Placement Organization: The Grassroot Project
Placement Location: Washington, D.C.
Eligible Citizenship: Non-American
Placement Location: Washington, D.C.
Eligible Citizenship: Non-American
About: The Grassroot Project (TGP) is harnessing the popularity of sports in a powerful way. In a city that faces an AIDS epidemic on par with several African countries—one in 20 adults in Washington DC is estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS—TGP is using sports and athletes to break the silence around this issue.
Each semester TGP recruits all-star athletes from the top athletic programs at DC universities to become health educators. After undergoing TGP’s Athletes2Coaches training program, these athletes partner with P.E. classes at 31 DC schools, rolling out innovative sports-based HIV prevention and life skills programs for hundreds of local youth. At the end of each semester, TGP hosts community events that bring all of its youth together to celebrate what they’ve learned.
TGP was founded by 40 athletes from Georgetown University in 2009, and in just three years has grown to involve more than 400 athletes from four DC universities. Due to its unique programs and deep impact, TGP’s work has been supported by corporations like Nike, MTV, and PNC Bank, and has been featured in The Washington Post, Seventeen Magazine, the BET Awards, CNN International, Good Morning America, and ABC’s Emmy-nominated Everyday Health.
TGP has implemented several innovative projects in the past year, including designing and facilitating a 3-day crash course in nonprofit management for our student-athletes; planning one of the first randomized controlled trials in the field of sport-for-development; running an international leadership development and exchange trip with youth in South Africa; training colleges student-athletes as HIV testers and counselors, and running a non-traditional HIV testing scheme by throwing block parties at local high schools.
TGP successes to date are a result of a very clear mission, contagious positive energy, self-motivation and an incredible input from hundreds of volunteer student athletes. We are an organization comprised entirely of student athletes who are strongly committed to our mission. Spearheading our innovative programs presents a unique opportunity for someone in the beginning of their professional career to be able to hold a senior management role at an innovative NGO. We are looking for an outstanding program manager who will thrive in our culture and become a core part of our operations, delivering much-needed services to youth in Washington DC.
Position Overview: To position TGP for future success, we seek a Program Manger to forge forward with innovation at TGP, including building our ongoing athlete capacity-building program as well as helping to expand our innovative programs.
Responsibilities:
- Manage a team of eight student-athlete leaders who will be spearheading operations in program planning, evaluation, resource mobilization, and public relations
- Design and implement capacity-building programs throughout the year for these eight leaders
- Explore the viability of replication of 2013-2014 innovative pilot programs and develop new ideas for projects in 2014-2015. Possibilities include: the Rock the Block Campaign (recruiting and training college student-athletes as HIV testers and planning four block party health fairs at local high schools); and the Team Up Campaign (developing a leadership curriculum for our DC students that involves international travel and interaction with youth in Southern Africa)
- Work with the Core Programs, Program Manager and plan and direct the recruitment of college student-athlete volunteers from Georgetown University, George Washington University, Howard University, and the University of Maryland
- Work with the Core Programs, Program Manager, and plan and direct two training-of-trainers courses for college athletes to become facilitators of the TGP curriculum
- Research and draft proposals to fund innovative programs
- Submit regular programmatic and financial reports to the COO
It is important that the Program Manager:
- Maintains the TGP culture of passion, hard work, and teamwork
- Thinks strategically and makes decisions based on the overall strategy of the organization
- Is not afraid to make tough decisions and take on a leadership role
- Empowers staff at all levels to make day-to-day decisions by providing overall direction and challenging staff to carry out work without micro-managing
- Holds staff accountable while also being fair and transparent and providing sufficient structure, process, and tools in order for them to succeed
- Cares about TGP staff and volunteers and ensures that they are learning and developing along with the organization
Required Skills and Experience:
- Demonstrated interest in public health, HIV/AIDS and/or community development required
- Demonstrated ability to work and communicate effectively with people from diverse background
- Proven ability to manage large workloads and multi-task
- An interest in sport preferred, and an appreciation of its extraordinary potential to impact social development
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a team environment
Preferred Skills and Experience:
- Comfort using Microsoft Excel, Google Calendar, and Dropbox.
- Experience with college or professional athletics and/or demonstrated ability to understand the lifestyle of a student-athlete.
- Internship experience working in the public health sector
- Grassroot community organization or volunteer coordination experience a plus
- Experience in grant proposal writing or fundraising (not required, but a plus)
Living Conditions: Fellows will be provided with housing, health insurance and a living stipend of $750 (net/take home amount)*. Fellows will receive an award of $1500 upon successful completion of the fellowship year. Flights to and from the placement site and all other costs associated with GHC programming are included, plus $600 in professional development funds.
* Both international and national fellows will receive a monthly living stipend of $750, take home amount, but they may begin at different gross amounts because of visa and tax requirements.
To apply to this position click here: http://ghcorps.org/fellows/apply/application/
