Program Director

DC Peers is looking for a Program Director to help us plan and coordinate our neurodiverse social meetups and workshops with teens and adults.

Who we are: DC Peers is a nonprofit community organization offering social opportunities and neurodiversity workshops to neurodiverse groups of teens and adults.

What we do: We run a variety of weekly and biweekly Social Meetup groups, Neurodiversity Groups, and Support circles for teens and adults. Visit our website at www.dcpeers.org.

Who we serve: Most of our participants are "low support" teens and adults, ages 11-60, who can handle school and/or work, but who are more isolated than they would like because of a pervasive lack of understanding of the autistic experience. We are a community organization, not a clinical practice of any kind, so are not yet equipped to offer trained help to those with more complex mental health, logistical, or communication issues.

About the job: Our new Program Director will work closely with the Executive Director and with our staff to plan and coordinate our current groups, and to improve on and expand our program offerings. We are a very small organization and the hierarchy is a bit fuzzy, but the Program Director will (gradually) take ownership of the quality and success of our meetups and groups.

Responsibilities may include:

• Planning and running new weekday afternoon after-school clubs for teens.
• Planning and overseeing our six week-long summer camps.
• Overseeing the planning and facilitation of other groups, in collaboration with Director and staff
• Researching, planning and "play-testing" appropriate activities, games, crafts, etc., for groups, writing instructions when needed, and planning ahead to ensure we have the supplies and the staff necessary.
• Capturing notes and ideas about participants’ interests, new group ideas, successful/unsuccessful lessons and games.
• Creating and implementing new groups (i.e., a Dungeons & Dragons club) and planning special activities.
• Assisting with the evaluation of short-term and intermediate program outcomes through pre- and post-assessments and surveys of participants and parents.
• Conducting ongoing research about what we do, who else is doing it both locally and nationally, and how we can improve.
• Capturing our work: taking notes during groups and meetings, annotating successful/unsuccessful lesson and activity plans, taking occasional photos and videos of groups, etc.
• Writing about our work more creatively and descriptively for grant applications and/or reports, or for our website or social media accounts.
• Contributing to the grant reporting process as it relates to program development and management of the DC Peers programming.

Core Qualifications:

• Nuanced knowledge of and experience with autism and neurodiversity
• Experience working with and guiding neurodivergent teenagers and groups
• Experience planning successful activities for groups, classes, and workshops
• Enthusiasm about our mission
• Maturity, patience, creativity, and strong organization skills
• Very strong written and oral communication skills
• Facility with MS Office (Word, Excel, & Powerpoint), Google Drive (and Docs, Sheets, etc) and with Zoom, and ideally with tech in general
• Reliable availability for some evening and weekend groups (schedule to be negotiated)

Ideal Candidates will be:

• Organized and detail-oriented
• Comfortable with a variety of personalities and able to build rapport with participants and families
• Familiar with “autism culture,” or at least “geek culture”!
• Creative and resourceful with planning crafts, games, and activities
• Comfortable enough with social media to help us capture and post what we're doing

TERMS: We are open to negotiating hours and salary with the right candidate. We anticipate the role starting at 20-30 hours per week and growing toward full-time as programming expands. We will offer training and professional development opportunities to support that growth. Salary range will be between $40,000-60,000, depending on experience, skill, and ability to take ownership of program management.

Neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and residents from under-resourced communities are encouraged to apply. DC Peers does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Please note: a background check will be required following a conditional offer of employment.

Benefits include generous paid time off (10 days PTO) plus approximately 20-24 paid holidays annually, including the week between Christmas and New Year's — totaling roughly 5-6 weeks off per year.

English - very proficient