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Co-Executive Director, Programs
Pongo Poetry Project (Pongo) was founded in 1995 to support people who had experienced trauma heal through writing poetry. We are a small, nonprofit arts organization poised for growth and are looking for a passionate Co-Executive Director, Programs to work in partnership with the Co-Executive Director, Development and Finance to develop and implement strategies for increased and sustainable impact.
Our mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. To that end, we use personal poetry to facilitate healing among youth coping with devastating traumas, such as abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. At the heart of our program is the Pongo Method, a uniquely successful trauma-informed technique for teaching poetry, created with the support and advice of prominent psychiatrists from the University of Washington.
Our direct service work entails implementing therapeutic poetry writing workshops inside detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, and other sites frequented by youth with histories of trauma. Specifically, we have offered our poetry mentorship programming at Clark Children & Family Justice Center and the Child Study & Treatment Center since 1998 and 2000 respectively, which speaks to the enduring impact of our program.
Offering a space for healing and recovery is crucial to the healthy emotional development of all youth, but especially those we serve, who exist at the intersection of racial injustice and economic hardship. Our approach offers youth the opportunity to write about painful life experiences – often for the first time – in a way that promotes insight and healing.
To date, Pongo has mentored poetry with over 7,300 people. Our evaluation results demonstrate that Pongo provides significant therapeutic benefits for youth, helping them find relief, derive creative joy, and experience growth through poetry writing. In addition to our mentorship program, we also review and respond to youth poetry submitted on our website through our Well-Versed program.
Based on the success of our direct service work, Pongo established a program to train individuals and organizations on the Pongo Method. In 2014, we codified our methodology in the book, Writing with At-Risk Youth: The Pongo Teen Writing Method, by our founder Richard Gold, using it as the teaching text to conduct over 90 regional and national trainings on our approach. Our training program has spurred the creation of over 100 Pongo-inspired projects world-wide. Pongo’s strategic vision is to become a best practice in the application of expressive arts to heal trauma, and we have created a business plan to realize this vision.
Through our publishing program, Pongo has published 17 anthologies featuring work produced by youth at our poetry mentorship sites. These volumes describe profound tragedy and sorrow, but also capture the self-discovery and healing that creative expression can bring. We have donated over 17,000 copies of these collections to youth and program providers during our history. Our publishing program inspires confidence in the youth we serve, demonstrating that their creative output has artistic merit and value. Furthermore, it connects our youth authors with the wider community, raising awareness about their trauma, the conditions that give rise to it, and the resilience they demonstrate in response.
Pongo currently has a staff of four full and part time staff members: two Co-Executive Directors and two Project Leads. In addition, Pongo has a few dozen volunteers. Pongo has an annual budget of about $300,000. Our revenue comes from a variety of sources including fee for service, individual donors, an annual event, foundations, training fees, and book sales.
We expect the Co-Executive Director, Programs to live in the Seattle area with the ability to drive to our direct service sites in Seattle and Lakewood, WA. However, majority of your duties will be performed remotely.
The Co-Executive Director, Programs reports to the board of directors and has overall responsibility for Pongo’s programs, as well as the expansion and implementation of its mission and strategic plan in partnership with the Co-Executive Director, Development and Finance.
Strategic Leadership & Organizational Growth (40%)
In collaboration with the Co-Executive Director, Development and Finance:
- Lead the organization on its journey in becoming an anti-racist organization and promote and instill diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in all that we do
- Oversee Human Resources, particularly policy and compliance, including compensation and benefits strategy, hiring and onboarding, training and evaluation, and culture-building
- Review, update, and implement the strategic plan
- Develop and build board capacity and involvement within the strategic plan
- Create and maintain a collaborative environment in which all staff and volunteers are valued and have opportunities for personal and professional growth
- Actively engage and energize staff, volunteers, board members, committees, partnering organizations, and funders
- Serve as the chair of the Race, Equity, and Social Justice Committee
Program Management (40%)
- Direct Service Programs (in-person):
- Maintain the quality and fidelity of the Pongo method by overseeing program planning, implementation, and evaluation
- Foster positive relationships with all direct service site administration and points-of-contact
- Recruit, train, and supervise Project Leads and Volunteer Mentors by:
- Communicating regularly and effectively
- Being prepared and available to substitute for the Project Leads, as needed
- Collaborating with the Project Leads on planning and attending the end-of-year finales, including booking guest poets
- Troubleshooting any issues related to direct service programming that may arise, i.e., youth, volunteer mentor, and/or site staff grievances, etc.
- Providing and inviting positive and constructive feedback
- Certification and Training Program:
- Plan and lead presentations, workshops, and trainings on the Pongo Method
- Communicate with participants regularly and engage with them on the Pongo Peer Learning Network
- Provide participants with one-on-one consultations
- Review and evaluate Pongo-inspired projects
- Well-Versed Program (online):
- Communicate with Volunteer Mentor and poets regularly
- Track and compile poetry submissions
- In collaboration with the Co-Executive Director, Development and Finance, review and select poems for publication
Additional Responsibilities/Special Projects (20%)
- Oversee book publication and handle copyright and other publication-related matters
- Coordinate with researchers
- Serve as an ambassador for Pongo in the community at local events and gatherings
- Support event planning and implementation in collaboration with Co-Executive Director, Development & Finance
- With the Co-Executive Director, Finance and Development, create a workplan with goals, tasks, and benchmarks for your first six months
- Meet with key Pongo stakeholders including board, staff, volunteers, and community partners
- Co-lead development and completion of Pongo’s 2027-2030 strategic plan
The Co-Executive Director, Programs must be thoroughly committed to Pongo’s mission. Candidates will be considered based on the range of their lived and learned experiences, professional background, and direct and transferable skills. Pongo seeks candidates with a compelling combination of demonstrated experience and skills.
Required Qualifications
- At least 5 years of senior management experience or comparable life experience; track record of effective leadership and growing a nonprofit organization or program regionally and/or nationally; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization or program to the next stage of growth and impact
- Excellence in staff management with the ability to create and maintain a collaborative work environment in which everyone feels valued
- Experience in developing and presenting training curricula
- Adept at Microsoft Word and Excel and Zoom; familiar with Google suite, including Docs, Sheets, and Forms
- Demonstrated commitment to anti-racism and experience helping an organization move forward in its anti-racism journey
- Experience working with diverse communities
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills
- Ability to develop and steward high quality relationships with our programmatic and organizational partners
- Appreciation for poetry and the role of expressive arts in healing
- Experience working with youth
- Knowledge of trauma-informed practices
- Ability to adapt and make changes within a shared leadership model
Preferred Qualifications include:
- Experience in leading or co-leading Pongo’s training curricula
- A history of leading a certification program
- Knowledgeable in program evaluation and/or research methods
- Experience working with a board of directors
Our ideal candidate is:
- Collaborative, detail-orientated, adaptable, entrepreneurial, and innovative
- Passionate, positive, self-directed, and mission-driven
This is a full-time (40 hours per week) position. Base salary is $88,000 a year. The ideal start date is January 4, 2027.
Benefits include a Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) of up to $400 per month, paid sick leave, 10 hours per month of paid time off, 11 paid holidays, including a paid winter break between December 24th-January 1st, and a flexible work schedule.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting in October. Please submit a resume and cover letter addressed to: info@pongopoetryproject.org
Pongo Poetry Project is an equal opportunity employer. All people who add to our diverse community are encouraged to apply.
Jobs
Founded in 1995, Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. In order to further our mission, Pongo is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization. Internally and externally, we support diversity, equity, inclusion, and the expansion of expressive arts programming to youth who lack access to it.
Pongo is a growing organization and recruiting and retaining a diverse staff is a high priority. Please check back periodically as positions become available. You may also contact us at: info@pongopoetryproject.org
Echo Glen Children's Center Project Lead
Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. Founded in 1995, Pongo is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that uses personal poetry to facilitate healing among youth coping with devastating traumas, such as abuse, neglect, racism and exposure to violence. We are looking for a passionate, skilled, and organized teaching artist to lead our newest project at Echo Glen Children’s Center (Echo Glen).
Pongo has mentored poetry with over 6,950 individuals. Research and evaluation demonstrate the significant therapeutic benefits of our programming and high levels of satisfaction among the youth we serve. And through our publishing program, we have released 16 poetry collections featuring work authored by the youth we serve.
At the heart of our program is the Pongo Method, a trauma-informed technique for teaching poetry, created in consultation with prominent community psychiatrists from the University of Washington. Pongo’s approach offers youth a safe, gratifying way to express feelings about some of the worst experiences imaginable, including incest, rape, beatings, abandonment, and witnessing violent death. Our approach engages youth in writing poetry in service of finding healing and inspiring resilience.
Our direct service work entails implementing therapeutic poetry writing workshops at
detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, and other sites frequented by youth with histories of
trauma.
Offering a space for healing and recovery is crucial to the healthy emotional development of all
youth, but especially those we serve, who exist at the intersection of racial injustice and
economic hardship. Our approach helps youth write about painful life experiences – often for
the first time – in a way that promotes insight and healing.
Pongo began its partnership with Echo Glen in 2022. Echo Glen is a residential juvenile rehabilitation facility run by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). It provides treatment services for younger male offenders and is the only institution for female offenders. Echo Glen provides educational services for a wide range of youth with varying needs. It provides Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Aggression Replacement Training (ART), cultural programming, sex offense specific treatment, and inpatient chemical dependency treatment. Pongo works in tandem with DCYF staff to provide weekly poetry writing workshops for youth.
Poetry Project Lead reports to the Co-Executive Director, Programs and has overall responsibility for Pongo Poetry Mentors at Echo Glen, the project’s implementation, service delivery, communication, outcomes, and interconnectedness to the therapeutic and educational milieu of Echo Glen.
- Plan and lead up to two separate hourlong workshops for youth at Echo Glen (this service will occur onsite at 33010 SE 99th St, Snoqualmie, WA 98065)
- Supervise 3 volunteers
- Lead intentional check-ins and debriefs with volunteers and staff before and after workshops
- Facilitate training and skill-building opportunities for Poetry Mentors
- Communicate with multiple Echo Glen Points of Contact to ensure successful service delivery
- Detailed and consistent record keeping using Dropbox, Excel, and Microsoft Word
- Report any risks, safety concerns, or problematic youth and/or volunteer behavior
- Select poems at the end of the project term for potential publication
- Troubleshoot technology problems
- Coordinate with Co-Executive Director, Programs on visits from Pongo staff, donors, foundation leaders, poets, etc.
- Implement skill-building and debriefing opportunities for Poetry Mentors
- Carry out the project timeline
- Assist with interviews of additional volunteers as needed
- Communicate and coordinate vacation dates or sick time
- Communicate with Echo Glen staff
- Communicate regularly with the Co-Executive Director, Programs with needs, concerns, issues, or other matters as they arise
- Problem-solve issues that emerge among volunteers, Echo Glen staff, and/or youth
- Support volunteers with difficult feelings that emerge because of the work
- Assist in the planning and implementing the Project Finale
- Assist in the creation of an end-of-year zine
The Poetry Project Lead at Echo Glen must be thoroughly committed to Pongo’s mission. Candidates will be considered based on the range of their lived and learned experiences, professional background, and direct and transferable skills. Pongo seeks candidates with a compelling combination of demonstrated experience and skills.
Required Qualifications
- Applicants must be age 21 or older to apply
- Applicants must be able to provide their own transportation to and from Echo Glen
- Applicants must be willing to complete a background check (required by project site)
- Have at least 3 years of experience leading/teaching classes and/or groups
- Consistency in leading workshops/classes/groups
- Excellence in leadership of youth, able to create and maintain a collaborative and edifying learning environment or therapeutic milieu where each participant feels valued
- Creative capacity for generating and implementing curriculum to diverse populations
- Experience thoroughly tracking outcomes such as attendance and artifacts of youth progress
- Flexibility with technology in fluid situations where software, hardware, supplies, and learning location may change or need to be adjusted
- Problem solving skills
- Commitment to anti-racist orientation in learning environments
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; a passionate communicator with quality interpersonal skills
- Passion for poetry and an appreciation for the role of expressive arts in healing
Preferred Qualifications include:
- Experience volunteering in or leading a Pongo-inspired poetry project
- Knowledge of juvenile rehabilitation facilities
Our ideal candidate is:
- Action-oriented, collaborative, adaptable, and committed
- Passionate about youth and people, positive, mission-driven, self-directed, and engaging
This is a part time, hourly position with an average of up to 6.5 hours/week, at a rate of $30.96/hour during the project year (September-June).
The Project Lead must be able to facilitate poetry workshops in-person at Echo Glen in Snoqualmie on Wednesdays from 12:30-3:30pm; hours worked outside this time are flexible.
Pongo offers Project Leads sick and safe leave, along with optional mileage reimbursement to and from the project site. There are no other benefits offered at this time (e.g. medical benefits). All workshops at each of Pongo’s direct service site take Federal holidays and the last week of December off.
We welcome applicants to apply until end-of-day Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Please submit your resume, cover letter, and three references (including contact information) to Ashley Skartvedt at ashley@pongopoetryproject.org. In addition, Pongo’s poetry mentorship sites require background checks of all outside visitors. If selected, prospective Project Leaders must be willing to pass a background check prior to working with youth.
Pongo Poetry Project is an equal opportunity employer. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are highly encouraged to apply.
