The Flint Center for Educational Excellence seeks a visionary leader to serve as the Director of Early Childhood Partnerships and Innovation. This high-impact role will drive cross-sector collaboration, elevate Flint’s national profile in early childhood education, and lead systems-level changes to improve outcomes for children and families. The Director will support the mission of building an educational ecosystem that works for all Flint kids by partnering with families, school districts, researchers, and other stakeholders to support the efficient, effective, and collaborative delivery of coordinated early childhood services in Flint. The Director will be instrumental in to developing, recommending, and implementing a strategic plan to improve the universal quality and accessibility of early childhood education services for Flint kids, leveraging the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative’s demonstration sites—Educare Flint and Cummings Great Expectations.

• Convene and lead the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative Advisory Committee to ensure long-term engagement and alignment.
• Cultivate strategic relationships with funders, policymakers, and civic leaders to position Flint as a statewide and national thought leader in early childhood education.
• Collaborate with the Educare Learning Network to share best practices, advance a national early childhood advocacy agenda, and amplify Flint’s visibility and impact.
• Collaborate closely with Flint Center staff to strategically align and leverage the Flint Center’s core initiatives to drive shared outcomes and strengthen its cradle-to-career framework.
• Lead milestone planning, including Cummings Great Expectations’ and Educare Flint’s10-year anniversaries, with a focus on legacy and future readiness.

• Convene and lead a Research-Program Partnership (RPP) to create a culture of continuous improvement among all key stakeholders, including school staff, parents, advocates, K-12 partners, funders, and researchers
• Collaborative with the Local Evaluation Partner to facilitate data collection and research activities that support continuous improvement, contribute to the national evaluation of Educare, and inform policy and advocacy.
• Use data and evaluation insights to communicate the value of and return on early childhood investments.
• Coordinate with the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative Advisory Committee and other early childhood stakeholders to advance a shared advocacy agenda.
• Develop compelling policy narratives and advocacy messaging to help drive public investment.
• Represent the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative at media events, public forums, and government committees.

• Co-create systems-level solutions with the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative and other early stakeholders to enhance early childhood service delivery, resource alignment in Flint.
• Identify gaps in professional development opportunities for early childhood educators and develop a plan for enhanced professional development focusing on program quality and family engagement.
• Collaborate with Flint Community Schools and the Genesee Intermediate School District to strengthen preK-3 programmatic connections and quality improvement efforts.

• Monitor and forecast changes in the early childhood funding landscape to proactively identify potential risks and opportunities affecting Educare Flint’s and Cummings Great Expectation’s financial sustainability.
• Lead scenario planning activities to develop strategic responses that mitigate the impact of funding shifts and ensure continuity of services.
• Develop narrative grant proposals and maintain regular communications with funders to report on the collaborative’s progress toward achieving grant-funded goals and ensure compliance with funding requirements.
• Support grant administration by developing detailed narrative reports that accurately reflect the progress and outcomes of the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative.
• Manage grant expenditures to ensure alignment with approved grant budgets, working closely with Flint Center’s finance team to develop and monitor budgets for current and future grants.
• Assist the Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) in developing and implementing sustainable fundraising strategies for the Educare Flint facility.
• Coordinate and assist in strategic fundraising efforts focused on long-term sustainability of Cummings Great Expectations and Educare Flint.

Experience and Professional Qualifications

• Experience in family support services and social impact initiatives.
• Exceptional relationship-building and facilitation skills across diverse sectors.
• Strong grant management, strategic planning, and public narrative development capabilities.
• Skilled communicator with experience in stakeholder engagement.
• Familiarity with research and evaluation principles and data-driven storytelling.
• Commitment to equity, cultural responsiveness, and inclusive leadership.
• Knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices for early care and education and current issues in the fields of education, early childhood development, and family support.
• Demonstrated experience balancing strategic thinking with program execution while managing multiple priorities.
• Proven knowledge of and commitment to progressive management practices, including team building, negotiation skills and collaborative decision-making.
• Ability to communicate in a manner that demonstrates and fosters cooperation, respect, concern and openness to change.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills, including the ability to write clearly, speak in public forums to diverse audiences, and communicate effectively with stakeholders, staff and colleagues.
• Knowledge of Head Start Performance Standards and Early Head Start and Head Start programs, Great Start Readiness Program Michigan Child Development and Care Program, Great Start to Quality, and Michigan childcare licensing preferred but not required.

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