Education Program Associate Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Company Overview:

Improve Your Tomorrow (IYT) was founded in 2013 with the mission to increase the number of young men of color (YMOC) to attend and graduate from colleges and universities. We envision a world where men of color are overrepresented in higher education, underrepresented in the criminal justice system, and leaders in their communities. By embodying our core values of Character, Service, Teamwork, and Liberation we work to combat academic inequities and build a college-to-community pipeline.

Position Overview:

The Associate Program Director is a regional leadership role within IYT's College Access, Advising & Completion program. This position leads the delivery, quality, and consistency of College programming across five or more school campuses serving brothers in grades 6–12. The APD is responsible for building and sustaining a strong college-going culture at each assigned site — developing the Mentor Specialist team, stewarding school-site relationships, and ensuring that every brother receives the structured support and mentorship they need to graduate and transition into college.

This is a field-based leadership role requiring daily regional travel. The APD operates as IYT's primary program presence across their portfolio — coaching staff, leading structured programming, building partner relationships, and maintaining implementation fidelity simultaneously across multiple campuses. Strong people management, coaching instincts, and organizational systems are essential.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership & Staff Development

• Directly supervise and develop a team of College Advising Mentor Specialists and, where applicable, AmeriCorps Mentors — providing consistent coaching, structured observation, and performance support across all sites in portfolio.
• Conduct 1:1 coaching sessions with each Mentor Specialist; lead focused observation cycles that build instructional and relational capacity in alignment with IYT's program model.
• Model high-quality facilitation, mentorship practice, and student engagement — using each site day as an opportunity to develop staff skills, not just deliver programming.
• Set clear expectations for Mentor Specialist performance against national standards: service dosage, family engagement cadence, Salesforce documentation, and academic monitoring.
• Identify individual staff strengths and growth areas; build development plans that prepare Mentor Specialists for greater leadership within the IYT organization.

College-Going Culture & Structured Programming

• Build and sustain a strong, consistent college-going culture at each assigned campus — ensuring brothers experience IYT as a Brotherhood that takes their academic futures seriously.
• Support where needed during on structured programming days each week: rituals (Brotherhood Clap, Creed, Family Love, announcements, energizer) and Member Development Workshop, co-facilitated with the site Mentor Specialist.
• Ensure programming is high-quality, grade-differentiated, and consistent across all sites.
• Champion IYT's Brotherhood identity across all sites — ensuring every brother feels a strong sense of belonging, purpose, and connection to a college-going peer community.
• Plan and coordinate regional college tours. 

8th Grade Pipeline Stewardship (If assigned to Middle Schools)

• Own the annual 8th grade pipeline handoff process — ensuring complete transfer of student data, relationship context, and engagement history to the High School APD by the end of each school year.
• Target 60% or higher conversion of 8th grade roster to IYT High School enrollment; maintain active outreach and re-engagement strategies throughout the spring semester.
• Partner with High School APDs to ensure continuity of every brother's IYT experience across the middle-to-high school transition — the relationship continues, even as the Mentor changes.

Senior College Process Leadership (If assigned to High Schools)

• Own the 12th grade college process across all portfolio sites: FAFSA/CADAA completion, college applications, financial aid review, enrollment steps, and warm handoff to the College Completion team before graduation.
• Coordinate with the College Completion team to ensure every senior is introduced to their College Completion Mentor Specialist before graduation — the transition is seamless, not abrupt.
• Co-design and co-deliver senior cohort advising sessions with the College Completion team throughout the senior year.

School-Site Partnership Stewardship

• Serve as IYT's primary relationship holder at the school-site level — building trust and credibility with school administrators, counselors, teachers, and front office staff at every campus in portfolio.
• Lead school-site conversations about implementation quality, student recruitment and re-engagement, scheduling, workshop access, and site-specific barriers to programming.
• Navigate site-level challenges with professionalism and urgency; escalate to the Director of College Access, Advising & Completion (or Executive Director) when issues affect partnership health, compliance, or program delivery.

Implementation Fidelity & Data Management

• Conduct regular site audits and data reviews; monitor mentorship completion, caseload health, and Salesforce documentation status across all sites.
• Develop and support student intervention plans for brothers at academic risk — D/F grades, below 2.5 GPA, disengagement — in collaboration with Mentor Specialists.
• Ensure Salesforce records are accurate, complete, and current across all sites in portfolio; support Mentor Specialists in consistent documentation practice.
• Ensure consistent content is captured across all assigned sites — photos, short videos, student stories, and impactful program moments; verify consent documentation is on file; and submit to Director of College Access, Advising and Completion or ED.

Additional Duties as Assigned

Schedule:

• Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm; some weekends, evenings, and organization-wide events are required.

Work Location:

• Field-based — assigned region; daily regional travel to assigned sites will be required

Pay Rate:

• $70,304–$78,000/Annually

Benefits:

IYT also offers the following Benefits:

• Medical 
• Dental
• Vision
• Life AD&D (with additional voluntary options)
• Employee Assistance Plan (EAP)
• 403(b) retirement plan with 3% employer match after one year of employment. 
• Sick Leave
• 2 weeks of accrued paid Vacation Leave
• 8 Paid Holidays
• Additional paid time off during select school breaks (about 3 weeks of additional PTO in total)

Must Haves:

• Commitment to the mission, vision, and values of IYT.
• Ability to self-motivate to achieve results.  
• A multi-tasker with a solid ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines, and produce quality results. 
• Deep commitment to building college-going culture and identity development for young men of color.
• Excellent communication and management skills that can both inspire and push others to accomplish their goals.  
• Ability to operate with an appropriate, responsible level of transparency and vulnerability, engendering confidence and trust. 

Experience:

Required

• Minimum 3 years of experience in youth development, education, program management, or college access, with demonstrated leadership of staff or teams.
• Proven ability to directly supervise, coach, and develop front-line staff — including AmeriCorps members — across multiple sites or contexts.
• Strong systems thinker with the organizational capacity to manage multiple sites, staff members, student populations, and data streams simultaneously without losing quality.
• Skilled communicator and relationship builder; able to lead school-site partnerships, resolve conflicts professionally, and represent IYT with credibility across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Proficiency in Salesforce or comparable CRM/data management platforms.
• Knowledge of FAFSA, A–G requirements, college application processes, and high school graduation pathways.

Preferred

• Experience in multi-site program management or regional education leadership.
• Bilingual in Spanish strongly preferred.
• Personal experience as a first-generation college student or with the communities IYT serves is highly valued.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university required
• Master's degree in education, social work, public policy, or a related field preferred

Computer Skills

• G-suite
• Microsoft Suite
• Zoom
• Salesforce