Posted on February 21, 2013

print

Executive Director

For over four decades United Action for Youth (UAY) has provided an array of youth development, counseling, and prevention services to assist youth and families to a healthy future. UAY’s approach is asset-based and makes use of young people’s talents, creativity, and energies.

The Opportunity

UAY seeks an Executive Director to guide the organization, which is located in Iowa City, Iowa, into a new era of leadership. We look to connect the people of Johnson County to UAY’s mission so that all young people seeking support and friendships can thrive. The new leader will harness the talents and enthusiasm of UAY staff to energize and deepen youth participation in its many programs. The music and arts focus throughout the counseling and youth development services will remain an important approach to connecting with young people. UAY is excited about the many possibilities for its future and expects the incoming executive director to:

• Significantly expand the development capacity of UAY to raise funds needed for its successful programs
• Spearhead a vision for UAY’s growth in programming depth, while remaining vigilant to new opportunities and partnerships
• Align senior staffing to optimize effective communication, supervision, efficiency and the assets of the talented staff
• Provide tools, resources and processes for the Board to actively engage in the community on behalf of UAY
• Work with the Board and staff to determine optimal use of the UAY-owned buildings and lead development efforts to renovate existing or build new facilities
• Continue to enhance and build the strong reputation of UAY in the community through outreach, partnership development, community civic involvement, and youth development advocacy

The Organization

In 1970, UAY opened the door to opportunities for all teenagers and parents in Johnson County and surrounding counties. Today the organization offers an array of stimulating programs to over 3,200 people annually, serving young people and parents.

At a time when youth look to their friends to define themselves, UAY is a safe place where young people from all walks of life can be thoughtful, silly, outrageous, or sad. They can try new things, make friends, explore their talents, share their skills, and start defining the adult that each will become. They partner with caring adults, who encourage, teach, and give honest feedback.

UAY operates a Youth Center in downtown Iowa City that is open Monday through Saturday. The Youth Center includes a recording studio, art studio, art gallery, performance space and offices for street outreach and counseling. It also includes the Rotary Center for Youth Volunteers, a job training center, and peer helping services. The counseling program assists runaway youth, victims of crime and abuse and youth experiencing other difficulty and is provided at no charge to clients. UAY operates a program for pregnant and parenting teens that includes counseling and health services as well as a transitional living program. In partnership with the schools, UAY provides mental health case managers to students in each of the Iowa City junior and senior high schools and runs a school-based Academic Mentoring Program.

UAY also assists parents at a challenging time in their child’s development. Our promise to parents is that UAY will offer stimulating activities in an alcohol, drug, and tobacco-free environment. Much more information is found on the organization’s website: www.unitedactionforyouth.org.

The organization is led by an 11-member board of directors comprised of local professionals, including former program participants. It is a caring and thoughtful leadership body; a recently completed 3-year visioning process guides its work. UAY employs 44 staff and supports many interns and volunteers. It operates on an annual budget of $1.7 million. The diverse income sources are federal and state grants/contracts, fee for service, individual giving, and two fundraising events.

The Ideal Candidate

UAY is looking for candidates who have the experience, energy and passion to lead an organization that is a national leader in youth development practice and who possess the following experience, skills and attributes:

• Has vision and understands and acts upon the big picture
• Understands and can express passion for human needs and development
• Communicates with ease; acts as an articulate and visible spokesperson for the organization as well as in written communications
• Has demonstrated fund development experience which, includes earned income strategies and personal contact with donors
• Embraces collaboration; is focused on positive team dynamics, sharing success and engaging others – staff, volunteers, members and partners – to develop solutions
• Is entrepreneurial; capitalizes on opportunities and has the resourcefulness, creativity, and flexibility to lead the staff and community in new directions
• Is a compassionate decision maker
• Is comfortable with ambiguity
• Has the internal fortitude for hard work
• Honors and stewards an organizational culture that welcomes change and flexibility, promotes learning throughout, encourages the use of initiative, individual and team responsibility, and open communication
• Possesses functional depth and aptitude in nonprofit business and finance
• Has worked with (or served on) a volunteer board of directors, including engaging in board development work
• Plans well, is organized, sets realistic goals for the organization

Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree and/or advanced courses in management, business, nonprofit leadership, fundraising or other relevant fields preferred. Seven or more years of senior leadership experience is required.

Application Instructions

United Action for Youth is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.

Competitive salary and a health benefits package, commensurate with experience.

Apply to: Shannon Christensen, Chairperson, UAY Board of Directors.

Please include cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and where you learned of the position. Only electronic submissions will be considered and should be sent to: executivesearch@unitedactionforyouth.org

Application deadline: March 22, 2013 or until a candidate is hired.