Friends of the Children

Organization Overview:  

Friends of the Children-Los Angeles (Friends LA) launched in 2017 as an independent 501(c)3 chapter of the national Friends of the Children network. Our goal is to improve long-term educational, economic, and prosocial outcomes for youth and families experiencing generational poverty and who have been impacted by LA County’s child welfare system. Friends LA provides more than 200 of our community’s most vulnerable children with holistic support through weekly 1:1 professional mentorship and preventative services throughout their entire childhood, from kindergarten through high school graduation. By providing intentional activities to foster healthy development, meeting basic needs, and helping to remove barriers to engaging in critical long-term services, our 12-year, relationship-based model empowers families to achieve sustained success and break generational cycles of poverty and trauma. Acknowledging the connection between family stability and healthy youth development, Friends LA employs a research-based two-generation (2Gen) approach that simultaneously supports caregivers in creating supportive, stable, and nurturing environments, as well as their own development and success.

Basic Function / Position Objective: 

The Senior Administrative Support Specialist is responsible for diversified general administration and clerical responsibilities for our Chief Executive Program Officers. This position organizes and anticipates the needs of the team and takes the initiative to support and seek out solutions. The Senior Administrative Support Specialist understands, supports, promotes, and clearly articulates Friends LA’s mission, vision, values, and principles in daily interactions with internal and external stakeholders. 

Essential Functions and Responsibilities: 

General Program & Administrative Support 

• Provide general administrative support to the Executive Program Team including, but not limited to: 
  • Compile, draft, edit and/or transcribe documents, including written and email. correspondence, reports, graphs, PowerPoint presentations and marketing materials. 
  • Prepare presentations for review by executives. 
  • Manage communications, take complete and accurate telephone messages and follow up or resolve, as appropriate. Retrieve voicemail and email messages and follow up or resolve. 
  • Manage organizational and executive calendars. 
  • Schedule and organize internal and external meetings as assigned. Take, transcribe and publish minutes. 
  • Establish and maintain effective filing systems. 
  • Prepare materials for trainings. 
• Support the entering of expenses for Chief Program Officer and Chief Family Engagement Officer. 
• Support Expansion efforts through: 
  • Managing the calendaring of launch call meetings. 
  • Assist scheduling onboarding calls for new site staff. 
  • Notes and action items from launch calls and implementation meetings.
• Manage and prepare for the following meetings: Program Team Weekly Meeting, Monthly Family Engagement Meeting, annual Friend Retreat. 
• Prepare the meeting agenda.
• Take notes and action items.
• Strategic lead-up or follow-up. 
• Support team through pick up, drop off, and distribution of items to office, staff, and families at all sites across LA County. 

Internal and External Relations 

• Facilitate communication and cultivate relationships by acting as a liaison with partners, volunteers, staff and others to ensure effective communication and relationships with all constituencies. 
  • Build relationships with all program staff at all levels. 
  • Participate in and provide support at events and activities at all sites. 
• Develop working knowledge of the Friends of the Children program to effectively communicate the organization’s history and answer questions about the program.
• Support collaboration between the Program & Advancement teams. 
  • Prepare for and provide support for interdepartmental meetings.  
  • Facilitate and inspire collaboration and effective team building across teams. 

Training Development 

• Support the development and implementation of internal training programs based on data-driven insights.  
  • Increase capacity to have opportunity to be more innovative in trainings. 
  • Research and coordinate new training opportunities that align with the needs identified through data analysis. 
• Assist in the support of the Friends Learning Academy. 

Data Management & Quality Assurance 

• Data Management and Analysis: 
  • Assist in compiling and analyzing data related to program outcomes and effectiveness. 
  • Monitor trends in data to identify areas for improvement and inform program strategies. 
• Quality Assurance: 
  • Support the program team in ensuring fidelity across sites by conducting regular quality checks with CPO. 
  • Assist in the creation and review of quality improvement reports to maintain high standards of service delivery. 
• Grant Monitoring & Reports: 
  • Assist the program team to ensure fidelity across sites and identify areas of concern. 
  • Assist in the creation of grant packets, documents, reports to be sent for final package. 
• Complete other projects and tasks as assigned. 

Essential Skills and Abilities: 

• Written and Oral Communication Skills: 
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills. This position builds relationships in-person, on the phone, and via video conferencing with diverse individuals inside and outside the organization. 
  • Demonstrated ability to draft/produce accurate correspondence and reports, edit written materials accurately and consistently, and take and produce accurate and timely meeting minutes. 
• Time management and Organization:
  • Must possess a high level of organization and time management skills, attention to detail with the ability to multi-task. 
  • Pro-actively prioritize, coordinate, and plan work activities; Use time efficiently; meet deadlines. 
• Problem Solver:
  • Ability to identify and resolve problems in a timely manner; Use reason even when dealing with emotional topics. 
  • Ability to take initiative, maintain positivity, be self-motivated and work effectively on both individual and team projects with minimal direct supervision. Ability to work independently and set own priorities. 
• Flexibility and Growth Mindset: 
  • Adapt to changes in the work environment; Manage competing demands; Change approach or method to best fit the situation; Able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events. 
  • Ability to research and learn new technological tools. 
  • Ability to work in diverse environments. Ability to cultivate and sustain relationships and work effectively with a wide variety of constituencies, including staff, program children, organizational supporters, current and potential donors, board members, foundations, community partners, and vendors. Ability to represent the organization to a wide variety of audiences in an inclusive, effective manner. 

Required Education, Experience, and Abilities: 

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.  
• ShapeFive years’ experience in administrative support position(s), including experience at a senior or executive support level. 
• Knowledge of Adobe Acrobat, Mailchimp, Survey Monkey, and Zoom. 
• Strong technical skills in Office 365, Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), and Teams. 
• Experience in maintaining confidential, accurate, and complete records and documentation. 
• Valid California driver’s license, driving record and personal vehicle insurance acceptable to insurance carrier. 
  • This role includes commuting to all organizational offices across the county, will require flexibility and ability to drive for long distances. 

Preferred Experience and Abilities: 

• Bilingual Spanish preferred. 
• Desktop publishing and design experience. 
• Experience supporting executive leaders. 
• A strong record of intercultural responsiveness, sensitivity and awareness, and cross-cultural communication skills. 
• Resourceful and knowledgeable about the community where youth and families live, related resources, and other services. 
• Experience working at a nonprofit organization is preferred. 
• Two to three years of experience working with vulnerable youth and families impacted by foster care. 

Benefits

Friends LA cares about our employees as whole people. We offer a generous vacation and sick leave policy, quarterly reset days, 12 paid holidays, summer half days, and an annual winter recess during the last week of December. Employees are eligible for medical benefits (including vision and dental), 401k retirement plan, and ongoing professional development opportunities.

Employees can add optional plans, at employee expense, which include medical coverage for dependents, EAP, Flexible Spending Accounts, supplemental life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Friends LA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to addressing discriminatory practices, and to working toward racial equity. The equal employment opportunity policy of Friends LA provides fair and equal opportunities for all employees and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, disability, or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local law. While we prioritize hiring applicants with lived experience, Friends of the Children – Los Angeles hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled.

Note: Friends LA requires COVID-19 vaccines for all employees. As of March 1, 2022, we will be expanding our in-person vaccination requirement to include booster shots. Accommodations or exceptions can be requested for medical or religious reasons.