Program Manager

About Hope Chicago

Launched in 2021, Hope Chicago is a new, non-profit seeking to reduce economic and social inequity by providing access to debt-free higher education for Chicago public school students and their adult family members. By lifting up families, in addition to students, Hope Chicago aims to accelerate economic and social progress and the rebirth and restoration of Chicago communities.

Focused on providing access, Hope Chicago funds post-secondary scholarships for Chicago public school graduates and an adult family member to attend 4-year, 2-year or credentialing programs. Hope Chicago’s holistic approach also provides for students’ non-tuition costs like room and board, books, fees, and transportation, and supports scholars with wraparound support from local and national partner organizations. All students in Hope Chicago’s partner high schools are eligible. More information about Hope Chicago is available at www.hopechicago.org.

About the Role

Hope Chicago is seeking a dedicated and experienced Program Manager to join the program team. Under the direction and support of the Chief Program Officer and Director of Program Strategy, the Program Manager will work to provide postsecondary access, completion programming, financial scholarships, and aid to thousands of Chicago public school students and their parent(s) or guardian(s). Dozens of partner schools and nonprofit organizations provide wraparound advising and support for postsecondary access and success. The Program Manager will help build and oversee these relationships to advance Hope Chicago’s goals.

This role has a focus on four key areas:

(1) Program development and implementation - as a growing organization, Program Managers play a key role in helping to drive and refine the program model to ensure scholar success. Working closely with In-network postsecondary institutions, Program Managers will have goals aligned to establishing a sustainable and comprehensive program across postsecondary partners.

(2) Stakeholder and resource management - with partners around the state, Program Managers’ ability to oversee, support, and engage stakeholders is crucial to the organization’s success. This role will lead in-network postsecondary teams through establishing strategic initiatives to support the unique needs of Hope scholars collectively and individually, while also identifying and connecting key resources to track scholar progress.

(3) Program Evaluation and Reporting - The Program Manager role will focus on ensuring the collection and monitoring of data while working closely with the Hope data team, institutional partners and other contributors to ensure there are clear outcomes, goals, tracking, progress monitoring and reporting on Hope Scholars.

(4) Team Leadership - As the first and largest team at Hope Chicago, Program Managers are expected to provide guidance and support to other programmatic staff and the larger organization. This role will continue to foster an environment of program collaboration and innovation across all departments to ensure program fidelity. Additionally, the Program Team serves as the first point of contact for Hope representation at various activities associated with Chicago Public Schools, college partners, the education nonprofit sector, and other local and national activities.

A successful candidate must have a personal passion for and professional commitment to equitable access to learning opportunities for young people and adults alike, with a particular focus on communities that have been underestimated and lacked investment. The Program Manager must believe that pathways to postsecondary educational attainment can empower people of all ages to create socio-economic mobility for themselves, their families, and entire communities.

Key Responsibilities

The Program Manager will:

• Develop and execute implementation plans alongside leadership and practitioners at partner high schools and postsecondary institutions;
• Oversee the collaborative relationships between Hope Chicago, partner high schools, and postsecondary institutions, and a broad array of nonprofit program partners in college access, college success, adult learning, and/or workforce transitions;
• Manage, direct, and assess the quality and continuous improvement of a portfolio of specific in-network postsecondary institutions as assigned;
• Collaborate with relevant Chicago Public Schools high school partners on Hope Chicago programming and access efforts;
• Coordinate and maintain institutional engagement with key offices, departments, and leaders to support key programmatic strategies that drive student, persistence, retention and success; including coordinating institutional visits aligned to student success metrics (ie 10-Day, Midterms and end of year check ins)
• Support scholar engagement and policy adherence through a series of hybrid meetings (on campus, in-person, virtual) and touchpoints with scholars, in collaboration with Campus Contact, and institutional support staff;
• Maintain and expand Hope Chicago’s data and metrics on partner schools, postsecondary institutions, and communities to drive institutional strategies with partners that lead to student success ;
• Support the continuous improvement process for Hope Chicago programming, coordinating with Hope Chicago’s external evaluation partner and institutions, capturing data directly from schools, student and parent/ guardian scholars, and program partners;
• Lead the capture and documentation of programmatic best practices and policies to ensure continuous improvement as Hope Chicago and its partners learn; and
• Contribute to Hope Chicago’s programmatic strategy, and collaborate with colleagues as part of a growing and evolving organization.

Qualifications and Competencies

• Possess at least 4 years of experience in college access and college success and/or managing organizational partnerships in progressively more advanced roles;
• Hold a bachelor’s degree;
• Have experience interfacing and collaborating with high schools, school systems, higher education institutions and/or educational or youth-serving nonprofit organizations in Chicago or similar settings;
• Demonstrate meticulous project management skills with a commitment to excellence;
• Be relentless and creative when confronted with complex challenges;
• Seek feedback and learning opportunities whenever possible; and
• Enjoy dynamic, fast-paced, and collaborative work, being flexible in a young organization.
• Work with urgency and go above and beyond.
• When seeing a challenge, being proactive to lead on a solution.
• Have experience and enjoy strategic thinking, mapping, and planning.

Fluency in Spanish is preferred but not required. Periodic travel to Illinois college campuses and some nights and weekends work will be required.