AVP, Programs - Latin America

OVERVIEW 

Since 1972, Covenant House has served and advocated for youth and young families experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. Our overarching goal is to end homelessness among youth and young families by helping them achieve housing stability, heal from trauma, tap into their innate resilience, and hone their interests and skills to forge new pathways to independence. This work is carried out across Covenant House sites in 34 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

REPORTS TO: SVP, Latin America with strong dotted line to VP, Programs 

PRIMARY FUNCTION OF THE POSITION 

The AVP, Latin America Programs will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of CHI’s Program initiatives with our site partners in Latin America and the CHI Latin America team. The purpose of this work is to support and leverage opportunities to improve practice, quality and service delivery and achieve the strongest outcomes possible at individual youth, site and Federation levels. This role  will focus on aligning, adapting, and supporting the implementation of Covenant House’s program model and trauma-informed approaches to the Latin America context and areas of focus, including but not limited to residential services, family reintegration, mental health services, education, vocational training, life planning, and specialized services for specific populations of Covenant House youth including survivors of human trafficking and sexual violence, migrants, young families, and youth who identify as LGBTQ. All work in this area will be undertaken with a spirit of collaboration and commitment to partnership with Covenant House site leaders and designed from a strengths-based, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed lens.  

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES   

• Program Strengthening (50%) 

• Program Model – Collaborate with Latin America sites, the CHI Programs team, and the CHI Latin America team on adapting the Covenant House program model for adoption and implementation at CH sites in Latin America. 
• Practice Improvement and Innovation – Lead efforts to use data to drive practice improvement and program outcomes at Federation, site and youth levels.  
• Training – Adapt and further develop training materials for the program model, migration and human trafficking screening projects, as well as other trainings and resources aligned with Latin America programming; train Latin America sites to implement a train-the-trainer model. 
• Program Resources – Develop a resource library on SharePoint where program resources and training materials can be compiled and accessed by CH sites in Latin America. 
• Professional Development – Collaborate on the development, roll out and implementation of CHI’s Learning Management System with CH sites in Latin America, building out training content in the system for site staff in Latin America. 
• Best Practice Sharing – Coordinate and lead regular Latin America Program Director meetings and other Latin America specific learning communities; collaborate on planning for the Program Leadership Retreat & Latin America retreats, and develop additional mechanisms through which best practices can be shared and promoted across our sites in Latin America and the larger CH Federation.  
• Evaluation – Collaborate with the Research, Evaluation and Learning team on the development and implementation of new program outcome measures at CH sites in Latin America as well as all program evaluation activities, including monitoring program related requirements and outcomes for government and foundation grants.  
• Site Support – Develop and lead onboarding activities for new Program Directors at CH sites in Latin America. 

• Development and Thought Leadership (35%) 

• Fundraising – Serve as technical lead on programmatic aspects of grant proposals and reports with CHI’s Foundations and Corporations teams and support Casa-led proposals as needed.  
• Presentations & Publications – Prepare and contribute to external publications and other efforts to position CHI as a leading expert and thought leader in the sector and participate in conferences to raise visibility of Casa learnings and expertise.  

• Other Duties (15%) – As assigned by the SVP, Latin America and VP, Programs and may include program activities and trainings in support of CH sites in the U.S. and Canada.   

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS 

• Mission driven orientation with exceptional partnership and collaboration skills and a strong commitment to Covenant House’s cause 
• Bilingual/ bicultural – Spanish-English required 
• Bachelor’s Degree in social work, public health, nonprofit administration, or program related field; master’s Degree or equivalent is preferred, experience with mental health programming also preferred  
• 8 or more years of program leadership experience in social service administration, preferably in youth homeless services 
• Extensive experience working and living in the Latin America region with strong understanding of social, political, cultural, and economic context 
• Deep expertise with program design, content development, and program dissemination at scale and in the Latin America region required 
• Program experience in the areas of migration, human trafficking, mental health and/or family engagement strongly preferred  
• Exceptional leadership, management, organizational and interpersonal skills required  
• Strong analytics and data experience preferred  
• Exceptional communication (verbal and written) and presentation skills 
• Experience in developing and delivering training and technical support  
• Experience in a matrixed organization preferred  
• Flexible with exceptional judgment and emotional intelligence 
• Thrives in a fast-paced, fluid environment   

• Proficient in Microsoft 365 

TRAVEL REQUIRED 

• You may be required to travel for this position, up to 25%  

OUR COMMUNITY 

Our critical mission demands that we have all voices at the table. A team of diverse people, perspectives, and experiences is smarter, stronger, and more effective for our young people. At Covenant House, every team member is valued, respected, heard, and supported, and we welcome honest and courageous self-reflection on any aspects of our work that are based on biased or outdated viewpoints. We deliberately create opportunities for our staff to grow and thrive.  

Covenant House International is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind: CHI is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at CHI are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, family or parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. CHI will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics and encourages all qualified applicants to apply. Come join our awesome international team in an organization with a heart! Our offices are located in Manhattan, however, this position will be remote for the foreseeable future. 

https://www.covenanthouse.org/