Sweet Generation|RISE is a social enterprise bakery (est. 2012) located in New York City, with a retail store and a wholesale operation with a social mission program that trains and employs at-risk and disconnected young people in our bakery, while empowering and preparing them to access quality employment. By providing meaningful training in job-readiness, entrepreneurship and social-emotional development we support our participants in leading healthy, positive lives, reduce the risk of negative life outcomes and have tremendous positive economic impact on under-resourced NYC communities.

Sweet Generation’s RISE program trains and employs at-risk youth in our bakery social enterprise, while empowering them to access quality employment by providing meaningful training in job-readiness, entrepreneurship, and social-emotional development.

The Program Director (PD) oversees the RISE program implementation, partnership development and maintenance, referral network, curriculum development and execution, interviewing/hiring of participants, weekly workshops, and program staff. The PD recruits, interviews, and trains interns and acts as mentor for those navigating their first job experience.

The PD advances the long-term vitality of the youth program through strategic planning and partnership development. The PD works in close collaboration with the Director of Operations and the Sweet Generation team to expand and strengthen RISE and scale our impact. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
 

Administration + Programming

• Expand and implement job-training and entrepreneurship curriculum & consulting packages
• Develop and maintain relationships and communication with partners
• Develop and lead staff trainings and professional development workshops
• General coordination, leadership, and supervision of youth program
• Work closely with current & past participants to support their professional development
• Manage conflict, discipline, and support the needs of our participants, youth employees & alumni
• Implement and improve policies and procedures for the business and RISE program
• Social Media management of RISE outlets - posting several times/week & building online community

Enterprise Engagement

• Being a leader and strong positive role model
• Supervising Standard Operating Procedures for interns engaging with Bakery operations
• Assuming responsibility for enterprise operations - opening/closing the shop & supervising events
• Maintaining compliance with code regulations

Fundraising + Growth

• Fundraising for youth program – lead research for funding opportunities and draft proposals
• Future planning — seeking, pitching and implementing opportunities to scale
• RISE Marketing and communications - programs, partnerships, fundraising activities, & sponsorships
• Managing volunteer engagement

Key Accountabilities Breakdown:

• Curriculum Development & Workshop Leadership - 30%
• Intern Mentorship, Alumni Engagement, Partner & Network Management - 20%
• Funding Research & Grant Writing - 15%
• Administration & Reporting - 15%
• Community Engagement (Social Media, Volunteer Management, Event Management) - 15%
• Business Enterprise Supervision - 5%

Qualifications

• 3+ yrs experience in youth development and 1+ yr Supervisory/Management experience
• Required experience with:
  • workforce development & entrepreneurship training
  • writing lessons and developing curriculum
  • facilitating workshops and trainings in group settings
  • working with youth from low-income communities & formerly-incarcerated/court-involved youth
  • creating an inclusive learning environment for youth at varying performance levels
  • grant management and reporting
  • using excel spreadsheets to collect & analyze data
• Demonstrated success writing and receiving grants
• Experience in trauma-informed practice strongly preferred
• Food service/catering/barista experience strongly preferred - Food Handlers License is required but can be attained during training

About You

• Outstanding leadership and resourcefulness
• Must love customer service, and embody a "customer-is-always-right" attitude
• Takes initiative, self-motivated
• Strong team-player with a can-do attitude; Collaborative and welcomes feedback
• Extremely flexible/adaptable
• Impeccable attention to detail - Highly organized
• Positive, friendly attitude
• Adept at interacting with diverse populations; approach to education is culturally responsive