TRUE Dads Educator

Its My Community Initiative (IMCI) offers programs that serve a number of special population groups, including veterans, the historically unemployed or underemployed, individuals with a criminal background including those reentering communities from incarceration, incumbent workers, and low-skilled or low-wage workers. IMCI also works with TRUE Dads. This is a free program in Oklahoma City that helps dads be the kind of father they want to be. Over the years, IMCI has developed a reputation for and continues to demonstrate the value and efficacy of well-thought approaches to incorporating soft skills, vocational training, continuing education, job placement, job coaching and career advancement in ways that make obtaining consistent employment with a living wage more accessible. Additionally, IMCI continuously looks for opportunities to innovate within the workforce development field and, where appropriate, develops and fosters social enterprises that include employment opportunities for the populations served and whose financial success can be reinvested in the services and resources needed to build the Work Ready Oklahoma model.

TRUE Dads is the first and only large-scale, community-based, and comprehensive continuum of services in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area that seeks to enhance the quality of life of low-income fathers, particularly men of color, by improving their knowledge, strengthening their skills, helping them to build cooperative and effective relationships with co-parents, and providing opportunities to achieve economic stability as a means of providing for their families and improving outcomes for their children. TRUE Dads is named for the traits that embody great fathers and the characteristics that will be fostered by the programTrustworthy, Responsible, United, Educated. Critical to the success of the program are the Educators that lead multi-session workshops.

The Educator provides leadership within the program through high quality, dynamic workshop facilitation, structured coaching of proven skills, engagement of fathers and co-parents in group and parenting team activities, and provision of group-case management to include the sharing of information about community resources. This Educator will also provide oversight to additional trained coaches during skills practice sessions to occur during the workshop sessions. The Educator will form a working alliance with TD participants to increase their active knowledge about family success, build their capacity to deploy a range of skills to improve their co-parenting relationship, gain access to additional resources to meet their family needs, and support meaningful behavior change that will have a positive impact on both their co-parenting relationship and their children.

This is a part-time position, with services delivered during evening hours and on weekends, with additional training and preparation required on a monthly basis.

• Lead dynamic workshops for TRUE Dads (TD) fathers and co-parents, utilizing the TRUE Dads Program Curriculum during evening and/or weekend hours
• Ensure curriculum fidelity by facilitating the curriculum as designed, participating in on-going community of practice activities, and developing a mastery of the content
• Ensure fathers and co-parents are building competency in the skills taught in the curriculum through good communication coaching and through supervision of additional communication coaches when available, and referring fathers for additional support when needed
• Maintain a working knowledge of community resources, staying current about the community partnerships and other agency referrals available through TD
• Engage with fathers and co-parents when they arrive at the training facility, utilizing breaks and mealtimes as opportunities for service and individual engagement
• Plan and coordinate with co-leaders of workshops to determine best presenters by module and other curriculum needs before and throughout workshop series
• Maintain accurate workshop data, including attendance rosters, evaluations, and other reporting documents
• Administer surveys at the first and last workshop to support the data collection requirements of funding agencies
• Aid in on-going program development and stay current with curriculum updates by participating in the TD Community of Practice, attending training sessions, participating in peer reviews, and providing feedback to the Education Services Coordinator and TRUE Dads Program curriculum developers
• Co-facilitate occasional small and large group learning opportunities with additional content as determined by TD
• Utilize networks to bring resources and referrals to TD, to support program success
• Other duties as assigned

• Bachelors and Masters Degree in Psychology, Marriage and Family Studies, Sociology or other related field, preferred
• Strong history of education/training in the areas of adult learning, fatherhood programs, and/or the facilitation of educational programs for adults a plus, and such training may be considered in lieu of other educational requirements

• Prior experience in public speaking and good presentation skills, required
• Prior experience working with fathers/men a plus
• Prior experience providing skills coaching a plus
• A working knowledge of the PREP or On My Shoulders curriculums a plus

• Ability to consistently work flexible hours weeknights and weekends; ideal candidates will commit to a regular teaching schedule of twice weekly
• Must be able to form strong connections with other people and have an understanding of and a compassion for the lives of low income families
• Must be able to form a working alliance with fathers and co-parents, so that they feel a commitment to the TD program, their Educator, and to working with each other on achieving family success

Sufficient mobility and strength to move about the facility.