Assistant Director, William Julius Wilson Institute

Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) — a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York — seeks an enthusiastic, dedicated, and mission-aligned Assistant Director to join the William Julius Wilson Institute.

The Assistant Director will bring a passion for the mission of Harlem Children’s Zone: break the cycle of intergenerational poverty with comprehensive, on-the-ground programming that builds up opportunities for children and families to thrive in school, work, and life.

Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is advancing a bold vision to transform the lives of one million young people by scaling what works, building the field, and supporting place-based efforts rooted in community. Through the National Impact Team, HCZ works alongside communities, school systems, governments, philanthropy, and local organizations to accelerate cradle-to-career outcomes and economic mobility nationwide.

William Julius Wilson Institute (WJWI) serves as HCZ's national platform for technical assistance, field building, implementation support, and community transformation. WJWI helps communities translate vision into action and achieve measurable outcomes for children and families.

The Assistant Director supports the execution of strategic priorities, initiatives, and partnerships within the William Julius Wilson Institute (WJWI). Reporting to the Managing Director, WJWI, this role is responsible for coordinating projects, managing implementation activities, supporting stakeholder engagement, and ensuring high-quality execution across a portfolio of work.

The Assistant Director serves as a key contributor to advancing WJWI's goals by translating strategy into action, coordinating across teams and partners, and supporting effective planning, communication, and execution. This role works closely with internal colleagues and external stakeholders to drive progress, solve problems, and support the successful delivery of initiatives aligned with HCZ's mission and National Impact strategy.

For more information, check out Want to Work at Harlem Children’s Zone? Here’s 7 Things You Need to Know .

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required.

• 4+ years of experience in education, nonprofit management, community development, philanthropy, public policy, project management, consulting, or related fields.

W ho You Are

• Strong project management, organization, and coordination skills.

• Experience supporting complex initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and workstreams.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, with the ability to develop high-quality presentations and materials.

• Strong research, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and operate effectively in fast-paced environments.

• Commitment to equity, community transformation, and improving outcomes for children and families.
• Strong Executor: Keeps projects moving forward, manages details effectively, and ensures commitments are met.
• Relationship Builder: Develops strong working relationships with partners, stakeholders, and colleagues.
• Collaborative Team Player: Works effectively across teams and functions to support shared goals.
• Organized Problem Solver: Anticipates needs, addresses challenges proactively, and maintains focus on results.
• Effective Communicator: Produces high-quality presentations, written materials, and communications for a variety of audiences.
• Mission-Driven Contributor: Brings a deep commitment to equity, community transformation, and improving outcomes for children and families.

What you'll do

• Support the execution of strategic priorities, initiatives, and partnerships across WJWI.

• Manage project plans, timelines, deliverables, and implementation workstreams to ensure high-quality execution.

• Coordinate activities across internal teams, external partners, consultants, and stakeholders.

• Track progress against goals and milestones, identify risks and challenges, and support the development of solutions.

• Facilitate meetings, prepare agendas, document action items, and ensure follow-through on key decisions and commitments.

• Conduct research, analysis, and information synthesis to support planning, decision-making, and implementation efforts.

• Develop presentations, briefing materials, reports, communications, and other resources for internal and external audiences.

• Support relationship management efforts with community leaders, partner organizations, government agencies, philanthropic partners, and other stakeholders.

• Assist with planning and execution of meetings, convenings, learning opportunities, and special projects.

• Support cross-functional collaboration and coordination to ensure alignment across teams and initiatives.

Schedule

• We prefer applicants in New York, Washington DC, Baltimore or the surrounding Metropolitan area (3 days in office, 2 days remote).
• This position may require occasional evening and weekend work for community events, meetings, and overnight travel to various communities nationwide.
• Travel may represent 20–25% of staff time, depending on the location and duration of assigned engagements.

Benefits

As a member of the Harlem Children's Zone team, you will join a supportive and inclusive community dedicated to helping children, families — and our staff — thrive. We offer highly competitive salaries, a comprehensive benefits package, and opportunities for growth.

Our exceptional full- time benefits include:

• Highly competitive base salaries
• Paid time off
• Employee referral bonus
• Career advancement
• No-cost health insurance
• Life Insurance
• Short-and long-term disability
• Additional voluntary benefits
• Wellness discounts
• Commuter benefits
• Financial wellness perks
• Additional Benefits (Discounts on flights, hotels, theme parks, concert tickets, and more.)

The salary range for this position is $85,000-$95,000 per year. To be considered, interested applicants should apply directly through the posting. No telephone inquiries or recruiters, please. Replies will only be sent to qualified applicants. Harlem Children's Zone and Promise Academy Charter Schools will not provide work visas for candidates who require employer sponsorship to ensure work authorization in the United States. Harlem Children’s Zone is an EOE.