, the right program manager is capable of modeling Y2Y Core Values and is deeply committed to social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Program Manager is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with community partners that strengthen the Y2Y program, as well as coaching, mentoring, and supporting students and holding them accountable in the operation of the shelter. As an emergency shelter, Y2Y Harvard Square operates seven days a week from 7 p.m.-9 a.m. and is run by students during that time. While the program manager will usually default to working within typical business hours of 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the position also requires some weekend and evening hours, which can be accommodated on a flexible schedule.

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Key Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions—Essential functions of the position are the reasons why this position exists. Applicants should be able to perform the functions below with or without reasonable accommodations. 

Student Staff Support

• Strategize with PBHA around student development
• Provide ongoing coaching, mentoring and technical assistance for students
• Support work plan development and implementation for multiple student directors
• Work with student leaders and PBHA to manage and resolve conflicts and crisis on an on-call basis
• Meet with student admin., operations and/or staff directors, PBHA staff, First Parish Church, and Youth on Fire partners weekly
• Attend Sunday afternoon policy committee meetings on a regular basis
• Attend student workgroup meetings to provide mentorship

Professional Overnight Staff Management

• Serve as the main point of contact for professional staff during the current hybrid model, including checking in regularly on staff experience and well-being, and accountability w/Y2Y values
• Develop a staffing schedule on a monthly basis and continuously stay abreast of changes in professional staff’s availability to ensure coverage at all times
• Develop and manage a back up on-call rotation protocol to ensure there is a plan for shift coverage when professional staff calls out
• On rare occasions, the program manager may be required to work an overnight shift in the case of an unforeseen gap in the schedule

Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Building

• In conjunction with student directors, serves as a liaison for partnerships with community-based organizations, provides continuity for relationships management
• Attend relevant homeless service provider meetings as needed and work with providers to serve guests in collaboration with students
• Support Network directors with the preparation of content for stakeholder engagement, including board meetings, committee meetings, presentations, etc.

General Program Management and Operations Support

• The program manager must be willing to be available to assist with programmatic or operational needs during shelter hours as needed
• Meticulously reads shelter notes on a daily basis and thoughtfully respond to issues that arise and offer support to staff
• Provide vision and oversight for housing stabilization for guests moved into housing
• Build and sustain relevant information systems to maintain institutional memory
• Maintain full personal knowledge of all in-space policies and procedures
• Ensures program milestones and goals are met while adhering to approved budgets
• Co-facilitate weekly program management and operations team meeting
• Supports Associate Director in thinking through overall program strategy

Additional Job Expectations –These are just some of the competencies and behaviors we believe will make the program manager successful in this role. If you possess many or all of these you may be the person we are looking for:

• Able to grasp and model Y2Y pillars of harm reduction, trauma-informed, and positive youth development.
• Growth Mindset: Deeply reflective, self-aware, and ability to think critically; sees setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow while being accountable
• Problem Solving: Weighs, reflects upon, and contextualizes information in an effort to solve complex problems; works to uncover root causes and consults with stakeholders to identify solutions
• Must be able to establish self as thought-leader and mentor in student spaces; offers Network-level context, direction around values, and strategic realignment input
• Planning, Tracking & Reporting: Prioritizes, orders, and communicates tasks to ensure clarity of ownership, deadlines, and expectations; uses milestones to measure, track, and report progress towards the achievement of desired project outcomes
• Reliability & Trust: Perceived as a credible and reliable source of information; documents information and is committed to closing communication loops
• Initiative & Managing Up: Proactive about communication and action instead of waiting to be asked; brings up concerns, blind spots, & issues to direct supervisor(s)

Qualifications—At Y2Y, we recognize that there are many ways to learn, grow, and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each application. This said an ideal candidate would demonstrate a majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below:

• 2-3+ years staff experience in supervision, program management & training delivery
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
• Appreciation of student leadership and demonstrated commitment to volunteerism & service
• Ability to lead meetings and presentations and interface with all levels of staff
• Must be collaborative possess a strong customer service orientation, and be a consultative problem solver
• Well-versed in issues of diversity, equity & inclusion, current events, political issues
• Dedication to ensuring that all young adults have a safe place to rest, grow, and lead
• Capacity to work both independently and collaboratively as well as very strong organization skills, orientation to detail, and sense of self-direction
• Ability to work in a high-pressure environment and navigate ambiguity
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Suite

Preferred Qualifications—These are the qualifications we consider would be a plus in this position.

• 2-3+ years’ experience in youth work and/or working in homeless services or lived experience
• Background in psychology, sociology or related field, or 3+ years social work experience is a plus
• AmeriCorps service experience or other volunteer engagement & leadership a plus
• Crisis management and de-escalation especially in the context of dealing with historically marginalized groups

Benefits

Salary will be commensurate with experience, around the range of $55,000-$62,000. Y2Y Network offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, and Flexible Time Off and supports work-life balance. For a full list of benefits, click here.

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How to Apply

• Please submit a resume, and, in lieu of a cover letter, please submit responses to the following questions in no more than 2 pages:  
• 1.) Please choose one of Y2Y's core values (Dignity, Safety, Adaptability, Collaboration, Affirmation) and describe how you exhibit that value in your work/daily life
• 2.) What is the role or experience you’ve had that is most analogous to the program manager position we’re hiring for, especially in the context of homelessness, and/or especially student or youth leadership and guiding their decision-making? Please provide details.
• 3.) Tell us about some of your experience working with diverse and/or historically marginalized communities and your demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion
• Send combined Résumé and responses in one PDF to jobs@y2ynetwork.org
• Email subject line: Program Manager [First and Last Name]

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Job Tags: homelessness, lgbtq, and youth. Salaries: 40,000 - 60,000.

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