Executive Director

Description:

La Peninsula Community Organization helps children and families chart a pathway out of poverty through comprehensive early childhood education in the Bronx communities of Hunts Point, Morris Heights, and Tremont. They accomplish this through one of the longest continuously running Head Start programs in the nation, with 110 staff members in five centers serving 473 children aged three through five years old and their families.

La Peninsula Community Organization’s mission is a bold one—every child will graduate prepared socially, emotionally, physically, and academically for kindergarten and beyond. For the past 52 years the organization has continually delivered on this mission for Bronx families and the broader community.  

The organization’s long-standing Executive Director is retiring, creating the opportunity for a new leader to guide and grow the program into the future. This will include fostering and cultivating partnerships with local government. The opportunity is perfect for the experienced early educator with experience in administration and an interest in further increasing services for the Bronx’s children and families.

The Position

The Executive Director will lead the La Peninsula Team in pursuing the organization’s mission to serve young children and their families. The Executive Director will lead the operations, including inspiring and supporting the staff, and provide educational leadership to ensure La Peninsula continues to offer impactful, research-based education.

Specifically, the Executive Director will have four areas of focus:

1. Ensuring that all children completing the program are ready to succeed in kindergarten socially, emotionally, and academically and that their families are engaged and supported.
2. Providing for the financial sustainability of La Peninsula by ensuring compliance with all federal, state, city regulations to maintain government funding streams and accountability and pursuing opportunities for new funding to enhance and expand services for children and families.
3. Supporting staff to maintain quality educational services, including family and community engagement; operations; and morale.
4. Setting the long-term course of the organization to continuously improve the effectiveness and extent of services offered to children and families in Hunts Point, Morris Heights, and Tremont.

Responsibilities:

• Providing high-quality educational program that ensures children are socially, emotionally, and educationally ready for Kindergarten.
• Crafting and advancing a developmentally appropriate education system by providing educational leadership at all levels.
• Ensuring compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations.
• Identifying and pursuing new sources of funding.
• Creating a culture of high performance among all staff, at every level.
• Overseeing the management of agency finances including, developing budgets aligned with both the needs of the organization and the children and families it serves and approving expenses in conjunction with the comptroller.
• Keeping abreast of the local landscape to identify and pursue new opportunities to improve and expand services.

Qualifications: