Program Director, Early Learning & Education

Job Summary

Enterprise is seeking a Program Director to manage its pilot Early Learning Facilities Fund in Washington State. The ideal candidate will be an experienced creative practitioner with cross-disciplinary expertise in community development, capital finance, and early learning.

Enterprise is a national organization with offices throughout the country. The Pacific Northwest team is focused on a local initiative called Home & Hope that aims to create affordable homes and early learning centers including through the redevelopment of public and tax-exempt sites. As an outgrowth of this effort, Enterprise Community Partners, in partnership with Craft3 and the Washington Community Reinvestment Association (WCRA), is launching a pilot Early Learning Facilities Fund (ELF Fund) to support the financing and technical assistance needed to rapidly expand early childhood learning centers in Washington State. The pilot includes $10+ million in capital from the State of Washington, private, and philanthropic sources.

We will be launching this fund to test and replicate sustainable public/private financing models for early learning facility development so that

1. future public and private investment in early learning centers is deployed effectively;
2. scarce public dollars can be leveraged to build classrooms at the scale necessary to meet the need
3. dedicated technical assistance ensures that early learning businesses successfully navigate the development process and partnerships
4. there is sustainable expansion of quality early learning centers and strong partnerships in neighborhoods that need them most, and across
the State.

In this role, the Early Learning Facility Fund Program Director will be responsible for management of this new program, coordination amongst the fund’s partners, pipeline development, and direct implementation of the technical assistance and planning grant portions of the fund. This position
will report to the Senior Program Director for the Pacific Northwest market.

There is an expectation that this effort will evolve, potentially during the pilot phase, to include other sources of funding and program innovation.

Job Responsibilities

Program Development:

• Develop materials and guidelines for new program offering loans and grants to early learning providers and developers to create early learning centers. These include forms of application, agreements among the partner organizations (ECP, ECLF, WCRA, and Craft3), program guidelines and compliance information, and reports to funders and stakeholders.
• Lead and manage meetings with ECLF, WCRA, and Craft3
• Coordinate with ECLF, WCRA, and Craft3 for deal pipeline referrals, review, and tracking
• Coordinate with the WA State Department of Commerce and other funders, including preparation of quarterly and annual reports
• Communicate the particular needs of early learning businesses to ensure the fund’s products serve the early learning community well
• In coordination with other Enterprise staff, administer planning grant and recoverable grant program
• Manage contracts or other agreements for sources of funding, as appropriate (agreement negotiation, scope, reporting, internal coordination within Enterprise)
• Track and report on accomplishments and lessons learned to improve fund through pilot phase

Outreach and Policy:

• Learn and cultivate network of early learning partners, affordable housing owners who will include early learning facilities, government partners, and others who can help advance construction of early learning facilities and advocate for early learning funding and policy changes
• Prepare marketing strategy and implement via Outreach to early learning providers and non-profit developers across Washington state to acquaint them with the fund; to solicit feedback to improve the fund; and to generate deal pipeline for the fund
• Solicit applications to the fund and maintain pipeline reports
• Conduct preliminary analysis of applications for eligibility and basic feasibility
• Communicate activities and progress to funders and stakeholders
• In collaboration with both Enterprise staff and external partners, lead and manage an Enterprise policy agenda around early learning facilities
• Cultivate advocacy from affordable housing community regarding early learning, childcare and other education issues, including financial issues affecting operators and facilities
• Participate with others who are analyzing demographics influencing early learning need
• Develop and manage an effective communications strategy for Early Learning Facilities
• Stay informed of national trends and opportunities that may lend benefit our early learning work

Technical Assistance:

• Provide assistance to connect affordable housing developers with early learning partners as appropriate to meet situation
• Provide assistance connecting providers with design professionals and development teams
• Provide direct technical assistance or referrals to applicants and recipients of funding to assist them to:
  • assemble a development team,
  • understand the development and licensing timelines and processes,
  • negotiate important agreements such as leases or partnership agreements,
  • organize and present information on operating budgets,
  • create and manage a development budget,
  • and appropriately leverage debt finance
• Develop periodic workshops or convenings on topics of interest

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree with preference for graduate degree or at least four (4) years of relevant work experience.
• Expertise in real estate, facilities development, and/or affordable housing development
• Experience managing a new program and coordinating with external partners
• Knowledge of Washington State’s current social, economic, and political landscape as it relates to early learning
• Experience with real estate finance
• Excellent computer skills, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Ability to write memos and emails that effectively provide information and request responses.
• Sound judgment and ability to identify and analyze typical work situations and develop solutions.
• Able to work in a very collaborative and often fast-paced environment and must be able to engage in and manage simultaneous projects.
• Ability to work with elected leaders and develop relationships
• Ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders and provide culturally competent service to clients
• Ability to work independently, solve problems and take responsibility for moving tasks forward with minimal supervision.
• Flexible work style and ability to adapt to evolving work program in a growing office
• Experience and/or knowledge of interdisciplinary collaboration among public-private sector partnerships.

Desired Characteristics for Candidates:

• Lived experience and/or service that informs worldviews and/or perspectives about creating social equity across race, ethnicity, language, social class, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, and other dimensions.
• Experience working with diverse range of communities and people, including non-English speakers.
• Visual communication skills including proficiency with Adobe Suite.
• Significant real estate finance experience preferred.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to grow a new business line

Additional Information