Onward Fellowship - Workforce Advisor KIPP Forward

Anticipated Start Date: February 1 2025

Location: This position is a remote position with the expectation of 60% travel to meet with Onward Fellows at their home regions (locations TBD) and visit various CTE programs within those regions 30% working remotely and 10% participating in team meetings at our NYC central office. The employee in this position must reside in NY NJ or CT and within commutable distance to our central office in NYC.

Onward Fellowship Scale and Impact  

The Onward Fellowship will provide selected KIPP high school graduates or middle school completers who are pursuing a qualified Career and Technical Education (CTE) certifying program with financial support of up to $10000 over 2 years to cover the academic and/or personal expenses that make enrolling in and/or completing a certification program challenging. Through the generosity of KIPPs supporters we have created a fund that will be able to support an estimated 265 KIPPsters in the high school graduating class of 2025.

Position Overview

The Onward Fellowship Workforce Advisor (WFA) is a highly motivated flexible entrepreneurial and dynamic professional committed to increasing alumni access to and success in CTE/Workforce training programs. KIPP Forward is looking for a relationship and results oriented individual to advise KIPP alumni from across a variety of regions interested in joining the workforce directly after high school with the financial support of the Onward Fellowship. The goals are to increase the number of alumni who apply to enroll in and complete a career program aligned with their interests and aptitudes and to secure a strong job in an upwardly mobile career putting them on a path to financial freedom and fulfilling lives.

The Workforce Advisor assists alumni to apply for Onward funding as they transition from high school and will advise them through their two years postgraduation. This includes supporting their identification of and application to CTE programs of interest persistence and completion of them and supporting their job search process. The Workforce Advisor reports directly to the Associate Director (AD) of CTE Pathways & Partnerships and joins a team that includes 3 other Workforce Advisors. 

Utilizing Inside Track training and consistent observation and feedback from our Associate Director (AD) of CTE Pathways & Partnerships the Advisor will provide coaching mentorship and direct support to alumni through virtual and in person 1:1 advisement sessions. In so doing they will assess advisees professional interests skill sets academic and careerrelated habits and planning socioemotional and financial health to determine fit readiness and support needs through this critical 2year period. Through these consistent touchpoints and assessments the Advisor will perform transformational coaching interventions to ensure our alumni make positive progress. 

All workrelated transportation costs will be paid for by KIPP Forward.

The Workforce Advisor (Onward) position is a grant funded 2.5 year commitment from February 1 2025 (or as soon after) through June 30 2027. At the end of this grant term employment with KIPP NYC terminates. We will invite high performing staff to apply for any available internal roles at that time.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the Onward intake and decisioning process for Onward funds for KIPP alumni opting for a career pathway posthigh school with a focus on the process for nonCollaborative KIPP regions.
• Partnering as needed with High School Counselors to assess Fellowship eligibility and decisioning process and if support is needed to reengage unresponsive alumni on the caseload.
• Support and maintain an advisory caseload of up to 200 alumni awarded the Onward Fellowship across our KIPP regions nationally by:
  • Regularly checking in with Onward Fellowship awardees to assess and track assets and barriers and explore ways to overcome setbacks that may impact training retention and completion and landing a strong job For alumni that have not identified or applied to a strong match CTE program introducing and recommending local Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities and supporting the CTE program application process.
  • Checking in with Onward Fellowship awardees on their performance and progress in programs and assessing needs and impacts of CTE programming on them 
  • Identify and partner with Associate Director (AD) of CTE Pathways & Partnerships to vet on new local CTE providers and workforce programs for participating nonCollaborative regions
  • Meet with advisees regarding their employment needs assess employment history and establish a realistic and viable job search plan
  • Assist advisees with resume development and job search
  • Utilizing approved social media and texting platforms to promote our programming and deliver critical information to alumni
• Plan and participate in weekly oneonone meetings with Associate Director (AD) of CTE Pathways & Partnerships; Regularly and openly communicate with AD to seek guidance and support to navigate complex challenges alumni may be facing
• Track and maintain caseload data in Salesforce including detailed notes of every student communication in person visits updated contact information program participation and completion data and maintain important documents on our internal file system
• Present data and insights to KIPP Forward leaders when requested on the progress of Onward Fellows  
• Engage actively in professional development opportunities provided including conferences workshops team meetings observations and debrief cycles webinars department meetings and team stepbacks. New Staff Training will be held fulltime in the first week of employment in NYC and may be extended into the following week. 
• Submit credit card expense reports as required and utilize alumni meeting funds strategically and responsibly
• Support facilitation of regional and national Professional Development in CTE/Workforce Advisement
• Support Associate Director (AD) of CTE Pathways & Partnerships and Senior Director of Career Services as needed to continue to improve our programs and services

Qualifications :

• Strong alignment with and commitment to KIPP Forwards program model and ultimate goals
• Completion of a workforce program AA or BA degree
• Two or more years of experience working with underserved and atrisk young adults and their families
• Experience advising young adults with CTE/Workforce pursuits and/or demonstrated ability to influence and motivate young adults to engage in activities to build their futures preferred
• Friendly outgoing and approachable to quickly engage your advisees; skill and willingness to assess and support individual advisee needs required for them to meet their career goals  
• High energy positivity and enthusiasm to encourage and inspire your advisees to persevere and take positive action steps as they face challenges
• Ability to travel to meet with alumni and visit workforce programs in participating Onward regions and to travel to NYC for team meetings etc. as needed
• Demonstrated skill managing stressful or complex situations with calm composure and resourcefulness
• Ability to selfmanage to address challenges and meet ambitious goals and strict deadlines
• Flexibility and willingness to contribute when necessary on projects outside of own caseload
• Demonstrated ability to work well with others and build relationships within and across teams
• Commitment to exploring issues of race class and privilege both individually and alongside others
• Strong working knowledge in Microsoft Word/Google Docs Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets Microsoft PowerPoint/Google Slides and Microsoft Outlook and ability to learn new technology platforms and databases quickly
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Outstanding organizational skills and high attention to detail
• Strong achievement orientation with exceptional time management skills and demonstrated ability to handle multiple priorities
• High level of responsiveness to maintain strong partner relations along with willingness to check email/texts after hours for occasional urgent situations or needs
• Holding a valid drivers license is strongly preferred
• Spanish speaking strongly preferred