With more than 830,000 residents, Fort Worth is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. and ranked among the best cities in which to raise a family and to find a job. But only three of every 10 third-graders in the 87,000-student Fort Worth Independent School District are reading on grade level – ready to read to learn in fourth grade and beyond.
There is an indisputable need in Fort Worth to change course, improve early childhood literacy, ensure that our children have the opportunity to reach their potential and strengthen the future workforce.
To address this urgent need, Fort Worth is forming an unprecedented coalition of business, civic, education, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders to engage the community in the common goal of ensuring that 100 percent of third-graders are reading on grade level by 2025.
The Fort Worth Literacy Partnership will serve as a backbone organization that connects and supports existing initiatives, programs and providers through data, communications, and facilitation to dramatically improve early childhood results. The partnership will begin with a tight focus on the Fort Worth school district and its 6,800-plus third-graders while laying a foundation for an effort that will grow to serve children and partner organizations across the region.
The organization is working with the Commit! Partnership, a Dallas County-focused education coalition, to provide data analytics and consulting services that will guide further research and resource alignment. The Fort Worth literacy partnership will be based on a collective impact model. It will recognize that our schools care for our children for a part of their days, but that early learning programs, pre-K, before school- and after-school care, summer youth programs, among others, must align resources and work together if children are to achieve early reading success.
To help launch these high-impact efforts, the Fort Worth partnership seeks an experienced, innovative, skilled and hard-working marketing/communications leader to serve as its full-time Communications Director, driving the partnership’s communications, marketing and branding strategies to maximize engagement and impact. This position reports to the executive director of the Fort Worth literacy partnership.
Responsibilities
Communications Strategy and Engagement: Develop and execute a communications strategy to regularly engage multiple audiences and effectively communicates the partnership’s work, impact and outcomes.
Owned media
Website – Direct development of the partnership’s website in collaboration with Commit!, ensuring clarity, visual appeal and integration with Commit!’s data dashboard and forthcoming digital assets map that will connect services and providers to the campuses served and provide a user-friendly, public window into Fort Worth ISD third-grade reading results as a tool for assessing impact of programs and services that support the local campus and advancing toward the 100×25 goal.
Manage, design, produce and maintain the partnership’s website, coordinating content with vendors, partners, freelancers and contributors. Anchor bright spots coverage, success stories and partner updates on the website. Leverage the website to connect supporters, partners and providers to the backbone Fort Worth literacy partnership. Recruit, develop and edit supporting content from regular and guest bloggers; integrate blog content into the primary website.
Newsletters – Lead development of regular, concise and visually appealing newsletters to celebrate successes, provide updates on data insights and achievements, and increase connectivity among partners and supporters. Ensure that newsletter content is archived in the primary website and promoted across social channels.
Social media – Develop, produce and maintain a vibrant social media presence that fosters engagement, increases connectivity and celebrates partnership achievements. Use metrics, data and best practices to continually increase audience reach and also target specific audiences with messages based on demographics and audience insights.
Print Publications – Manage process for quality content, design and final production of annual “scorecard,” impact report and other collateral materials as directed. Translate key performance indicators in a visually appealing format that articulates the partnership’s impact and the community’s progress toward the 100×25 goal.
Digital Presentations – Support the partnership in producing high-impact presentation decks, video stories and other digital assets that drive home the impact of the partnership, its members and milestones.
Event experiences – Support the partnership in assisting with planning, producing and promoting events, leadership meetings and other convenings to articulate impact and achievement.
Earned Media – Serve as the primary point of contact for media seeking information, interviews or other support. Draft news releases, pitch and secure media coverage of achievements, success stories and community opportunities. Work closely with communications staff at the city and school district and with business leadership to coordinate pitches, provide key messages, capture and promote stories that highlight the partnership’s work.
Paid media – Lead all paid advertising efforts on behalf of the partnership, including match types, parameters, retargeting efforts, bidding and cost management. Lead an effective paid social media strategy that matches messages with target audiences to increase engagement. Coordinate campaigns with the city, school district, community leaders and regional partners for maximum impact.
Asset Branding and Management: Lead and manage the partnership’s branding standards and assure congruity of use among partners and across channels.
Vendor Management: Source and manage external vendors and contractors responsible for delivering high-quality campaign strategies, marketing collateral, digital assets, media relations and event experiences to engage target audiences.
Manage Marketing and Communications budget and supports – Recruit, manage and supervise freelancers, periodic intern support. Develop, plan and manage marketing/communications budget. Track and regularly report campaign results.
Marketing Analytics: Define key metrics and goals to track effectiveness of communications strategies. Analyze and report regularly on such metrics on partnership dashboard to use in ongoing continuous improvement of communications strategies.
Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree or higher, preferably in communications, marketing, liberal arts, business or a related field.
• At least five years of demonstrated success and experience in marketing/communications, brand-oversight, graphic design, website development and content management supported by samples of previous work. Proven track record of quality production and accomplishments supported by a portfolio of representative work.
• Success and experience with cause marketing, brand value identification and positioning, key messaging development. Experience in audience segmentation and targeted messaging is preferred.
• Ability to draw insights from large data sets to drive marketing performance and shape the partnership’s narrative to foster greater public awareness of the community’s educational landscape.
• Experience executing successful social media strategies to communicate and engage multiple constituencies. Experience with scheduling and automation tools is preferred.
Minimum skills required
• Exceptional writing, editing and storytelling skills. Ability to deliver compelling messages across communications platforms.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite tools, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Experience with web publishing, HTML for website development such as WordPress.com preferred.
Preferred skills:
• Proficiency in Spanish
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar customer relationship management platform.
• Experience with Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator to develop high-quality marketing collateral (print and digital).
• Experience with data visualization tools, ability to use compelling graphics to tell high-impact stories.
• Experience in producing annual reports, report cards and other collateral materials.
To apply:
This position offers a competitive compensation and benefits package via the Commit! Partnership. Salary is commensurate with experience. Learn more about the Fort Worth literacy partnership at ReadFortWorth.org.
Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, list of three references and portfolio of five to seven samples of writing, collateral materials, advertising, social media campaigns or other representative work to FWliteracypartnership@gmail.com. Please reference “Fort Worth literacy partnership – Communications Director” in the subject line.