Grants Manager

DISTRICT OVERVIEW:

The Holyoke Public Schools are committed to ensuring a high-quality education for all. We have invested in recruiting and retaining diverse top-quality educators who inspire bold thinking, recognize student potential, and encourage all students to work towards their goals. In Holyoke, we are committed to becoming an anti-racist district by focusing on:

• Anti-Racism Training for All Staff Members

• Policy Review and Revision

• Facilitating School Visits Through an Equity Lense

• Establishing the Holyoke Race and Equity Team

• Establishing Equity Indicators for Accountability of HPS Employees, Students, and Partners

We know that students do their best when they pursue their passions, so we have designed multiple pathways where all students graduate prepared to excel in college, career, and community leadership. Holyoke Public Schools (HPS) serves 5,400 students (of which over 80% are Latinx) in 13 schools and employs nearly 1,500 people.The District was placed into receivership by the State of Massachusetts in Spring 2015, because of struggling performance, and has since implemented a Turnaround Plan that has led to expanded choice programs (such as dual language, STEM, and early college) and new opportunities for students to explore the arts, sports, sciences, and local and world cultures. Since 2015, the District has experienced numerous accomplishments for instance:

• doubling access to PreK programming
• 10-point graduation rate increase
• 85 percent increase in access to early college programming
• 13-point increase (to 26%) teachers of color

Overview of the Position:

Holyoke Public Schools is searching for a strategic and methodical grants manager to lead the district's pursuit and management of the many grants that are vital to the district's operations and improvement efforts. This is a full-time position with a salary range of $70,000 to $80,000, depending on prior experience and knowledge managing grants. A candidate with prior experience managing grants is preferred, but we are also willing to train someone without experience in grants if they have the requisite skills. We anticipate filling the position early in the summer months and having overlap with our out-going grants lead to assist with that training.

The Grants Manager leads the development and submission of grant proposals & budgets working closely with program leads throughout the district spanning a wide array of school and district functions. The Grants Manager will lead the development of targeted annual grants for competitive, state, federal , and private grants.

The Grants Manager will also support the financial management of our grants, including helping program leads design and manage grant budgets, tracking revenues and expenses, and ensuring that grant funds are applied to individual school and district department budgets accurately. The Manager must ensure that district spending complies with all rules and regulations for each grant, will lead the reporting of grant expenses, and will prepare for audits of the grants.

The Grant Manager will hold central relationships with external grant providers including the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and private grant providers, and with the internal school and district leaders responsible for implementing grants to further the district's strategic priorities. The Grants Manager is a vital position to help the Holyoke Public Schools fulfill its mission to serve the students and families of Holyoke.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB:

Operations

• Monitors grant allocations, expenditures, fund balances and related grant financial activities for the purpose of ensuring that allocations are accurate, revenues are recorded, expenses are within grant budget limits and/or grant fiscal practices are followed

• Coordinates the development, implementation, and monitoring of the District's grant funding sources

• Manages all grant fiscal controls

• Performs regular grant budget projections and amendments

• Oversees grant writing and seeking additional grant opportunities for the District

Risk Management and Compliance

• Conduct internal grant audits and program reviews to ensure maximum efficiencies and compliance with state and federal grant regulations in order to minimize risk exposure

• Ensures the integrity of grant financial data

• Responsible for all grant processing including auditing, compliance, and reporting

• Liaison for the District for all grant audits and program reviews

Business Development

• Analyzes a variety of financial information (e.g. revenues, expenditures, cash management, cost projections, insurance, etc.) for the purpose of providing direction and support, making recommendations, maximizing use of funds, and/or ensuring overall operations are within grants budget

• Evaluate and analyze current data to identify areas of inefficiency and develop recommendations to maximize efficiency with use of funds

Communication

• Collaborates with internal and external personnel with discretion, professionalism, and tact on special requests for financial data and analysis and for information of current programs/projects

• Conducts internal training on grant policies and procedures and resolves questions of both routine and difficult nature

• Research and identify grant opportunities in alignment to the districts strategic priorities and facilitate the process required to prepare, submit and manage grant proposals in collaboration with both internal and external partners.

• Responsible for securing written (internal and external) support for grants proposals and developing stakeholder coalitions and partnerships.

• Conduct needs assessments to maximize the resources available to carry out the District's initiatives and to meet the needs of students and families.

• Ensure overall compliance with Federal, State and local regulations including but not limited to Time and Effort reporting, equitable services to non-public schools and Comparability.

• Responsible for the submission of reports including, but not limited to, grant amendments (AM-1 form), Annual Performance Reports (APR) and final financial reports (FR-1 form).

• Perform program evaluations and program summaries in order to assess grant deliverables, outcomes & return on investment.

• Identify compliance issues and develop corrective actions to reduce auditing risks.

• Responsible for writing progress reports and maintaining communication with funding source grant managers.

• Provide on-site financial management to schools, including salary and extended learning time cost projections, procurement procedures and the processing of payrolls for grants.

• Prepare and present the required documentation to the School Committee/Receiver for the official acceptance of new grants awarded to the district.

• Develop and maintain a grants management system containing grant requests, grant proposals, grants received, grants approved, time frame of grant operation, best practices in grant proposals and reasons for not getting awarded funds.

• Support the Finance Office in the maintenance of required financial reporting to local, state and federal agencies.

• Forecasting of revenues and expenditures, analyzing grant spending and implementing cost control measures to align district spending with authorized appropriation limits.

• Ensure that all grant funded workshop and supplemental payrolls are aligned to the grant application.

• Performs other duties as assigned by the Executive Director of Finance.

PREFERRED EDUCATIONAL & JOB EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Public Administration, Business or Finance or other appropriate discipline from an accredited college or university

• Three (3) years of experience in municipal finance or relevant experience to job

• Up to date knowledge of current financial and accounting computer applications; (5) years minimum MUNIS experience preferred

• Excellent verbal, analytical, organizational and written skills

• Excellent rapport with all levels of management, established communication skills, and the ability to lead people

• Knowledge of principles, methods, and practices of municipal finance, accounting, and budget preparation

• Knowledge of Massachusetts General Laws and local ordinances, especially as related to municipal finance

• Experience managing projects with multiple deadlines and across departments

• Experience with researching and writing grants preferred