Early Literacy Strategist

Purpose

The Early Literacy Strategist will create, manage, and provide equitable opportunities for early literacy development and learning for young children and their caregivers in Allegheny County. Through Buzzword Pittsburgh, the Early Literacy Strategist will manage the collaboration between community partners and Allegheny County Family Centers to provide engaging activities, content, and events that enable young children to learn new words. Additionally, the Early Literacy Strategist will look for existing and new opportunities for collaboration to assist young children with building their literacy skills, families with supporting these skills, and educators with introducing and reinforcing them.

Responsibilities

• Commitment to racial equity and inclusion and a willingness to do the ongoing personal work to bring about a more just society by actively participating in professional growth opportunities.
• Actively work with peers to create a culture of belonging at Trying Together.
• Willingness to disrupt practices that do not honor children’s, families’, educators’, and colleagues’ humanity.
• Serve as the liaison between Buzzword Pittsburgh community partners and Allegheny County Family Centers to manage, create, and distribute word-themed early literacy content.
• Cook up monthly in-person Buzzword Pittsburgh events that enable opportunities for early literacy development and learning, and positive parent-child interaction.
• Represent Trying Together on the Western Pennsylvania Early Literacy Team and similar early literacy projects that support children, families, and early learning programs.
• Build relationships with early learning programs and providers and work with the Trying Together Quality Initiatives team to coordinate and offer professional growth opportunities that meet the early literacy interests and needs of the children and families in the region.
• Build relationships with community partners who provide early literacy resources, programs, and services to co-create, manage, and promote these to all children, families, and educators in Allegheny County.
• Evaluate development and learning monthly by working with the Trying Together Data & Research team to document and track impact.
• Consistently use the NeonCRM platform to build relationships with constituents, record data that measures project performance, and to support continuous quality improvement in the organization’s resources and services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education, Early Childhood Education, or related field.
• Deep knowledge of reading, writing, and literacy development.
• Strong interpersonal skills such as communication, problem-solving, conflict management, and collaboration.
• Experience with building productive relationships with diverse individuals and groups.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Teaching Certificate, Reading Certification, or License preferred.
• Experience within an early learning program setting is a plus.