Executive Director

The National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) seeks a dynamic and inspiring Executive Director to lead NYEC’s implementation of its vision, mission, values, ten-year strategic road map, and short-term strategic plan. 

The NYEC Executive Director has the unique opportunity to make significant contributions to addressing some of America’s most salient youth employment challenges, including assisting in developing public policy, forging strategic partnerships and promoting programmatic innovations to ensure more young people transition successfully to adulthood and find pathways to satisfying and rewarding careers. 

The Executive Director will lead the implementation of a policy and advocacy approach to address the systemic racial inequities in the workforce development system affecting young men and women of color, particularly our black and brown young people, LGBTQ+ youth, immigrant and refugee youth, and young people with disabilities.  

The ideal candidate is deeply committed to the vision and mission of NYEC, especially the organization’s commitments to racial equity, inclusion of young people in decision making processes and structures affecting their lived experiences; and improving outcomes for youth, particularly opportunity youth. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with a Board of Directors, a small team of staff and consultants, and strategic partners in the youth development, education, workforce development, criminal justice, food security, and housing communities. The Executive Director will report to the committed and active Board of Directors to carry out the vision set forth in the newly developed strategic plan including programming with NYEC’s membership organizations, grant-based work, and policy advocacy.

Roles and Responsibilities 

The Executive Director will have specific responsibility for the following areas: 

Strategic Leadership and Vision

• Develop, articulate, and execute a strategic vision for the organization in a dynamic policy and budget environment.
• Provide leadership, direction, and motivation to staff and consultants to ensure the overall successful implementation of the organization’s two-year strategic priorities and ten-year strategic road map. 
• Build on NYEC's strong credibility with federal and state officials, decision-makers, and advocates, identifying opportunities to advance a transformational agenda for young people.
• Ensure annual performance benchmarks are met that lead to successfully meeting the organization’s long-term goals and impact. 
• Ensure all strategies maintain a focus on addressing disparities among target populations throughout program implementation and NYEC’s work is increasingly grounded in a commitment to racial, social, and economic justice, particularly for black and brown youth, immigrant and refugee youth, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth with disabilities. 
• Facilitate an open, inclusive, supportive work environment and working relationships that reflect high levels of integrity, respect, and dignity.
• Facilitate the expansion of membership and support strategic partnerships essential to achieving NYEC’s long-term goals and enabling sustainability of the organization.

Ensure Financial Viability and Direct Development

• Ensure best-in-class financial management practices.
• Raise adequate funding, in collaboration with Board Members, to sustain the organization’s operations and generate significant new revenues of up to $1 million annually to support the implementation of NYEC’s long-term vision and strategy.
• Expand relationships with public and private funders to solidify multi-year funding prospects and create a solid grant pipeline to inform Board strategic planning.

Expand, Strengthen, and Support NYEC’s Members Network

• Grow, support, and mobilize NYEC’s membership through outreach, events, communication, and other engagement strategies.
• Strengthen NYEC’s online community engagement for youth and adult partners to share experiences and practices.
• Curate members’ best practices in youth engagement and leadership and disseminate them widely.
• Host high-quality forums and other events for members and youth.
• Mobilize membership to build support for critical long-term strategic goals.

Change Policies, Structures and Processes to Ensure Stronger Youth Voice in Decision-making 

• Work with the Board of Directors to bring on young people as board members and revise NYEC policies, structures and processes to make youth voice central to all levels of decision-making and activity.
• Leverage members’ experiences and expertise to promote organizational changes that facilitate greater youth inclusion in decision making processes.
• Collaborate with other youth serving organizations to create and offer a portfolio of youth leadership development opportunities and supports.
• Support leaders and staff of all NYEC member organizations to be effective, impactful leaders for equity in their communities through professional development and professional learning communities. 

Management 

• Lead, inspire, and manage staff, consultants, and partners.  
• Work closely with the Chair of the Board of Directors to prepare board meetings and optimize Board member engagement and development in their roles as ambassadors.
• Track and communicate progress and results. 

Qualifications, Experience, and Expertise

The Executive Director will bring demonstrated experience in three areas considered essential and non-negotiable in order to facilitate NYEC’s success on its ten-year strategic journey:

Development experience. NYEC is a stable organization positioned for and committed to growing its reach, resources, influence, and impact. The Executive Director will bring expertise in effectively growing and expanding an organization and managing the successful implementation of a strategic vision.

Network leveraging experience. The Executive Director will provide leadership to a well-developed network consisting of workforce and youth development professional, individual, and institutional connections throughout the country, including workforce boards, youth employment programs, community groups, and local, state, and national research and advocacy organizations. In addition, the Executive Director will have active relationships with public and private funders, including philanthropic funders with a specific interest in youth engagement and employment issues.

Organizational alignment of values and principles. The Executive Director will bring a mindset and values consistent with NYEC’s values, mission statement, and principles as outlined in NYEC’s 40th Anniversary publication. The Executive Director will bring a deep commitment to racial, social, gender, and economic justice and hold as a core value the power of youth and adults with lived experiences to be the leaders of shaping policy and practice.

Additional Qualifications include:

• Significant youth development and workforce development experience in communities, states, and/or with young people.
• Familiarity with key federal and state statutes and policies pertaining to youth employment, development, and leadership.
• Experience with working closely and productively with a nonprofit Board of Directors. 
• Strong familiarity with potential sources of philanthropic and corporate support 
• Experience implementing racial/gender equity initiatives. 
• A proven ability to lead coalitions and collaborative efforts among a distributed network of organizations in the pursuit of common goals.
• Excellent writing and public speaking abilities. 
• Strong group facilitation and presentation skills. 
• Willingness to travel.

Location and Travel

NYEC is a national organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. While not a requirement, locating near the national office in Washington, DC, is preferred. Alternatively, the Executive Director can be remotely stationed with flexibility and commitment to travel to and from D.C. frequently, as NYEC needs demand.

The National Youth Employment Coalition is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, gender identify, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. 

We are especially interested in candidates that reflect the lived experience and characteristics of the young people to which NYEC is deeply committed, including but not limited to people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities.