Program Director

Immigration Services and Advocacy Nonprofit

Boston, Massachusetts

OVERVIEW

As a leading nonprofit serving immigrants from 112 different countries, The Irish Immigration Center (IIC) is looking to expand its reach and has created the new position of Program Director to help the organization strengthen and expand its innovative blend of social service/social justice programs and initiatives that support IIC’s commitment to local and global work. The Program Director will be charged with leading IIC’s committed program staff into its next phase of growth. Drawing on its strategic plan, the Irish Immigration Center is poised for expansion of its legal and social services. This position represents a dynamic challenge for a strong, innovative and skilled program leader who has the vision to create and the management skills to implement expanded program development and evaluation. The ideal candidate will present a significant track record working on immigration programs and services, successfully building and leading a staff, and helping secure new funding from individual and institutional donors.   

ABOUT IIC

The Irish Immigration Center was established by a small group of Irish immigrants in 1989 to assist members of Boston’s burgeoning Irish immigrant community. Familiar with the Massachusetts immigrant experience, these volunteers knew how overwhelming it could be to make the transition from newcomer to active member of the community, to tackle issues like finding affordable housing, and to navigate the complex immigration system.

Over the years, the IIC developed into a multi-service center and safe place for immigrants of all nationalities to turn to for sound advice and support. IIC provides diverse social services to individuals and groups, including citizenship application and support; substance abuse case management and referral; health education; and ESOL classes. IIC also provides legal services to individuals and groups, using a variety of forums including individualized advice and counseling, hotline services, community-based legal service clinics, and workshops and seminars. Indeed, the IIC is the only Irish organization in the United States accredited by the Department of Justice, authorized to represent clients at US Citizenship & Immigration Services. The hallmark of IIC’s programs has been its highly regarded free legal clinics. Staff and volunteer attorneys provide individualized, confidential citizenship- and immigration-related advice to documented and non-documented immigrants in a variety of community-based settings, including community centers, pubs and parish halls.

Even as we maintain our special connections to Ireland and Irish immigrants, the IIC places an equal value on building bridges of understanding and cooperation across cultures, fighting racism and discrimination, advocating for the rights of all immigrants, and working in collaboration with other organizations. Today, the IIC serves Massachusetts immigrants from over 112 countries, boasts a diverse staff and board, and is well known for its work to promote civic engagement and bridge cultural and other divides. Our staff plays a leadership role in a number of coalitions, including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

The organization is led by its long-time executive director, Sister Lena Deevy. Lena Deevy is an internationally recognized advocate for a more progressive immigration policy. The IIC will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, which will provide an excellent platform to promote the organization, its programs and its successes.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Reporting to the Executive Director, the newly created position of Program Director serves as chief program officer for the organization, overseeing the IIC’s portfolio of social service and social justice initiatives that support IIC’s commitment to local and global work. The Program Director will be actively engaged in analyzing the shifting needs of Massachusetts’ Irish and other immigrants; evaluating and refocusing existing programs; and establishing new or revitalized programs that reflect current needs and priorities either independently or in collaboration with strategic partners. At the same time, the Program Director will help guide the IIC’s advocacy and cross-cultural work so that its public policy and coalition-building activities are aligned with organizational goals and priorities.

The Program Director will be responsible for ensuring that meaningful information-sharing and coordination takes place among the different programs, promoting diverse opportunities for cross-program collaboration and understanding. To that end, establishing and ensuring the faithful carrying out of annual workplans for each program will be essential.

The Program Director will work closely with other senior managers in helping lead the organization, and will play an active role in agency planning, budgeting and information-sharing.

Specific new initiatives on IIC’s horizon include: 

• The geographic expansion of its legal clinics;

• The creation of innovative partnerships with schools, social service agencies and businesses that provide much needed citizenship and legal services to diverse immigrant groups; and

• The development of fee-for-service immigration service programs.

In a tough economic climate, federal and state contracts only provide a portion of the program budget. IIC relies on the generous support of foundations and individuals to provide additional and often unrestricted funding. The Program Director will work closely with the fundraising staff to prepare compelling grant proposals and to meet with current and potential donors.

Social and Legal Services Program responsibilities include: Supervising and leading a team of six professionals; engaging in regular program evaluations, assessing the effectiveness of programs and services, making changes as necessary; establishing, monitoring, and evaluating strategic partnerships with allied nonprofit organizations; ensuring the quality of client files, databases and in-house tracking systems to ensure organizational achievements are accurately and meaningfully documented; and representing IIC at public forums, conferences, and other such events.

Advocacy and Public Policy Program responsibilities include: Supervise the public policy advocate; participating where appropriate with coalitions, such as the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition; and regularly evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of programs and activities, making changes as necessary.

Management responsibilities include: Playing a leadership role in the effective operation of the department, ensuring the timely preparation of program goals and annual workplans; providing administrative supervision to professional and support staff, and as necessary oversee the hiring and work of consultants and independent contractors; developing and monitoring the annual program budget; participating in departmental and agency-wide meetings, planning activities, events, etc.; providing timely reports and updates to the Executive Director; promoting cross-program and cross-departmental opportunities for collaboration and information-sharing; and
working collaboratively with development staff to support and expand the programs, including identifying and cultivating institutional and individual donors; helping prepare grant proposals; preparing progress reports.

QUALIFICATIONS

This position calls for a skilled nonprofit professional who is grounded in both program management and people management and/or an attorney with a deep understanding, gained through hands on experience within a nonprofit or on various boards, in complex nonprofit funding streams, program evaluation, and the management of non-reporting advocacy-oriented and program-oriented partners. In either case, the Program Director needs to intrinsically understand that in nonprofits, incentives are not always financially based and progress is measured by yardsticks other than the bottom line.

The Program Director will need to present a demonstrable track record working at senior levels in an immigration-oriented or similar nonprofit organization. Equally important, the successful candidate will be comfortable walking a fine line between supporting a staff of capable professionals accustomed to working independently while ensuring that the organization follows through on its commitment to thinking critically and objectively about current programs.

The ideal candidate will present a record of achievement that includes:

• A minimum five years’ experience in an immigration-oriented nonprofit, providing legal and/or social services to poor, undocumented or other underserved clients.

• Familiarity with immigration reform and related public policy issues.

• Experience conceptualizing, building and evaluating effective programs.

• A minimum five years’ management experience that incorporates supervision, program planning/development/evaluation, and budgetary oversight.

• Experience with establishing and sustaining effective coalition-building and strategic partnerships that both forge meaningful alliances and create a fee-for-service component.

• The ability to work effectively with diverse staff, helping build morale and sense of team and ability to manage conflict. From IIC’s perspective, this requires strong supervisory skills, including the ability to set and monitor goals, provide meaningful feedback, and address performance issues if necessary.

• A demonstrable record of meeting tight deadlines, handling multiple tasks simultaneously, and developing/maintaining effective record-keeping systems.

Formal credentials include an advanced degree. A master’s degree in social services, management or related field, or a J.D. from an accredited U.S. law school is required.

As a professional who will need to communicate successfully with a range of individuals—both internally and externally, the Program Director will need to have strong interpersonal skills, excellent writing skills (grantwriting experience desirable), and ideally fluency in French, Haitian Creole, Spanish or Portuguese.

TO APPLY

More information about the Irish Immigration Center may be found at:
http://www.iicenter.org.

Nominations and applications are due by April 12, 2008. Due to the pace of the search, candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications including a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications, your resume (in Word format), salary history, and where you learned of the position should be sent to: iic-pd@nonprofitprofessionals.com. In order to expedite the internal sorting and reviewing process, please type your name (Last, First) as the only contents in the subject line of your e-mail.

The Irish Immigration Center is an equal opportunity employer.
The Irish Immigration Center serves people from five continents and seeks a staff that reflects that diversity.