New York Program Director, The Petey Greene Program

About Us

The Petey Greene Program supports the academic goals of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through high-quality volunteer tutoring programs, while educating volunteers on the injustice manifest in our carceral system.

We envision a world in which all incarcerated people have access to high-quality academic programs and we strive to inspire our alumni - both students and tutors - to become advocates, and to take on leadership roles that reimagine the criminal legal system.

The PGP operates the largest multi-state volunteer tutoring program for currently and formerly incarcerated people. Since our founding in 2008, we’ve served over 21,000 students across more than 140 programming sites—including correctional and reentry programs—placed over 9,000 volunteers, and partnered with 40+ universities in seven states and Washington, D.C.

The PGP is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, but the majority of our 30 employees work in a hybrid arrangement in their respective regions.

The Role

The New York Program Director will be responsible for leading PGP’s programming, partnerships, growth, and regional team in the New York region. The New York Program Director will ensure the provision of high-quality programming as well as guide the development of new programming across the region. In addition, they will serve as the primary representative of the PGP in New York, building relationships with community and correctional partners, universities, key public officials, and funders in New York to support the development of sustainable PGP programming in the region.

The New York Program Director will lead the development and launch of a new on-site educational program led by the PGP in a local correctional facility. This will include involvement in hiring and staffing the project, as well as developing and adjusting a program model to meet the needs of students incarcerated at the facility. Additionally, the New York Program Director will be responsible for overseeing and supporting the PGP’s current community-based and reentry educational programming supporting formerly incarcerated students in New York City, while exploring opportunities for funded expansion both within the city and New York state.

This New York Program Director will supervise a team of up to 12 staff members in the New York region and report to the Senior Director of Regional Programs.

Preferred candidates will reside in the greater New York City area. The role is hybrid, with a combination of work-from-home days, meetings in the community or at partner sites, on-site visits (at least once per week), and in-office days at a coworking space (at least once per week).

We are aiming for the position to start in January 2026. The offer and start date are conditional on receipt of committed funding.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Regional Programming Responsibilities
  • Leads and supports the New York team in overseeing the week-to-week operations in all of PGP’s New York tutoring programs including monitoring high-level trends and troubleshooting challenges
  • Regularly monitors New York program data to ensure consistent implementation of processes and accurate data across the region, as well as collection of academic data
  • Supports professional development of regional staff, including development of their own management skills and practice
  • Develops and implements a program model for contracted educational programming at a local correctional facility
  • Responsible for hiring, onboarding, and staffing the New York region in collaboration with national team members
  • Ensure the operational success of the region, including leading and managing budgeting and monitoring income and expenditures for the region
  • Directs a team of 12 and directly supervises a team of 5 staff members staff, conducting weekly team meetings with New York staff, as well as individual check-ins with direct reports
  • Travel throughout the region to meet with regional staff, support partnership meetings, attend regional events, etc.
• National Organizational Responsibilities
  • Builds and maintains relationships with all regional stakeholders including community partners, universities, correctional facilities, etc.
  • Cultivate relationships with other organizations supporting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in the New York area, generating opportunities for collaborative programming and funding
  • Develop and secure new programs and fee-for-service opportunities in the region, in collaboration with PGP’s national team and the Puttkammer Center for Educational Justice
  • Collaborate with PGP’s development and finance department to manage grant deliverables as well as fee-for-service invoicing and grant reporting for programs in the region
  • Ensure the sustainability of the region's current programming, collaborating with the Senior Director of Regional Programs and PGP’s Development team on any proposed expansions
  • Represent PGP New York at meetings with funders, collaborating with national staff to identify, cultivate, and pursue funders
  • Cultivate relationships with key public officials to position PGP as a resource on effective education for currently and formerly incarcerated youth and adults, while generating and identifying opportunities to sustain and expand fully-funded programming in New York
  • Develop and implement a regional strategic plan, in alignment with the PGP’s organizational strategic plan

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 7 years of related experience in carceral education and program development
• At least 5 years of previous managerial experience (experience managing early-career professionals preferred)
• Experience developing, launching, and/or managing a large-scale educational program
• Exceptional facility, and proven track record, with interpreting programmatic data and implementing metrics-driven approaches to program management
• Experience with and knowledge of education in carceral environments
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with a diverse group of partners
• Ability to lead and support both in-person and virtual meetings, and adjust communication style for various stakeholders (correctional facility administrators, university or community volunteers, campus-based student organizations, etc.)
• Ability to simultaneously hold the long-term vision of a region in mind, while also focusing on the day-to-day details that make a program successful
• Extremely organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to monitor and support staff in their responsibilities as well as track and complete your own
• Ability to problem solve
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Proficiency in Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Calendar
• Awareness of issues related to mass incarceration and broader social justice concerns.
• Must be able to be cleared to enter local, state, and federal correctional institutions in New York (if you have concerns about this requirement, we encourage you to still submit an application or reach out to us so we can discuss further)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with and knowledge of tutor-centric educational programs and/or volunteer programs
• Experience with strategic planning, budgeting, and/or fundraising
• Experience collaborating with higher education institutions
• An understanding of the US criminal legal system and local policies.
• A commitment to education in confined settings.

The Petey Greene Program is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its personnel decisions based on race, ancestry, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/domestic partner status, religion, age, disability status, veteran status, or former incarceration status.

We are committed to ongoing learning and reflection and we are continuously working to ensure that the Petey Greene Program is welcoming and supportive of staff members of all identities, including system-impacted people, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people. We also believe that this work should be led by system-impacted people, whose perspectives and direct knowledge of the problems are necessary to achieving freedom and educational justice.

The Petey Greene Program’s staff make our work possible and we are committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package to support employee’s well-being and professional growth. These benefits include:

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits with the PGP covering 60-82% of premiums
• 100% employer-paid life insurance and short- and long-term disability benefits
• 401k retirement plan
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Paid winter break between Christmas and New Year’s day, in addition to 10 paid holidays throughout the year
• Full-time employees accrue 20 days of vacation time, 1 floating holiday, and 12 days of sick time per year
• PGP closes at 1 PM on Fridays from June through August
• Dedicated funds for employees to use towards professional development each year
• Monthly phone and/or wifi reimbursement
• Access to a local coworking space