Operations / Administration Alumni Manager
Job Description
Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: Manager
Salary: $65,000 – $89,000
For over thirty years, NYC Outward Bound Schools has provided transformative educational experiences in communities that have been historically marginalized. We operate a network of schools in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Our uniquely powerful program combines the Outward Bound approach with the principles of EL (Expeditionary Learning), joining together demanding, engaging learning with an emphasis on community and character. To further extend our impact, we also offer Adventure & Team Building programs to young people and professional learning services to NYC public schools interested in adopting specific Outward Bound practices.
Serving more than 200,000 students, we redefine what educational excellence looks like in New York City public schools. Our results are strong thanks to our robust and personalized professional development and coaching model, our transformative field programming, our focus on community and character building, and our understanding and support of students as individuals to unlock potential. Our overall graduation rates regularly surpass the city average by 10+ percentage points, and we have achieved particularly impressive results among underserved subgroups. This past year, our Black and Latinx students graduated at rates 12 and 14 points higher than their peers citywide, respectively, and our students with disabilities graduated at a rate 27 points higher than their counterparts. Each year nearly all of our graduates are accepted to college.
Our network schools serve a predominantly high-needs student population. We support our schools by providing:
- Coaching and professional development for teachers and school leaders in the implementation of EL Education, a nationally-recognized school-wide model with its roots in Outward Bound.
- Community, character, and leadership development programming for students.
- Post Secondary programming seeks to provide all 6‐12 students in our network with quality counseling support, information about higher education and postsecondary opportunities, as well as other experiences that will allow students to achieve a successful future.
Key Position Responsibilities – The Alumni Manager is responsible for all facets of NYC Outward Bound’s alumni support initiatives, including management of a caseload of alumni, peer mentoring program, organizing events and opportunities for graduates, and maintaining an active presence that includes texting campaigns and responding to alumni queries. The Alumni Manager is responsible for researching and developing relationships with colleges and opportunity programs. They will also manage data and reporting related to NYC Outward Bound alumni.
The Alumni Manager will support the Director of Post Secondary Success in expanding the Post Secondary office by implementing new structures for alumni programming. They will stay up to date with changes in the higher education landscape, examine current practices and establish new ones to align with our theory of action and goals. The Alumni Manager will continue to build on already established partnerships with Network College Counselors and occasionally provide on-site support in schools.
The Alumni Manager will predominantly work out of our headquarters office in Long Island City and schools. This is a full‐time role that reports to the Director of Post Secondary Success and will have the following essential functions:
Counseling (35%)
- Manage a small caseload of recent alumni who have been identified as in need of support.
- Counsel other NYCOBS alumni who require support and information.
- Provide key guidance information to alumni via texting, social media, email, and workshops.
- Visit and assess the quality of support granted to students attending CUNY community colleges and NYS opportunity programs and partner with colleges.
- Work with different student demographics (i.e., foster care youth, undocumented students, etc.) and design college counseling sessions based on specific needs.
- Refer college students to academic and career service offices at their colleges and other non-profits for academic and professional support.
- Work with Human Resources to identify alumni for internal career opportunities.
Program Management & Supervision (30%)
- Oversee the implementation of our Peer Leaders/Peer mentoring program.
- Supervise and support approximately six (6) Peer Leaders
- Visit college campuses to meet students who need additional support.
- Collaborate with the Director of Post Secondary Success to iterate and revise program structures.
- Develop and lead college access and career projects when necessary.
Program and Systems Design (15%)
- Design and tailor support for postsecondary persistence and matriculation.
- Oversee the general college transition needs for college students, including but not limited to: college registration, academic progress, FAFSA/TAP completion, and Dream ACT completion.
- Design a tiered system to identify alumni most in need of support.
- Create and continually refine the annual text message campaign for seniors and alumni.
- Track alumni progress to help identify opportunities in building new systems to further success.
Event Management (10%)
- Oversee the logistic management and successful completion of alumni events.
- Redesign the alumni programming to include in-person, virtual, and hybrid events.
- Help to co-lead college counselor meetings from our Network schools and the Senior MeetUp.
- Support counselors in planning essays, applications, financial aid, and transition workshops.
Data Management (10%)
- Collect data from network school counselors about each graduating class.
- Maintain, update, and analyze our Signal Vine Texting Platform.
- Manage yearly FERPA waiver collection and updates.
- Manage data and reporting requirements for funders related to alumni projects.
- Maintain, update, and actively use Salesforce or another alumni database system both as a counseling tool and research tool.
- Work in partnership with the Director of Continuous Improvement and Data Associate to develop new ways to track alumni postsecondary progress and implement changes based on data results.
- Outreach to students who are unmatched in National Student Clearinghouse.
Professional Experience/Qualifications
- A passion for our mission. A solid understanding of the education ecosystem and student communities served by NYC Outward Bound Schools.
- A strong commitment to educational equity for BIPOC youth and supporting explicit anti-racist work within our organization and partner schools.
- An unwavering conviction that every student can achieve at high levels.
- Bachelor’s Degree in a related field and 3-‐5 years experience in education; Master’s Degree in counseling, higher education, or a related field strongly preferred.
- Counseling or youth support background is strongly preferred.
- Experience working in an alumni support role at a high school, not-for‐profit, or college.
- Experience with helping students complete college applications and financial aid.
- A demonstrated ability to plan and manage high-stakes events.
- Experience working in partnership with the NYC Department of Education Schools.
- Strong working knowledge of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Google Workspace.
- Highly organized and detail-‐oriented.
- A proactive, self-starter accustomed to working under deadlines with the ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
- Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, and ability to work with stakeholders at all levels.
- Demonstrated expertise in building and maintaining professional relationships both internally and externally.
- A positive attitude and a good sense of humor are preferred.
Compensation and Benefits:
- We offer a competitive salary which will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.
- We offer workplace flexibility/remote work to support the well-being of our staff.
- We offer medical, dental, and vision coverage and HRA/FSA/Transit accounts, life insurance, 403(b) with employer match after one year, sick leave, and generous PTO.
NYC Outward Bound Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination against, and harassment of, any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, gender, pregnancy, genetic information, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, military or veteran status, qualified individuals with a disability on the basis of the disability, or any other category which may be protected under applicable state or federal law.
