Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation

ABOUT CHILDREN's SERVICES OF ROXBURY:

Children's Services of Roxbury (CSR) is one of Massachusetts' largest Black-led nonprofits, serving over 6,000 of the Commonwealth's most vulnerable children and parents of color each year in communities across the state. CSR's mission is to bring peace of mind to families across Massachusetts, providing housing for homeless families, culturally attuned behavioral health services, foster care for abused and neglected children, affordable childcare for homeless children, and youth development programs. For close to 50 years, CSR has been placing the family at the center of our service system, building a network of professional and community supports that nurture trusting relationships, communicate respect, and teach the skills of empowerment.

OVERVIEW:

CSR is about nurturing. It's about growth. It's about healing. It's about community. Regardless of how or why a family walks through our doors - regardless of which program they choose - CSR affords our participants a measure of peace of mind; enough for families to catch their breath, change their perspective so they can reconnect with their resilience, strength and hope for a better future. CSR believes in a world where there is power in helping others. CSR believes in a world where there is power in helping ourselves. Our history is undeniable. Our service is proven.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Chief Strategy Officer, the Learning and Evaluation Director will establish a new Learning and Evaluation Department that builds CSR's capacity for learning, continuous quality improvement and impact measurement. The Director oversees efforts to measure, analyze and report on the organization's programmatic impact and organizational effectiveness and builds an organizational culture that uses data to improve programs and practices.

The Director works in close collaboration with CSR program leaders to develop evaluation plans, build data collection systems and collect high quality data. The Director, with the support of graduate and doctoral students, analyzes data, documents program impacts and produces reports for internal and external use. The Director collaborates closely with CSR's evaluation partner, Boston University School of Social Work, whose team brings added expertise and capacity to the department's work. The Director also works with CSR's Communications Department to disseminate findings on innovative, culturally attuned practices with stakeholders.

Primary Responsibilities

Evaluation and Research

• Partner with program leaders to build-out of evaluation plans, starting with innovative new programs funded through philanthropic dollars, and expanding over time to all programs across CSR.
• Oversee development of logic models. Identify or develop instruments for quantitative and qualitative measurement of program outcomes.
• Develop effective data collection practices and ensure data collection quality.
• Analyze data and prepare internal evaluation reports for learning and quality improvement, and external reports for dissemination.
• Steward and cultivate high level partnerships with external research and evaluation partners.

Data and Reporting Systems

• Oversee ongoing design, customization and improvement of data collection systems and reporting structures, providing direction to the CSR's Director of Systems Development to make full use of CSR's own data systems, and to utilize data entered into all state-required data systems.
• Manage reporting schedule for collection and dissemination of data, dashboards and reports to program directors and key stakeholders for use across the agency, including development.

Learning and Dissemination Strategy

• In partnership with CSR's Senior Team and the BU School of Social Work Team headed by Dr. Judith Scott, develop and implement strategy, framework and structures for organizational learning from evaluation.
• Facilitate regular reviews of data and progress toward established goals.
• Identify opportunities for learning across programs to improve practice internally and encourage innovation.
• Stay current and contribute to evaluation and learning practices in the nonprofit community.
• Identify opportunities to share evaluation and learning strategies and findings publicly to benefit CSR and the broader community CSR serves.

Qualifications

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated track record of at least 6 years in community-based evaluation and research.
• Experience working in the nonprofit sector.
• Extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative analytic methods
• Extensive experience with databases and electronic health records/case management systems
• Relevant life and work experience in communities of color, with demonstrated ability to effectively interpret community data.
• Collaborative work style and ability to engage with multiple audiences, including families, front line staff, program leaders and university researchers.
• Knowledge of program evaluation concepts and applications; experience and or leadership in conducting developmental, formative and summative evaluations.
• Knowledge of organizational change, organizational culture and data-driven decision making.
• Ability to analyze and communicate complex data.
• Facilitation, training and consultation skills in order to convene groups to interpret and examine data, make decisions and move to action.
• Proficiency in effective oral and written communication
• Demonstrated leadership skills with ability to engage, lead, motivate, train and manage a diverse and high performing team.

Education

• PhD or masters degree in social science-related field.

Compensation

Salary is competitive and dependent on relevant experience. CSR offers a comprehensive benefits package including

• Paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick leave
• Health, vision, dental, AFLAC insurance
• Employer paid disability and life and AD&D insurance
• 401K plan
• Access to free, on-line CEU approved educational courses
• Employee discounts program providing discounts on thousands of products and services
• Work with a professional, dedicated and compassionate team of people
• Help us continue the important work of changing and saving lives