The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) values diverse perspectives and life experiences. The Department encourages people of all backgrounds to apply, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, veterans and those with lived experience.

The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) provides equitable opportunities for people to be healthy, happy, self-reliant, and connected to community. 

Best Starts for Kids is a King County initiative to improve the health and well–being of residents by investing in promotion, prevention, and early intervention for children, youth, families, and communities (www.kingcounty.gov/beststarts). The Prenatal to Five investment area includes strategies such as promoting developmental screenings, Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) services, system building for infant/early childhood mental health, innovations and workforce development.
 
This leadership position, located within the Developmental Disabilities and Early Childhood Supports Division (DDECSD), will oversee a multi-disciplinary work team supervising developmental promotion, workforce development and innovation fund program staff

This position is part of a Prenatal to Five work team with a mission of nurturing the development and wellbeing of all children prenatal to five and their families through culturally relevant, equitable, and meaningful supports and services, countywide.

They will work closely with the ESIT- Early Childhood Supports Lead who leads and coordinates the Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers program and related strategies, and will be part of the Best Starts for Kids implementation effort, in alignment with staff from the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) and Public Health – Seattle & King County.

Who May Apply: The Department of Community and Human Services values diverse perspectives and life experiences.  The Department encourages people of all backgrounds to apply, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, veterans, and those with lived experiences.  
 
Required Materials: Candidates who wish to be considered for this position must submit an online King County application and respond to the supplemental questions.  Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the requested and relevant information in the online application and supplemental questionnaire.  Applications and/or supplemental questionnaires that state, "see my resume" are considered incomplete and will not be considered to be competitive.
 
Work Schedule: THIS IS A TERM-LIMITED 12 MONTH POSITION.  This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and is not eligible for overtime. Typical hours are Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm.

Recruiter:  Annette.Coleman@kingcounty.gov

 

• Supervise a dynamic, collaborative, multilingual, culturally diverse work team engaged with family-centered, strengths-based best practices, qualitative and quantitative data-informed innovation, cross-systems partnerships, trauma recovery and healing orientation, and prioritizing a racial equity and social justice lens.
• Align existing and new work of the division with the County's Equity and Social Justice Plan in partnership with the ESIT-Early Childhood Supports Lead.

• Support program managers leading BSK investments that promote healthy development for very young children, including increased access to developmental screenings, workforce development and innovations.
• Collaborate with the ESIT-Early Childhood Supports Lead to ensure division Prenatal to Five strategies are coordinated and integrated.
• Serve as lead with division and department leadership and work teams as well as leadership and staff in other departments to support the development and coordination of a system of universal developmental screenings, workforce development, and innovation in partnership with related BSK strategies, including Help Me Grow, Home–Based Services, Community-Based Parent Supports,, and Child Care Health Consultation.
• Coordinate with community partners including diverse families and community-based agencies, medical communities, and other systems to develop strategies to improve systems of care for children birth to five and their families, including families who live in more isolated areas, who may not access health care, and who experience early traumas such as hospital stays, substance exposure, involvement with the child welfare system, homelessness, and domestic or community violence.
• In alignment with the County's Equity and Social Justice Initiative, work to ensure access, services and outcomes are equitable for a diverse range of birth to five year old children, including refugee and immigrant populations, and under-served communities.
• Ensure that a county-wide approach to services and supports incorporates diverse community voices, identification of unique needs of children and families whose home language is other than English, and culturally relevant strategies to reach and serve families.
• Conduct policy analysis and develop program policies/procedures in partnership with stakeholders and team members including the Help Me Grow Strategic Advisor, and other Prenatal to Five BSK strategy leads.
• Serve as a DCHS technical expert with regard to supports and services for children prenatal to five and their families.
• Prepare overall program budget; assist in the justification of budget requests; determine financial and performance indicators and use evaluations to re-direct projects/programs; ensure continuous quality improvement, and monitor status of projects/program.
• Represent the division in multi-agency and inter-jurisdictional meetings and community meetings.

1. Deep knowledge of and commitment to equity and social justice principles and practices, understanding the effects of place, race and policy and systems-based inequities on marginalized communities and populations.
2. Knowledge of strategic planning techniques, policy development and communication strategies.
3. A combination of at least six years of education and/or experience within systems design, social services, early learning or a related field, with at least 2 years leading a project or program focused on children ages prenatal to age 5 and their families;
4. At least two years of experience providing supervision, management and support to a team.
5. Demonstrated ability to conduct presentations and act as a representative of the department on local and statewide workgroups.
6. Demonstrated budgeting skills including oversight of contracts.
7. Demonstrated experience working with diverse stakeholders including families, culturally specific and community based groups, volunteer boards, service providers, and co-workers to develop and maintain collaborative partnerships to work collectively toward common goals.
8. Demonstrated skills in problem solving and conflict resolution, and customer service including the ability to handle multiple and competing demands in sensitive situations.
9. Demonstrated ability to use data in program planning and decision making to improve outcomes.
10. Ability to work under deadlines, work on a number of tasks simultaneously, and organize and prioritize work quickly in response to changing needs.
11. A team orientation with a willingness to coach, mentor and support colleagues while being coached, mentored and supported by colleagues.
12. Valid Washington State Driver's License or ability to move efficiently throughout the county.

1. Experience effectively supporting home cultures and languages of children, adults and families, as well as bicultural and/or bilingual skills are preferred.
2. Experience and knowledge supporting cross systems partnerships with systems that serve children prenatal to age five and their families including early intervention, early learning, infant and early childhood mental health, health/medical, child welfare and community supports.