Rivers to Success Program Coordinator

Indspire is an Indigenous-led registered charity that invests in the education of Indigenous people for the long term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada. With the support of its funding partners, Indspire disburses financial awards, delivers programs, and shares resources with the goal of closing the gap in Indigenous education. Through the Indspire Institute, it provides resources to educators, communities, and other stakeholders who are committed to improving kindergarten to grade 12 success for Indigenous youth. Since its inception in 1985, Indspire has disbursed almost $79 million through close to 25,000 scholarships and bursaries to Indigenous students, making it the largest funder of Indigenous education outside the federal government. Each year, the organization presents the Indspire Awards, a gala celebration of the successes achieved by Indigenous people that is broadcast nationally.

Reporting to the Director, K-12 Institute, the Rivers to Success Program Coordinator will coordinate and support the Rivers to Success National Mentorship Program that supports the academic success of Indigenous youth by expanding the post-secondary program and initiating the high school program. To coordinate recruitment and selection, orientation, eligibility and screening, training curriculum, matching strategy, monitoring process and program evaluation.

The position responsibilities of the Rivers to Success Program Coordinator include:

Key Duties

• Recruits mentors and mentees for the Rivers to Success Mentorship Program in advance of each school year and throughout the year, as required.
• Matches students one-on-one with Indigenous and non-Indigenous mentors from the corporate, academic sectors, Indspire’s pool of alumni from the Building Brighter Futures Scholarships and Bursaries program and employees from Indspire’s corporate and public sector partners.
• Ensures growth of the program to engage a minimum of 200 mentor/mentees (400 participants) by 2018-19 and ensures growth is equally divided between post-secondary and high school students.
• Oversees the contracts of all mentors and mentees including the payment of honoraria.
• Designs and delivers robust orientation and training sessions specific to Indigenous ways of learning to enable participants to become aware of the needs of Indigenous students.
• Prepares letters, communications and information packages and communicates directly with employers, community teachers and schools.
• Builds and maintains effective relationships with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, organizations, schools and workplaces to promote program for both post-secondary and high school students.
• Maintains a schedule of contact with mentors and mentees involved in the program.
• Oversees an annual, comprehensive evaluation of the program and designs methods to collect evaluation information or data such as surveys to monitor success and feedback from both mentors and participating students.
• Oversees program ensuring timelines are followed and adherence to program work plan.
• Oversees the collection of program information, data and provides annual summarized program report and other specific reports as required.
• Oversees and regularly reports budget updates for the program to Director, K-12 Institute.
• With the input of the Director, K-12 Institute, designs and implements a quality assurance program.

Outreach

• Works closely with Bursary and Scholarship recipients, schools and employers to recruit mentors and mentees to the program.
• Works closely with TD Bank Group to encourage TD’s employees to become mentors and provides materials to promote the program.
• Participates in Indspire’s outreach activities to promote the program and recruit new mentees and mentors as required.
• Deploys Indspire’s Regional Representatives to visit campuses across Canada.
• Creates and distributes promotional materials to student centres and high schools throughout the country.
• Works with teachers at targeted high schools.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience working in project coordination or program management.
• Experience in engaging Indigenous community/population, knowledge of culture, traditions and/or language would be considered an asset.
• Experience with education systems as a whole.
• Ability to build rapport with contacts.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with the Indspire Institute and mentors/mentees.
• Ability to flex schedule to evenings and weekends as program needs require.
• Ability to travel to support recruitment and training as program needs require.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, flexible and able to work within short timelines
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong judgment and analytical skills, ability to work under pressure, manage and prioritize competing demands.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office and database systems.
• French language skills an asset.

The duties within this job description can be amended from time to time.

How to Apply

This is a full-time, three-year contract position and can be based at any one of our three offices in Winnipeg, Toronto, or Six Nations. To apply, please send your résumé and cover letter to education@indspire.ca by September 30, 2016.

We appreciate all interest and will contact qualified applicants. No agency calls please

Deadline for Applications:  September 30, 2016