Minnesota Early Childhood Fellow

The BUILD Initiative (buildinitiative.org) envisions a time when all children reach their full potential; race, place, and income are no longer predictors of outcomes. The BUILD Initiative partners with state leaders to promote equitable child- and family-serving systems that result in young children thriving and learning.

The BUILD Initiative is a national effort that advances state work on behalf of young children (prenatal-five), their families, and communities. BUILD staff partner with early childhood state leaders focused on early learning, health, mental health and nutrition, child welfare, and family supportive programs and services and engagement to create the policies, infrastructure, and cross-sector connections necessary for quality and equity. BUILD provides consultation, planning, tailored implementation assistance, learning opportunities, resources, and cross-state peer exchanges. These efforts help state leaders improve and expand access to quality and promote equitable outcomes for our youngest children. BUILD takes a whole child/ family/ community approach to systems building. The organization is deeply committed to racial equity and promotes data analysis to determine programs and services that impact the places and people furthest from opportunity, and then BUILD facilitates state actions to remedy marginalization and under-resourcing. BUILD is state-focused, but we embrace the significant role of families and community leaders and the potential positive impact of federal funding such as ARPA, Title V, TANF, and many other federal funding streams on community and family wellbeing. BUILD promotes cross-sector collaboration across systems and includes public and private sector stakeholders. This is critical to building broad ownership and addressing complex systems issues that undergird the lack of opportunities, barriers to benefits or opportunities, and the inequitable distribution of resources. BUILD is an organization that assists state leaders in doing the hard things, testing new strategies, and innovating.

The BUILD Initiatve is fiscally sponsored by TSNE (tsne.org).

Summary of the Fellowship

The BUILD Initiative has been given the opportunity to host three 10-month Fellowships, each placed within a state project team supporting specific aspects of the implementation of Minnesota’s Preschool Development Grant B-5. These Fellowships are an opportunity for deeper learning about tailoring universal policies and programs that lead to promising strategies, policies, and practices that may advance interpersonal, institutional, or structural change. Fellows will work over ten months to expand their knowledge and understanding and apply equity concepts and processes to their work areas. Each work area will be an opportunity to test ideas and possibilities for advancing racial equity in early childhood systems, programs, and services. Fellows will refine their roles, responsibilities, and authority.

They will engage in activities that expand knowledge, critical analysis skills, and the ability to reflect, think, and act strategically. Fellows will learn from each other’s successes and challenges.

Responsibilities:

• Lead Preschool Development Grant efforts related to mixed-delivery, early childhood workforce, or community storytelling.
  • Project manage the relevant grant effort, including:
    • Conduct background research through informational interviews, literature review, and data analysis to understand the opportunity of the grant effort.
    • Develop and implement an action plan that includes collaboration and coordination with the state project team to achieve grant goals.
    • Schedule, design, and facilitate state project team meetings, including creating overall meeting objectives, and agendas, tracking group tasks and ensuring notetaking.
    • Support the management of contract deliverables, including reviewing developed materials, providing content expertise in advising key actions, and participating in meetings.
    • Conduct administrative tasks required to advance the grant effort, such as data reporting and managing contract invoices and reporting.
    • Clearly communicate findings with cross-agency leadership.
  • Drive program, policy, and practice improvement at the state.
    • Build and foster relationships with community members and state staff with the goal of understanding comprehensive issues impacting children and families and the levers to reduce barriers.
    • Create a nurture a process for feedback loops between community partners, families, and state staff in partnership with the state project team.
    • Document opportunities for improvement and share findings.
    • Drive cross-agency relationship building to foster comprehensive approaches to complex programs impacting young children and families.
  • Actively participate in the Preschool Development Team, providing updates, contributing to reporting, writing reports and memos, participating in technical assistance projects, and attending various meetings, seminars, and task forces.
  • Fellows will work with leadership in multiple sectors of the early childhood system to advance policy, practice, and programs in assigned areas of work.
• Fellows will identify and work within the cross-sector team to utilize qualitative and quantitative data as the foundation for supporting recommendations for state policy, program, and practice action within multiple members of the cross-sector team.
• Fellows will engage in monthly discussion groups with faculty and other fellows to continue to deepen knowledge and understanding of how structural racism historically and currently continue to shape child, families, and communities; the critical role of community leadership and voice in addressing inequities; early childhood policy; systems change; data and assessment of outcomes. The discussion groups will focus on how this knowledge can be applied to processes and practices related to fellows’ roles and responsibilities.
• Fellows will identify topics of interest for discussion groups that advance the work to reduce inequities and improve the outcome for racially diverse children, families, and communities.
• Fellows will schedule and participate in monthly check-in meetings with faculty.
• Fellows will collaborate regarding opportunities and challenges and share discoveries.
• Fellows will have three or more opportunities to present their efforts to advance equity.
• Fellows will journal as they take this journey to support them in creating perspective and mindfulness of their process and progress.
• Fellows will network with each other and other members of the early childhood system for ongoing learning and support.
• Fellows will participate and partner in developing and co-interpretating findings of an ongoing documentation, feedback, and evaluation process, as part of constant learning and improvement.

We will consider exceptional candidates who demonstrate a strong combination of the specific qualifications and skills described below.

• A bachelor’s degree and three years of related professional experience
• Qualified candidates must live in Minnesota

Other Qualifications

• Curious about families and how to make their lives better.
• Project management skills sufficient to design and track project tasks, meet deadlines, facilitate meetings, create agendas, take notes, etc.
• Commitment to deeper learning about tailoring universal policies and programs that lead to promising strategies, policies, and practices that may advance interpersonal, institutional, or structural change.
• Experience building and maintaining relationships across Minnesota communities, particularly those furthest from opportunity.
• Knowledge of and experience with community outreach and engagement strategies and techniques, particularly those suited to bridging institutional and community partners.

Physical Demands/Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those for this position. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. Work is performed in an office environment and in close proximity to other workers.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is required to:

• Handle, or feel objects, tools or controls;
• Reach; traverse; sit (usually for longer periods of time); occasionally ascend/descend; and position self (to) move;
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds;
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate;
• Job is not subject to significant occupational or environmental hazards;
• Likelihood of personal injury would be relatively slight;
• Environmental and work hazards are not present to a measurable degree.

Regarding COVID-19: TSNE considers the health and safety of our employees of the utmost importance, and due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and subject to your state and local laws, our policy requires that all employees performing in-person work at a TSNE designated office are fully vaccinated. For the purpose of this policy, fully vaccinated indicates that you have received a single dose of the Janssen vaccine, or both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. Certain exemptions may be requested and will be considered by Human Resources.

Compensation and Benefits

Location: Work will be primarily be remote, but must be located within Minnesota.

Compensation: The starting salary for this position is $68,000 and is commensurate with experience.

Benefits: This position is eligible for a full benefits package including:

• Generous Paid-Time-Off (PTO): 12 paid holidays, 3 weeks vacation, 1 week personal holiday, and sick time for full-time staff;
• 80% Employer-paid, $0 deductible Health Insurance through Harvard Pilgrim;
• Low-cost MetLife Dental and Vision;
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for Health and Dependent Care;
• Employer-paid Life, Long- and Short-Term Disability Insurance;
• Employer-paid Pension through TIAA;
• ...and more!

TSNE/BUILD strives to achieve excellence through a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment that embraces all of our individual and collective differences. Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Middle Eastern and North African, Bilingual and/or Bicultural candidates, and LGBTQ2SIA+ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We value and honor the unique talents, learning styles, and lived experiences of each individual that enrich and strengthen our workplace culture, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.

All employment conditions are based on an individual’s performance and job qualifications. TSNE/BUILD prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, creed, color, religion, native language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, race-based hairstyles, or any other protected characteristic stated by federal and state law. Regardless of any class’ protection under the law or lack thereof, TSNE/BUILD celebrates diversity and values the strengths that come with having a diverse team of employees. It is represented in our workplace culture, and it is who we are.

TSNE/BUILD's EEO statement extends to volunteers, interns, contractors, vendors, and clients.