About iMentor
iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower students from low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions. iMentor partners with public schools and matches every student in the school with a college-educated mentor. Mentors commit a minimum of three or four years to a single student. Mentor-mentee pairs work together through the iMentor curriculum, which is designed around four core outcomes: developing strong personal relationships between mentors and mentees, growing each mentee’s college aspiration, developing the non-cognitive skills critical to success in college, and successfully navigating the college exploration, application, financial aid, and transition process.
Since 1999, iMentor has connected 11,000 students with mentors. This year, iMentor will operate a direct service program for 3,500 students in NYC, currently serving 200 students in Chicago, and will launch programming in the Bay Area for in the fall of 2016. iMentor also partners with 13 organizations across the country who run the iMentor model in their local communities, serving a total of 2,800 additional students.
iMentor has been recognized through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Robin Hood Foundation, and is a subgrantee of the federal Social Innovation Fund. As a team, we are collaborative, bring passion and joy to our work, and deeply believe in human potential. iMentor was recently named one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For by Opportunity Knocks and The Nonprofit Times. Read more about our work and values at: http://www.imentor.org
Position Overview
iMentor is seeking a College Years Manager (CYM) who will provide strategic guidance for mentors to support their mentees enrolled in iMentor’s College Years program, building a path of success for students through post-secondary education. They will help mentors to be advocates viable resources for their mentees as they matriculate to, enroll in, and remain enrolled in 2 year or 4 year undergraduate programs. The CYM will also support pairs by providing ad hoc college advisement; including registration deadlines, financial aid information, and applicable enrollment updates relevant to the college experience. The College Years Manager will have an intimate knowledge of the New York State college landscape, including CUNY and SUNY systems, and will be able to articulate the needs of adult volunteer mentors who support mentees through their individualized college persistence goals and eventually, college graduation.
The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of professional experience working to support young adults within a post-secondary context, a passion for helping students achieve college success, a strong customer service orientation, and the ability to motivate adult volunteers of all ages and backgrounds.
Responsibilities
Pair Support and Case Management
o Facilitate relationships between mentor/mentee pairs enrolled in the College Years program, including monitoring participation; providing individual case management; proactively and reactively assisting relationships through remote communication (phone outreach and targeted messaging); and identifying pairs who need additional support.
o Help mentor and mentee pairs navigate important deadlines and decisions within the college landscape including; financial aid deadlines, registration and enrollment advisement, resource identification, career building, socio-emotional development, and balancing course load.
o Leverage mentor support to help drive student engagement in the college navigation process and ensure that mentors enhance their own pair relationship progress throughout the mentee college experience.
o Provide occasional individual in-person advising support via ad hoc office hours and on-campus visits for mentees.
o Document all support provided and maintain high quality, timely notes on progress of all pairs.
o Identify and escalate any safety issues or student concerns, following internal safety protocols.
Strategic Messaging and Curricular Support
o Direct mentors to resources that highlight important college persistence updates and information impacting their mentee’s undergraduate experience.
o Collaborate with teams across iMentor to disseminate monthly curriculum content to facilitate pair growth, introduce new mentor support content, and provide next steps for pairs.
o Contribute to mass e-mail marketing, social media, and list serv content tailored for both mentor and mentee audiences.
o Proactively and reactively respond to incoming inquiries from both mentors and mentees via messaging and social media platforms.
o Work in conjunction with iMentor high school program to successfully transition pairs from 12th grade to the College Years program with support and thought partnership of the 12th grade Program Manager team.
Event Planning and Partnership Development
o Manage logistics and facilitation of College Years workshops, financial aid information sessions, and other ad hoc events designed to support mentee college persistence.
o Work closely with College Years Program Director to enhance visibility of iMentor’s College Years program within college access community and develop relationships with CUNY and SUNY administrators, consortiums, and other college access resource programs.
o Conduct research on student resources and remain abreast of real-time & local college policies, deadlines, etc, especially related to CUNY and SUNY.
o Represent iMentor at external meetings and in groups in relationship to advance of college success research and best practices.
Data and Participation Analysis
o Analyze, report, and understand programmatic data of the college access space to help team identify best practices for student support.
o Provide responsive or proactive support/outreach to mentees and pairs based on creation of focus lists based on data analysis.
o Work closely with iMentor’s Research and Evaluation team to identify key data points relevant to understanding college persistence trends on both a national and local level.
Qualifications
· 3 + years of professional experience in college advising, college access programming, and/or post-secondary programming with large groups of young adults.
· Excited about the college access space and must demonstrate passion for supporting first-generation college students as they matriculate to and through college.
· Intimate knowledge of New York State (NYS) college landscape, including CUNY and SUNY school system deadlines and financial aid opportunities.
· Demonstrated interest in working with people from various backgrounds and comfort interacting remotely with constituents.
· Proven effectiveness in high-volume case management within a fast-paced setting.
· Strong organization and project management skills with ability to balance multiple priorities and high-volume tasks.
· Experience using data and research as a way to drive program results and assess engagement trends.
· Excellent strategic problem-solving skills with ability to ‘think on your feet’ and plan both proactively and reactively.
· Experience with large-group event facilitation, preferably with young adults or adult volunteers.
· Must have a customer service orientation with demonstrated support for program constituents.
· Must also demonstrate the ability to maintain confidential and sensitive information.
· Able to travel via public transportation to external meetings and to NYC college campus visits for individual or small group mentee check-ins.
· Aligned in thought and action with iMentor's values (http://www.imentor.org/values).
· Views differences between individuals (race, gender, age, cultural heritage, physical ability, education and lifestyle) as an asset and demonstrates an appreciation of the diversity within iMentor.
· Bachelor’s degree required.
· Employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory fingerprinting and criminal background check, conducted by the Division of Human Resources at the New York City Department of Education.
Compensation & Benefits
· Salary commensurate with experience
· Up to 100% employer funded comprehensive medical and dental coverage
· 18 days paid annual vacation and 13 paid holidays + most iMentor functions closed between Christmas and New Year’s Day
· 401K match up to 4%
· Significant opportunities for professional development and growth
How to Apply
Visit www.imentor.org/jobs to submit a resume, salary requirements, and detailed cover letter describing your interest in and qualifications for the position. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, so it is in candidates’ best interest to apply as soon as possible. No phone, email, mail, or fax inquiries will receive a response.
iMentor is an Equal Opportunity Employer