Project Director — AAD Hendry TRIO Educational Opportunity Center in Miami, Florida at King Youth Foundation Inc

Position Summary

The Project Director supervises, manages, and evaluates AAD HEOC, a five-year federal TRIO Educational Opportunity Center serving 1,000 eligible adults age 19 and older each year across a rural, five-ZIP, four-county service area in Southwest and South-Central Florida. The Director is accountable for the project's four federal objectives: 27% secondary-diploma completion, 42% postsecondary enrollment (including Registered Apprenticeships), 50% financial aid applications, and 38% college admission applications.

The Director runs a lean hub-and-spoke operation of a primary office and three satellite sites, supervises two Counselors, manages the $280,000 annual federal budget, and leads four integrated delivery partners (Top Score Tutors, AI Guys, CBI Hub, Career Bound Institute). The Director has authority to monitor and direct all project activity consistent with 34 CFR Part 644, EDGAR, and 2 CFR Part 200.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Program Leadership & Operations

• Supervise and direct the academic, advising, and support services of AAD HEOC across the primary office and the LaBelle, Clewiston, and Immokalee satellite sites.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve the advising program: assessment, Individualized Success Plans (ISPs), tutoring with Top Score Tutors, AI literacy with AI Guys, online workshops through CBI Hub, and non-traditional career programming with Career Bound Institute.
• Direct all recruitment, including bilingual PSAs, employer-site sessions, and meetings with superintendents and adult education directors in all four county school districts.
• Conduct the final eligibility review and selection of every participant under 34 CFR 644.3; ensure at least two-thirds are low-income and first-generation.
• Manage the waitlist in the approved priority order when the project reaches capacity: veterans; adults with disabilities; homeless or foster-care alumni; caregivers of dependent children; all other eligible adults.
• Provide participants with admissions, financial aid, and career-and-workforce information through counseling, workshops, and online programming.

Staff Supervision

• Recruit, hire, and supervise the two Counselors; manage performance, professional development, and credentialing.
• Assign Counselor 1 to the Hendry/Glades zone and Counselor 2 to the Collier/Charlotte zone; share virtual appointments across both.
• Coach Counselors using case-file audits, observation, and participant feedback.

Fiscal & Grants Management

• Oversee the budget, drawdowns, financial reporting, and audit readiness with AAD's Director of Finance.
• Procure contracted partners and the External Evaluator competitively under AAD procurement policy and 2 CFR Part 200; monitor each scope of work through monthly reports.
• Maintain time-and-effort documentation under 2 CFR 200.430.

Partnerships & Coordination

• Serve as primary liaison to school district, postsecondary, workforce, employer, and community partners; maintain partner MOUs.
• Host the quarterly partner convening (in person and through CBI Hub) and the annual partner convening.
• Coordinate with CareerSource Southwest Florida, CareerSource Heartland, regional TRIO Talent Search, Upward Bound, and Student Support Services projects, and apprenticeship sponsors.

Evaluation & Reporting

• Lead formative and summative evaluation with AAD's Director of Evaluation and the External Evaluator.
• Review six leading indicators monthly (enrollment, ISP completion, contact cadence, tutoring conversion, FAFSA pacing, application pacing); issue a written 30-day rapid-response plan when any falls more than five points behind pace.
• Run the quarterly geographic reach review; issue an outreach intensification plan for any ZIP code more than ten points below its share of eligible adults.
• Conduct monthly data-integrity reviews of the case management system.
• Produce and submit the Annual Performance Report under 34 CFR 75.110.

Responsible AI & Privacy

• Supervise AI Guys' AI-augmented tools (intake assistant, counselor dashboard, FAFSA assistant, follow-up automation) with mandatory human review of all output.
• Publish and enforce the project's responsible AI use protocol: FERPA compliance, accuracy checks against authoritative sources, and no AI-driven eligibility or referral decisions.

Representation & Compliance

• Represent AAD HEOC at community meetings, school and college events, and professional conferences (COE, SAEOPP, FAEOPP, and Department of Education Project Director training).
• Implement all programs in compliance with EDGAR, 2 CFR Part 200, and 34 CFR Part 644.

Perform other duties as assigned, consistent with the approved grant.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Master's degree in education, educational leadership, counseling, higher education administration, social work, public administration, or a related field.

Experience

• At least three years administering federally funded TRIO, college access, workforce development, adult education, or related programs serving low-income, first-generation, or other priority populations.
• At least two years of supervisory experience, including hiring, performance management, and budget oversight.

Knowledge

• EOC regulations (34 CFR Part 644), EDGAR, and 2 CFR Part 200, or documented capacity to acquire that knowledge before the project start.
• The higher-education and workforce landscape of Southwest and South-Central Florida: Florida College System, State University System, technical colleges, Registered Apprenticeships, Workforce Pell, and CareerSource regional boards.
• Postsecondary admissions, FAFSA, Florida state aid (FFAA, Bright Futures), and the financial aid process for adult learners.
• Workforce pathways, including Registered Apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, industry-recognized credentials, and U.S. Department of Labor non-traditional occupations.
• The educational issues facing low-income, first-generation, limited-English, and disconnected adult learners.
• Responsible AI use in counseling, including FERPA-aligned practice and human review of AI-generated content.

Other Requirements

• Excellent listening, oral, and written communication in English.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zoom, and TRIO case management software (Blumen, StudentAccess, or equivalent).
• Ability to work evenings and weekends and to travel routinely across the four-county service area.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree (Ed.D., Ph.D., or equivalent).
• Prior experience as a TRIO Project Director (EOC, ETS, Upward Bound, SSS, or McNair) or senior administrator of a comparable program.
• Bilingual English/Spanish; Haitian Creole capability strongly preferred for the Immokalee community.
• Successful grant-writing and grant-management record.
• Success convening multi-partner consortia of school districts, colleges, workforce boards, employers, and community organizations.
• Personal background of overcoming circumstances similar to the target population (for example, low-income background, first-generation college experience, rural or agricultural community, limited-English household, foster care, or military service).

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Leads a small, dispersed team toward measurable annual targets.
• Builds trust with rural communities, agricultural employers, and limited-English families.
• Uses data to catch problems early and correct course within 30 days.
• Writes clear federal reports and partner agreements.
• Protects confidential participant information.

Physical & Travel Requirements

• Routine travel across a service area more than 60 miles end to end; valid Florida driver's license and reliable personal vehicle (mileage reimbursed at the federal rate).
• Annual out-of-town travel to COE, SAEOPP, and Department of Education trainings.
• Evening and weekend work for community information nights, FAFSA Completion Days, and employer-site sessions.
• Ability to lift up to 25 pounds when setting up events.

Background Check & Required Training

• Background check and fingerprinting before start.
• Annual TRIO compliance, FAFSA/financial aid update, FERPA, and workforce-development training.

Grant-Funded Position

This position is funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant. Continued employment depends on annual continuation funding and satisfactory performance. The Project Director is designated key personnel; changes require notice to the Department under 2 CFR 200.308.

Preference is given to applicants who have backgrounds or experience similar to those of the target population — low-income, first-generation, limited English, foster-care alumni, military service, or other documented disadvantage — and who have succeeded in overcoming barriers similar to those facing AAD HEOC participants.