Partnerships Manager

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) seeks a Partnerships Manager to support TNOYS’ youth and young adult (YYA) outreach, education, training, and base-building strategy. The Partnerships Manager must value diversity, equity, and inclusion and demonstrate a commitment to positively impact youth outcomes across youth-focused systems: housing and homeless services, child welfare, justice, education, workforce, health and behavioral health, and victim and survivor services. Individuals with lived experiences with these systems are strongly encouraged to apply. The position works with various internal TNOYS teams and external organizations and allies to advance integrated issue campaigns, maximize outcomes, and strengthen an infrastructure to promote greater YYA participation in informing systems and conducting systems change.

As the Partnerships Manager, you will lead TNOYS’ Youth Voices and Texas Emerging Leaders Board while providing essential support to our overarching YYA engagement strategy. TNOYS’ YYA programming aims to empower young individuals by bolstering their self-worth, fostering relationship skills, encouraging them to take safe risks, develop problem-solving capabilities, and uncover their inherent strengths and leadership potential. At TNOYS, youth voice is at the core of our mission, offering numerous opportunities for young people to become actively involved in our initiatives, both on a significant and smaller scale.

The position will work with YYA across the TNOYS youth engagement roadmap including: Interviews, storytelling, Texas Emerging Leaders Board (TELB) program, experiential camps, board involvement, and staff positions at TNOYS and its member organizations.

This role presents an exceptional opportunity to engage with and cultivate passionate young adult leaders who possess lived experience in areas such as foster care, homelessness, and other systems. Working closely with our team, you will empower these young adults to amplify their voices and bring about meaningful systems change. This will involve policy advocacy, as well as planning state and local events to educate peers, partner organizations, legislators, and government officials.

Reports to: Director of Partnerships

Principal Responsibilities:

• Lead the Texas Emerging Leaders Board (TELB), which includes but is not limited to: recruiting YYA with lived experience, building constructive and professional relationships with Communities of Practice, planning and coordinating regular virtual meetings, developing and implementing curriculum, and providing ongoing support for personal and professional development.
• Lead the Youth Voices program which includes working directly with YYA to elevate their personal stories and coach storytellers to prepare them for legislative testimony, interviews, videos, op-eds, blogs, etc and facilitating internal and external YYA engagement at listening sessions, Annual conference, newsletters, emails, etc.
• Support the implementation of TNOYS experiential camps for system-involved youth, e.g., Physical and Environmental Activities for Knowledge and Skills (PEAKS) Camp.
• Coordinate programming for TNOYS’ annual Day of Action for Youth and facilitate YYA attendance/travel, storytelling, media requests, and testimony.
• Identify and coordinate opportunities to engage YYA members meaningfully in TNOYS’ work, including policy, communications, and training.
• Sustain and expand partnerships with the TNOYS Member Network, state coalitions, and elected officials to advance TNOYS priorities, youth participation, and recruitment of YYA.
• Recruit, train, support, coach, and hold accountable young adult leaders in TNOYS programming and on staff.
• Collaborate with local coalitions, external partners, and young adult leaders to implement effective organizing, policy, and communications campaigns.
• Develop and maintain daily reporting structures to track YYA engagement efforts throughout Texas, including documenting in Salesforce.
• Work with the TNOYS policy team to ensure TNOYS policy priorities reflect the needs and experiences of young people and to translate complex policy ideas and educational issues into YYA-focused outreach materials.
• Work with the TNOYS communications team to support YYA-facing communications such as membership, newsletters, conferences, speaker bureau, social media content, social media takeovers, podcasts, and meetups.
• Work with the TNOYS practice team to develop and implement training projects designed to serve YYA, develop and execute youth-led training for network partners and stakeholders, and ensure youth voice and input in conferences.
• Work with the TNOYS operations team to ensure YYA in our programs are compensated in a timely manner, track timesheets, and complete and record grant deliverables.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 3 years of organizational leadership and management experience.
• Ability to build effective and strategic partnerships with a wide range of partners (public sector, private sector, plural sector, etc.).
• Experience with political advocacy campaign strategy and implementation.
• Experience working with systems-involved youth and young adults.
• Proven ability to develop organizers and leaders using empathy and a trauma-informed approach.
• Outreach and organizing experience with systems-involved youth, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced start-up atmosphere and remote work environment.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, as well as excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in a team environment.
• Ability to manage several tasks/projects concurrently and prioritize work effectively.
• Ability to engage youth during non-traditional working hours such as evenings, weekends, a willingness to have a flexible schedule, participate in some in-person engagements, as well as weeklong overnight engagements.
• Spanish language skills are preferred.
• Training and curriculum development experience is preferred.