Executive Director

Gateway Early Childhood Alliance

St. Louis, Missouri

The Moran Company is pleased to partner with the Gateway Early Childhood Alliance to recruit the organization’s next Executive Director.

Gateway Early Childhood Alliance Background

The Gateway Early Childhood Alliance (The Alliance) is seeking an Executive Director to replace the Founding Executive Director. This position is responsible for catalyzing a regional coordination nonprofit that drives early education (ECE) quality and access in St. Louis seeking to provide the most benefit to underrepresented, marginalized, and highest need communities.

The mission of The Alliance is to create and sustain an early childhood system that ensures Black and Brown children and families have access to high-quality early childhood care and education.

The Alliance was first envisioned in 2014 when the For the Sake of All report identified a lack of quality early childhood care and education as a leading indicator of health disparities between white and Black residents of St. Louis. In 2018, an advisory committee of twenty-two organizational leaders from across the region partnered to study the access and affordability gaps in the early childhood care and education landscape and published The First Step to Equity report. This was followed by a community-led process facilitated by WEPOWER to develop a” Playbook” to redevelop and redefine ECE in the region. In 2021, in response to the information from the studies, the regional coordinating entity announced its launch with the name Gateway Early Childhood Alliance.

The Gateway Early Childhood Alliance provides the following:

Coordination, Communication and Connection
Creating spaces for people within and outside of the ECE sector to create and plan together enables the Alliance to coordinate efforts to build and support a regional ECE system. Together, the Alliance and the ECE community will create accountability and champion responsive policies and programming that put the needs of children, families, and educators first.

Power Building and Advocacy
Centering providers’ and families’ voices and experiences in the Alliance’s advocacy strategies is non-negotiable. Increasing connection among providers and building collective power will allow the ECE community and its allies to advocate for more supportive policies, increased funding, and expanded access to quality slots.

Capacity Building
Building the capacity of ECE providers and educators—helping them feel supported and valued in their work—will lead to effective and sustainable programs, which will expand access to quality ECE. Through increased funding and knowledge, providers will be able to provide a high-quality experience for families and children.

Internal Infrastructure
Building a thriving organization and unified team of ECE champions gives the Alliance a strong foundation to foster and support these efforts. The background of the team will always reflect the communities the Alliance serves.

Duties and Responsibilities

Major Responsibilities

• Catalyzes the Alliance to drive access to high-quality early care and education in St. Louis. The Executive Director seeks to provide the most benefit to  nderrepresented marginalized, and highest-need communities.
• In conjunction with the ECE community, develops and implements a coordinated early childhood education system in the St. Louis region.
• Builds and nurtures relationships with ECE community providers,  intermediaries, and other stakeholders.
• Leads the policy and advocacy work of the Alliance, aligning policy  strategy with state and local elected and community leaders; ensures provider voice remains central to Alliance’s strategy.
• Works with the Steering Committee to transition the organization from fiscal sponsorship under the St. Louis Community Foundation to an independent 50l(c)3 nonprofit organization. (By-Laws have been approved by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.)
• Manages all activities related to human resources, finance, fundraising, strategy implementation, partnerships, communications, and governance.
• Hires and manages internal team members and external consultants with skillsets and experience to inform the functions efficiently and effectively.
• Fosters a collaborative, trust based organizational culture.

Organizational Governance

• Recruits, develops, and inspires a Board of Directors charged with ongoing governance as outlined in the by-laws.
• Leads the fiscal management of the Alliance, including budgeting for growth and fund development to support that growth.
• Establishes policies and procedures aligned with the organization’s current values and operating culture.
• Establishes administrative support, as necessary.

Strategy Design and Implementation

• With the team and Steering Committee and, once established, Board of Directors, implements current strategy and goals as they relate to Coordination, Communication and Connection, Power Building & Advocacy, Capacity Building, and Building Internal Infrastructure.
• In conjunction with the staff team, Committee/Board, and community, establishes future strategies that serve to build a coordinated system for early childhood education in the St. Louis region.

Relationship Development and Maintenance

• Builds buy-in and trust by listening and collaborating with caregivers, providers, educators, advocates, and stakeholders.
• Expands and solidifies the organization’s coalition within the broader St. Louis Community.
• Develops resources to ensure a diverse and steady stream of funding to both build capacity within the field and enhance/expand quality services.

Qualifications

1. Master’s degree in education, human service administration or related degree and a minimum of five years management experience is preferred
2. Ability to provide leadership to both Steering Committee/Board of Directors and staff. Knowledge of funding sources, community resources, current best practices in the field, legislation and/or regulations pertinent to The Alliance.
3. Demonstrated experience working to address systematic inequities that impact Black and Brown children and families.
4. Understanding of how to work across political boundaries to impact public policy. Is collaborative with state, regional, and local advocacy organizations to advance legislation that positively impacts early childhood education.
5. Experience with fund development such as donor cultivation, “making the ask,” collaborative funding models, identifying and submitting to local and national funders, ongoing stewardship.
6. Habits of Work, mindsets and approaches that are key to success in this role:

• Shares the core value that the highest need communities should receive the most benefit.
• Strong entrepreneurial inclination with a command of start-up business operations.
• Develops an organization with long-term health and sustainability in mind.
• Strategically and organizationally agile systems thinker.
• Keeps the vision and mission; is able to motivate, rally, and infuse all organization action with a sense of shared purpose.
• Respected reputation for effectiveness and sound judgment in their close professional community and broader network.
• Advocates for amplifying community voice; actively engages with those closest to the system.
• Politically-savvy; attuned to the complexities of local ECE system-wide intricacies and able to navigate with sensitivity.
• Seasoned networker who fosters new relationships to promote the organization while nurturing pre-existing relationships with community members of influence.