President with Next Door

Organization and Position Overview

Next Door is proud to be the leader in early education in Milwaukee, working with Milwaukee children and families to help build the educational and life skills they need to succeed. Next Door was founded in 1969 and now serves nearly 1,400 children a year from birth to five years old through two center-based sites with newly renovated facilities, a home visitation program and 11 partnership sites in Milwaukee County. Next Door is a proud member of the Educare Learning Network, a national network of 25 birth-through-age 5 schools elevating the quality of early childhood education across the country. The Next Door team works hard to ensure that children who are under-resourced in Milwaukee get a strong start to life through high quality, personalized early childhood education. One of Next Door’s most visible programs is Books for Kids, which collects and distributes close to 75,000 new and gently- used books each year to Next Door students and children in Milwaukee to help build their home libraries. For over 30 years, Next Door’s Books for Kids has helped get books into children’s homes. Next Door is fiscally strong with a dedicated team of leaders, including a strong and supportive Board of Directors, to support the mission. Moreover, Next Door’s innovative programs, practices and strong partners in the community support the effectiveness of the work.

The mission of Next Door is to support the intellectual, physical, and emotional development of children by partnering with their families for success in school and the community. Next Door focuses on getting children ready for school with academic and social-emotional learning, behavioral, disability and mental health support services and medical and dental care with no cost to our families. In addition, Next Door provides family advocates to support parents with community resources in areas like housing, employment, and food. Next Door also works with expectant mothers in a home-based prenatal services program. A foundation is set for success that goes much deeper than academics by fostering the STAR values Safe, Thoughtful, Accountable and Respectful in every member of the Next Door family, which includes students, parents, teachers and staff. Every child becomes a STAR when children learn the power of respect, the value of owning their own behaviors, and the importance of thinking through challenges, all within a safe and loving environment.

Next Door is committed to listening to the families we support, to strengthening our work as an anti-racist organization, and to working with others in Milwaukee to build a community that is equitable, inclusive and celebrates diversity. Next Door is at an exciting moment in its organizational life cycle. The incoming President will be able to build upon the strong financial and programmatic foundations already in place. They will need to be a savvy, strong leader who can flex with an ever-changing environment. The President reports to the Chairperson of the Board and is responsible for overall operations and direction of the organization. The President manages an annual budget of over $24M along with the Board of Directors and prudently manages organizational resources within those budget guidelines according to current bylaws and regulations. The President will establish and drive the direction of Next Door in accordance with the active Strategic Plan. They will need to be agile, adaptive, strategic, and resilient. They will dedicate themselves to maintaining an external presence in the community to support and enhance all that Next Door has to offer. The next President will uphold Next Door’s Commitment to supporting and serving the entire family, not just the child.

To learn more, please visit us at: https://www.nextdoormke.org/ .

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the leader and spokesperson of the organization and represent Next Door to participants, family members and the community at all times.
• Position the organization as the leading provider of early childhood education and continue to be seen as a respected authority in the sector.
• Frequently communicate with the executive team, employees, vendors, funding sources and the Board.

• Procure undesignated, philanthropic major gifts for the organization.
• Plan and execute strategies and tactics to increase awareness, maintain relationships, and build new partnerships with donors, constituents and professional organizations.
• Steward the resources allocated to the organization in an efficient and responsible manner.
• Establish and effectively manage budgets ensuring the organization is properly resourced and its financial obligations are met.
• Select and appoint key leadership staff, set measurable goals and clear expectations that align with the strategic plan, delegate responsibility, provide a structure to regularly monitor performance and document evaluations.
• Foster a positive environment of teamwork and accountability.
• Support the organization’s mission, vision, standards of conduct/code of ethics and strategic directions and support administrative decisions
• Ensure the organization complies with all regulatory and legal requirements, and programs are delivered to participants at the highest professional level with exemplary outcome levels are achieved.
• Regularly monitor the physical conditions of the facility and identify any relevant environmental changes and trends affecting the organization.
• Produce strategic concepts and outcome measures to build on existing programs and along with the board, create a plan for a sustainable future for the organization.
• Assure the Board of Directors is kept fully informed of the ongoing status of Next Door programs and those factors influencing its activities or intended outcome.
• Prepare strategic plans, participate in the facilitation of effective governance and appropriate deliverables as stated in the bylaws.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated commitment to the belief that all people have the right to dignity, respect, opportunity and full community inclusion along with a passion for working with and the development of underserved children and families .
• Understanding of, or familiarity with, early childhood education trends and standards is preferred.
• Experience with the procurement and management of multiple funding sources from both philanthropic and government funding entities, preferred. Understanding of compliance and regulation requirements.
• Demonstrated commitment to implementing the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Strong communicator with excellent written, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• Five years of experience in a senior leadership role.
• Strong business acumen and demonstrated success in leading a complex oganization, program or division.
• Ability to design, structure and align programs with intended outcomes and measurable success.
• Experience with high-level strategic planning, program execution, data interpretation and strong staff leadership.
• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.

Next Door is committed to providing a culture in which safety is viewed as a core principle which guides all our decisions and process designs. All employees are expected to consistently strive to provide high quality and safe care. Likewise, we have an ethical obligation to identify any situations where child or employee safety may be in question, so that corrective actions may be taken immediately.

Next Door is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy environment for all students and employees and requires all employees and contractors who have direct contact with children to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Next Door’s policy meets the compliance requirements in the Presidential Executive Order issued in September of 2021, and Next Door will comply with all regulations issued by the Office of Head Start regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. Next Door will make every effort to evaluate and reasonably accommodate employees who have requested an accommodation for a medical condition for which vaccination is contraindicated, and/or for employees’ religious beliefs and practices which prohibit the employee from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, provided the requested accommodation is reasonable and does not create an undue hardship or pose a direct threat to the health and/or safety of others in the workplace.

A very generous benefits package, including insurance programs is available to full-time employees.
The annual salary range for the President position begins at $160K.

Next Door is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Instructions for Applicants

Interested applicants can please assemble and email all items below, combined into one document, to NextDoor@leadingtransitions.com no later than 1:00 p.m. CT October 6, 2022:

• A letter describing your qualifications for this position and your interest in Next Door’s mission
• A detailed and updated resume and
• The names of, your relationship to, and the contact information for, three professional references.

Please note:

References will not be contacted until a candidate has been notified.

All offers of employment are contingent upon clear results of thorough background checks.

All inquiries and interactions with potential candidates are kept in strict confidence.

The position will remain open until it is filled.

Leading Transitions is committed to the vitality of mission-based, nonprofit, philanthropic and community-centered efforts and organizations, and their leaders. The firm’s inclusive practices provide the flexibility and creativity necessary to adapt to the intricacies and dynamics of any community. We believe that periods of change are transformational and bring great new opportunities.