CONNECT Learning & Evaluation - AmeriCorps VISTA

The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (http://theneighborhooddevelopers.org/) creates vibrant neighborhoods where people from all walks of life can thrive. Focused on three cities that abut Boston to the north (Chelsea, Revere, and Everett), TND brings its core strengths -- building homes, engaging neighbors, and fostering economic mobility -- to community partnerships that create thriving families and strong neighborhoods. One of TND’s signature initiatives is the CONNECT Financial Opportunity Center, which co-locates and integrates the services of five agencies working together to improve the financial mobility of 4,000 clients annually.

CONNECT offers a range of services to assist families on their journey to financial resilience. The five partner agencies that comprise CONNECT together offer housing counseling, free tax preparation, assistance with public benefits applications, financial education workshops, financial coaching, access to credit-building financial products and mainstream banking services, career counseling / placement, adult basic education (ESL / HiSet), and access to training programs. The program’s leadership constantly seeks to improve the mix, method of delivery, and quality of its services to better meet community members’ needs.

Job Description

CONNECT is seeking a capable self-starter to provide one year of full-time service as its Learning and Evaluation Assistant starting August 2018. The VISTA will have two broad roles: (a) develop, refine, and implement new cross-partner initiatives (50%); and (b) build TND’s capacity as CONNECT’s “backbone” organization to collect and manage client performance data and to use that data to evaluate and adapt programming (50%).

During the 2018-2019 year of service, the VISTA will be responsible for the following specific objectives:

1. Develop a plan for disseminating our refined “recipe” for revamped, stickier financial education curricula to new audiences.
2. Conduct research that enables TND to determine its appropriate role in workforce development to complement existing community capacity.
3. Make improvements to data tracking system in SalesForce (TND’s database) for CONNECT clients (serving approximately 4000 clients per year) to enhance data quality and usage.
4. Analyze SalesForce data to provide ongoing and timely feedback to inform improvements to client outcomes, program design and operational processes.

To accomplish these objectives, typical activities in a day can include: creating a project plan, creating instructional materials, soliciting feedback/input from colleagues on a draft plan or materials, meeting with external organizations to understand their programs, training colleagues or volunteers on a new process, running reports, compiling spreadsheets, importing/exporting data, interpreting data, researching best practices, distilling key learnings from conferences and other convenings; creating and monitoring data dashboards; analyzing internal data; and making recommendations.

Please note this is a VISTA member position, not a staff position. The VISTA member will be supervised by the CONNECT Director and will work closely with the Director of Learning and Evaluation and the staff of CONNECT’s five partner organizations. The VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program provides full-time volunteers to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations to create and expand programs that bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty. In addition to a living allowance, the VISTA program offers an education award or cash stipend, health insurance, and week-long training in a U.S. city. For more information about AmeriCorps VISTA, see https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorpsvista

Qualifications

Required:

 College degree or relevant work history
 U.S. Citizen at least 18 years of age
 Excellent verbal and written communication skills
 Responsible, self-motivated, and able to carry out and prioritize multiple ongoing projects
 Thrives in a fast-paced work environment
 Ability to work occasional evenings (e.g. for focus groups), not to exceed 40 hours/week
 Strong work ethic, a good sense of humor, and a commitment to social justice

Desired:
 Experience working in a diverse multi-cultural community
 Relevant experience in community development / workforce programs
 Database experience, preferably Salesforce
 Bi-lingual English-Spanish (both written and spoken)