Overview of Kinnect

Kinnect is a private non-profit that was founded in 2005. Kinnect leverages its leadership expertise to design programs, products and services that transforms the child welfare system. Kinnect leads innovation to reduce the time that children spend in the child welfare system and to prevent entry into the child welfare system. Kinnect achieves this by partnering with organizations to transform beliefs, values and actions to ensure permanent families for all children in the shortest time possible. We believe that childhood is a fundamental human right and that all children deserve permanent families. We believe that every day that a child is in foster care, separated from their kin and community is a day in crisis. We embrace hope, possibility and innovation and we treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Overview of the OhioKAN Program:

OhioKAN is an innovative statewide Kinship and Adoption Navigator Program supporting formal and informal kin caregivers and adoptive parents by providing information and referral services and assistance obtaining support services. Building on current and previous Ohio kinship navigator programs, OhioKAN is distinguished by its planned statewide implementation, broad population of families served, and provision for rigorous evaluation. Contingent on evaluation results, OhioKAN may establish a new evidence-based practice model that may be considered for federal payments under the Family First Preservation Act of 2018.

OhioKAN builds community and systems capacity necessary to support families and works directly with kinship and adoptive families to build confidence and connections. Anticipated outcomes to be measured include greater family resilience, improved family functioning, increased stability and permanency for children, and improved child well-being.

OhioKAN is a statewide program organized into ten geographic regions. Regional staff will develop community capacity to support the work and deliver a service model designed to support formal an informal kin caregivers and adoptive parents in obtaining the knowledge and social support to access to the human services and resources they need to achieve positive health and wellbeing outcomes for themselves and the children in their care.

Position Summary:

Overview of the Regional Director Position:

The Regional Director is a full-time position dedicated to building community-level supports for the Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator program in one of ten regions around the state. The Regional Director reports to the OhioKAN Program Director and supervises a regional team of three staff – a Regional Coordinator and one/two Coaches. The Regional Director will partner with the Regional Coordinator and Coaches to ensure the service delivery and capacity building objectives of the statewide program are successfully met within their region. The Regional Director will also work with the Statewide Evaluation team to ensure successful data collection and continuous quality improvement activities are completed for the region.

The Regional Director will build and maintain local partnerships and co-facilitate regular Regional Advisory Council meetings designed to engage local stakeholders. In partnership with the Regional Advisory Council, the Regional Director will develop a regional implementation plan to build their region’s capacity to serve kin caregivers and adoptive parents.

Essential Functions:

Strategic Leadership

• Exemplifies the mission, vision, and values of the OhioKAN program
• Leads and sustains the implementation and continuous quality improvement of the OhioKAN program in a multi-county regional area in a manner that is responsive to the needs of kinship and adoptive families, considers the resources and capacity of individual counties and local communities, ensures fidelity to the program model, and supports formal program evaluation and CQI activities
• Leads a regional staff team
• Forges, cultivates, and maintains deep relationships with and connections among a broad network of regional and local human services organizations
• Conducts applicable outreach by connecting and presenting to local and statewide organizations
• Inspires a shared sense of purpose among key stakeholders, including families served, public and private human service organizations, community leaders, and staff
• Establishes, grows, and co-leads a Regional Advisory Council, composed of key regional and local stakeholders, that is charged with providing ongoing expert guidance, service capacity assessment and building, problem-solving, and support for the regional OhioKAN program.
• Contributes to the success of the statewide OhioKAN program by building collaborative relationships with peer regional directors, actively sharing ideas and information, and contributing personal creativity and critical thinking to the ongoing refinement and success of OhioKAN.

Program Design and Implementation

• Implements OhioKAN consistent with the program model, project timeline, and budget
• Hires, trains, and supports regional OhioKAN staff, including a Regional Coordinator and one/two Coaches
• In conjunction with the Regional Advisory Council and supported by the Evaluation Team, conducts a regional readiness assessment and utilizes the same to define strategies and objectives for developing necessary resources
• Manages the process for selecting organizations to serve as host sites for OhioKAN Navigators and site supervisors within the region
• Initiates formal agreements with partnering organizations; forges close collaborative relationships with the same; and plans with partnering organizations for the selection, onboarding, training, and supervision of OhioKAN Navigators
• Ensures the initial training of OhioKAN Navigators and site supervisors (subsequent weekly supervision conducted by Coaches) and ongoing peer support through quarterly learning collaboratives

Community Engagement

• Targeted outreach to key stakeholders to build, engage, and sustain the membership of the Regional Advisory Council, a group which the Regional Director co-leads
• Meets with and listens attentively to kinship caregivers, adoptive parents, and youth
• Builds effective collaborative relationships with key regional, county and local subject matter experts
• Forges effective and collaborative relationships with human service organizations across the region
• Engages subject matter experts in identifying priorities for capacity building and strategies for accomplishing them
• Acquires nuanced understanding of the regional, county, and community-level human service organizations, formal and informal decision-making structures, and priority concerns

Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

• Champions evaluation and CQI practices for the region; effectively communicates the same to partnering organizations and stakeholders; and utilizes performance and outcome data to inform decision making
• Directly and in conjunction with regional Coaches and evaluation staff, supports partnering organizations in their collection, input and utilization of evaluation data and constructive learning through the application of sound CQI practices
• Achieves targets for data collection, data integrity, program fidelity, and CQI practices

Skills and Competencies:

• Adaptation and flexibility
• Detail oriented
• Ability and comfort working with diverse populations in various environments
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office programs (including Excel, PowerPoint and SharePoint)
• Data collection and analyzing skills
• Ability to create and deliver presentations
• Budgeting, contract management and supervisory experience
• Ability to build and maintain a team

Education/Qualification:

• Bachelor's degree required; masters preferred
• 3-5 years of progressive leadership experience including experience supervising a team

Working Conditions:

• TRAVEL REQUIRED, AS NEEDED. MUST HAVE ACCESS TO OWN
• Background Check Information: The final candidate selected for the position will be required to undergo a criminal background check. Criminal convictions do not necessarily preclude an applicant from consideration for a position. An individual assessment of an applicant's prior criminal conviction(s) will be made before excluding an applicant from
• This job generally operates in a professional office The role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, etc.
• This job requires occasional overnight travel in the state of Ohio
• Ability to work within an office environment and have regular interaction via telephone, teleconference, text and email with Kinnect’s team as well as in the community.

Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position.

All employment decisions at Kinnect are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, size, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic  information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

American’s with Disabilities Act: This position involves sitting in a stationary position for at least 50% of the time and the ability to ambulate without assistance to attend on-site meetings, as needed. The job requires movement in a typical office environment with file cabinets, office machinery, office furniture and typical hallway and access doorways. The position must operate typical office equipment, such as copiers, telephones, computers and peripherals. This job requires that the person must have the ability to access transportation to attend meetings and special events. The organization provides reasonable accommodations for this position.