Deputy Director

About Evanston Cradle to Career
Evanston Cradle to Career (EC2C) is a community-wide collective impact partnership working to ensure that every child, youth, and young adult in Evanston has access to the opportunities, resources, and support they need to thrive. EC2C brings together over 40 nonprofit organizations, schools, government agencies, community institutions, businesses, funders, residents, parents, and young people to address challenges that no single organization can solve alone.

EC2C serves as the backbone for seven community collectives: Early Childhood, Out-of-School Time, Workforce, Health & Housing, Environmental Justice, Community Connect, and Evanston Youth & Young Adult. Through shared priorities, coordinated action, data, and community voice, these collectives align resources, address gaps and inequities, and improve the systems that shape outcomes for children, young people, and families.

Position Summary
The Deputy Director is EC2C's senior leader for organizational execution, collective effectiveness, staff leadership, and internal operations. A strategic partner to the Executive Director, the Deputy Director helps shape priorities and systems-change strategies, brings implementation insights into organizational decisions, and translates shared goals into coordinated action and measurable progress.

EC2C operates with a small, three-person staff consisting of the Executive Director, Deputy Director, and Neighborhood Network Coordinator. Despite its small staff, EC2C coordinates an extensive network of community partners and initiatives. The Deputy Director must be comfortable working in a collaborative, hands-on environment where responsibilities range from high-level strategy and community leadership to day-to-day project management and organizational operations.

The Executive Director leads EC2C's overall vision, external strategy, key institutional and civic relationships, and fundraising. The Deputy Director leads implementation across the seven collectives, coordinates internal staff and external partners, and establishes the plans, systems, and accountability needed to deliver results. Together, they assess emerging opportunities, make strategic choices, and strengthen EC2C's long-term effectiveness.

The Neighborhood Network Coordinator reports directly to the Deputy Director, who provides supervision, coaching, and performance accountability. The Deputy Director also helps coordinate the work of contractors, interns, and project leads as needed. This position combines strategic judgment with hands-on leadership, from facilitating complex partner decisions to resolving barriers and ensuring commitments are fulfilled.

Key Responsibilities

Provide strategic and implementation leadership across EC2C's seven collectives and major cross-sector initiatives, supporting shared goals, mutually reinforcing activities, and measurable community outcomes.

Work with collective leaders and members to translate priorities into actionable plans with clear roles, timelines, deliverables, and measures of progress.
Ensure decisions lead to documented commitments and consistent follow-through.

Convene and facilitate collaborative planning, problem-solving, and decision-making. Navigate differing institutional interests and help partners resolve barriers while maintaining shared ownership of results.

Advance systems-change strategies that address policies, practices, resource flows, and other conditions contributing to racial and economic inequities.

Help partners align resources, reduce duplication, and address gaps in services, referrals, and systems.

Connect work across collectives, strengthen information sharing and shared learning, and identify opportunities for joint action. Maintain a clear view of progress and bring resource needs, risks, and strategic choices to the Executive Director.

Lead day-to-day organizational execution and internal coordination. Partner with the Executive Director on strategy and planning, translating direction into organization-wide priorities, measurable goals, and realistic resource commitments.

Directly supervise the Neighborhood Network Coordinator, setting priorities, clarifying responsibilities, reviewing performance, and supporting professional growth. Coordinate the work of contractors, interns, and other project personnel as needed.

Lead staff planning and project reviews to align workloads, track commitments, resolve obstacles, and sustain a culture of collaboration, equity, learning, and accountability.

Build effective systems for project management, internal communication, documentation, and organizational planning. Guide the Network & Neighborhood Network Coordinator's coordination of operational processes and follow-through.

Oversee internal operational coordination, including budgeting, financial monitoring, contracts, and administrative processes, in partnership with the Executive Director and appropriate staff or vendors. Identify capacity needs and recommend improvements.

Keep the Executive Director informed of performance, emerging issues, and decisions requiring executive attention. Support leadership development, succession planning, and organizational continuity; provide leadership in the Executive Director's absence when delegated.

Build and sustain working relationships across nonprofit, education, government, healthcare, philanthropic, business, faith, and community partners to advance implementation and collective goals.

Build trust across different perspectives and institutional priorities. Represent EC2C in community meetings and cross-sector initiatives as appropriate, supporting the Executive Director's leadership of key external relationships and external strategy.

Create accessible opportunities for parents, young people, residents, and community advisors to shape priorities, decisions, and solutions. Give particular attention to people and neighborhoods historically excluded from institutional decision-making.

Integrate lived experience and community knowledge with institutional expertise and quantitative data. Ensure collaborative processes reflect racial equity, shared leadership, and meaningful community influence.

Work with staff and partners to establish shared measures and practical processes for tracking organizational goals, collective outcomes, and implementation commitments.

Guide the collection, interpretation, and communication of data and community feedback to identify disparities, understand systemic barriers, and assess whether strategies are producing intended results.

Lead regular progress reviews with staff and collective leaders. Identify stalled commitments, agree on corrective action, and recommend shifts in strategy or resources when evidence warrants change.

Coordinate clear impact reports, presentations, and partner communications. Promote continuous learning across collectives so evidence and community feedback inform decisions and improvements.

Support the Executive Director's leadership of funder relationships and resource-development strategy by identifying aligned opportunities and providing implementation expertise and evidence of impact.

Coordinate grant development, implementation, reporting, and compliance, bringing together outcomes, budgets, partner input, and other materials for proposals and funder communications.

For grants involving multiple partners, clarify responsibilities, deliverables, timelines, and reporting requirements; monitor follow-through and address implementation risks.

Assess the resource needs and sustainability of collectives and initiatives. Recommend ways to align investments with community priorities and EC2C's strategy, keeping funded work consistent with commitments and organizational capacity.

EC2C recognizes that strong candidates bring different combinations of professional, community, and lived experience. We encourage applicants who can demonstrate many of the following through their work, education, community leadership, or other relevant experience.

Significant leadership experience in nonprofit, community, education, government, human services, public health, philanthropy, or a related field.

Experience leading complex projects, coalitions, or cross-sector partnerships and moving shared goals from discussion to implementation and measurable results.

Understanding of collective impact and systems change, including how institutions, policies, resources, and community conditions interact.

Strong relationship-building and facilitation skills, with the ability to navigate disagreement, build trust across diverse perspectives, and lead through influence.

Experience supervising and coaching staff or leading the work of teams, with clear expectations, constructive feedback, and accountability.

Strong organizational and project-management skills, including experience developing systems, balancing multiple priorities, and maintaining consistent follow-through.

Ability to use data and community feedback to assess progress, communicate learning, and improve strategies; strong written and verbal communication skills.

Demonstrated commitment to racial and economic equity and to the leadership and knowledge of people most affected by community decisions

Experience with grant management, resource development, budgeting, evaluation, youth and family services, or Evanston's organizations and institutions is especially valuable. Candidates should be comfortable working in a small organization where senior leaders move between strategic decisions and hands-on execution.

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