Organization Summary:

Think Small, Minnesota’s leader in early learning, is dedicated to advancing early childhood care and education. We are still committed to the principles that gave rise to our organization 50 years ago – that the quality of a child’s early experiences greatly influences his or her success later in life and that there is much that can be done to improve the quality of early childhood settings to optimize a child’s development.

To support the full potential for every child, Think Small commits to championing policies and practices of equity that empower a just, inclusive, and equitable care and education system for children in their crucial early years.

The Child Care Capacity Coach offers outreach and early childhood supports to individuals interested in opening a licensed child care programs or expand the capacity of an existing program in the counties of Anoka, Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington. Efforts will include a focus on serving historically underserved clients and new American clients and builds strong partnerships with early childhood educators, which supports intentional and culturally-affirming high quality practices and positive early childhood outcomes.

This position will provide leadership, utilize data, community engagement, business supports and other technical assistance to increase the supply of available high quality child care in Minnesota.

Essential Job Functions:

-Provide leadership and direction for efforts to increase the supply of available high quality child care.
-Identify and recruit potential clients interested in opening a new child care business.
-Offer technical assistance to interested clients focused on navigating Minnesota’s child care licensing process. This includes both licensed family child care licensing and child care center licensing processes.
-Participate in the development and implementation of culturally relevant early childhood services
-Collaborate with internal Think Small staff and other partner agencies including, but not limited to county licensing staff, Child Care Aware of Minnesota agencies, First Children’s Finance and the Department of Human Services.
-Appropriately document coaching and technical assistance activities in approved platforms.
-Support clients through a variety of professional development services, utilizing adult learning best practices
-Represent Think Small at community events and meetings

Requirements:

-Fluency in Somali and English (speaking, reading and writing)
-Must have the following credentials or be otherwise qualified and working toward Achieve/MNCPD required credentials
-Minimum educational requirements: Step 2 on the Minnesota Early Childhood Career Lattice, which states a high school diploma or GED with 25 hours of Achieve approved trainings
-Preferred educational requirements: Step10 on the Minnesota Early Childhood Career Lattice, which states a Bachelor’s degree with between 6-37 college credits related to ECE/Child Development
-Minimum experience requirements:1 year direct child care or Head Start experience
-Preferred experience requirements: 3 years direct child care or Head Start experience
-Demonstrated cultural competence with Somali community
-Working knowledge of basic MS Office programs (Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel)
-This position will require metro area travel
-There are occasional requirements to lift over 20 pounds
-Valid driver’s license, reliable personal vehicle and proof of insurance is required for metro area travel
-Some evening and weekend hours required

Additional Information:

This position is available immediately.

Wage hiring range: $46,000 to $54,000

-Medical, dental, short and long term disability, life, vision, disability, critical illness; medical and dependent care flex, HSA, legal and ID protection plans.
-Pre-tax and ROTH 401k with 5% employer match.
-23 days of sick/vacation time earned the first year PLUS 8 scheduled holidays and 5 floating holidays for those whose needs don’t conform to the federal holiday calendar.
-We recently introduced 2 new-parent benefits – 6 weeks paid parental leave and infants-at-work program (available after 1 year of employment.)
-Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Think Small building (located at 10 Yorkton Court, St Paul, MN 55117) is closed and the majority of our staff have been working remotely. We are currently returning most positions to a hybrid (on-site and remote) in stages.

Think Small is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer