Early Learning Outreach Specialist:

Young Audiences is seeking a driven individual with a strong background in the early childhood space and a proven track record of developing and maintaining strong partnerships. This is an independent contractor role and will partner with YAMD’s Education Director of Statewide Initiatives to market and increase trust in and utilization of our early learning programs, including the Early Learning Portal.

About Early Learning at YAMD

As the Maryland regional affiliate of Wolf Trap, YAMD believes that the way we engage children in the first years of their lives has a profound impact on future learning and success. By bringing the arts into classrooms, we create joyful, active learning experiences that lead to greater academic achievement and social emotional development for our youngest learners. Our Early Learning programs, led by Wolf Trap-trained artists, use arts-integrated learning strategies that connect the arts with core subjects such as language, literacy, science, and math to bring learning alive. These programs are all delivered through an embedded professional development model that aims to impart these arts strategies and skills to caregivers, families, and classroom teachers. For more information about Young Audiences of Maryland’s Early Learning Programs, visit https://www.yamd.org/programs/early-learning/

About Young Audiences/Arts for Learning

Young Audiences/Arts for Learning, founded in Baltimore in 1950, is the country’s foremost arts-in-education non-profit organization. The Maryland chapter of Young Audiences (YA) provides more than 9,000 arts education opportunities to nearly 200,000 students, artists, and educators throughout the state each year. YA is a mission-driven organization that values community, innovation, and passion. The staff, board, and teaching artists have a shared commitment to advance equity in the field of education by working tirelessly to generate opportunities for students to imagine, create, and realize their full potential through the arts.

We...

• believe unwaveringly that ALL students can achieve high standards in and through the arts;
• provide opportunities for students to develop powerfully articulate voices through art forms and honor their creative processes along the way;
• create safe, brave learning environments for students to grow, make mistakes, and contribute to the community;
• collaborate and reflect by learning from and with each other at every step of the process, cultivating positive relationships between all ages;
• encourage the development of critical thinking, problem solving, inquiry, imagination, and creativity, and provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate knowledge and mastery;
• learn about, honor, and leverage the cultural knowledge, experiences, and frames of reference of our students and community to make learning more relevant and effective;
• ensure that our students are known, loved, supported, celebrated, and valued.

Dates and Times:

To fulfill this contract, the time and frequency of deliverables will be discussed in the contract agreement. This is a contractual position spanning six months from the start date of the contract, with possibility to renew.

Compensation:

• The Early Learning Outreach Specialist will be paid an hourly rate of $40.
• The contract will be approximately 15 hours/week (average of 60 hours/month).

Scope of Work

• Oversee the strategy of marketing and engaging stakeholders in the Early Learning Portal:
  • Market and promote the YAMD’s early learning programs to various stakeholders across the state, with a particular emphasis on the Early Learning Portal (e.g. developing webinar events, email and phone outreach, meetings with partners, etc.).
  • Liaise with YAMD’s Communications Department to develop marketing materials to engage new organizations and individuals in the portal.
  • Build and develop YAMD’s early learning contact list.
  • Gather feedback from stakeholders on the portal, using that to develop further recommendations for improvement.
  • Increase, track and analyze usage of the portal, using that data to inform improvements to the platform as well as marketing strategy.
  • Cultivate portal registrants so that they become more engaged in and consumers of other YAMD early learning programs.
• Support and develop partnerships with outside organizations:
  • Identify external partners with a high potential for collaborative opportunities.
  • Foster new relationships with outside organizations, school districts, and individuals who have potential to be new partners and/or consumers of YAMD’s early learning programs.
  • Develop buy-in and trust in YAMD within the early learning community.
  • Represent YAMD at early learning events in order to build organizational relationships and keep the team abreast of new opportunities and field developments.
• Support with the development and execution of other early learning projects as needed.

Qualifications:

• Strong knowledge of and connection to the early childhood landscape in Maryland. Degree in early childhood education or related field preferred.
• At least 5 years of overall professional experience in early learning educational settings.
• An outgoing and personable personality with a willingness to go the extra mile to provide partners and with a positive experience.
• Ability to network and build trust with influencers involved in the early childhood field.
• Strong administrative skills and ability to manage time well.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• A self-starter with a proactive approach to problem-solving with strong decision-making skills.
• A passion for the arts, arts integration, and the role of teaching artists/community artists in education.
• A commitment to racial equity, and an ability to examine biases and systems while demonstrating an understanding of the impact of racism.
• Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Experience working with project management tools preferred.
• Excellent computer skills.
• Experience with Salesforce CRM platform preferred.
• Someone energetic, collaborative, innovative and persistent, with strong written and communication skills.

For consideration:

For consideration, send resumes to [email protected]. The early bird application deadline is April 30, 2021. Priority will be given to early bird applications.