Director Of Community Engagement, Ready To Learn

Director of Community Engagement, Ready To LearnWho We Are:As an essential community institution, we magnify and deepen understanding of our community to help St. Louis flourish. We believe St. Louis is strongest when we work together toward a shared vision. By rallying around a common purpose, we move beyond barriers that have previously hindered our progress and take collective action toward meaningful, lasting impact.
Our History:We are a community-licensed public media organization with more than 70 years of service to the St. Louis region. For generations, Nine PBS has been a trusted and enduring presence by connecting people through educational programming, meaningful storytelling, and shared experiences that reflect the needs and aspirations of our community.
Our Values:Everything we do is rooted in our four core values: Community, Trust, Equity, and Learning. These values shape how we care for one another as teammates and how we engage with our community. We believe meaningful impact begins with listening, understanding, and creating spaces where everyone feels seen, valued, and connected.
Our Culture:Every employee plays a role in advancing our human-centered culture to ensure staff feel welcomed, supported, and empowered to thrive both personally and professionally. We believe work should be a joyful journey – one where collaboration, curiosity, creativity, and shared purpose inspire us to do our best work together.
Our Team:We are proud of the talented individuals who make up our team and the passion they show in service to our community. We walk with swagger and believe that we are “a really big deal!”. We believe in the power of a unified and prospering St. Louis community and see Nine PBS as an essential community institution that brings people together toward a stronger, more connected region.
Position Description:Nine PBS has received $56 million in federal funding to lead Ready To Learn, a five‑year national initiative advancing early literacy. The initiative brings together three educational media properties, family and community engagement, a national network of public media stations, and a robust research and evaluation infrastructure.
A key priority of this funding will include the hiring of a Director of Community Engagement to lead the coordination and management of public media station and national community partnerships. The Director manages the public media station RFP process, selection, contracting, onboarding, and ongoing engagement process;
plans and executes Everyday Literacy Alliance conferences, convenings, and partner meetings;
and ensures that learning from the local demonstration site is intentionally connected to and shared with participating stations and national partners.
The Director serves as a central connector across public media stations, national community partners, the local demonstration site, and internal project teams, supporting strong implementation, shared learning, collaboration, and the development of approaches that can be adapted and scaled across communities. The ideal candidate is a collaborative, strategic leader who excels at building strong partnerships and bringing stakeholders together around a shared purpose. They are an exceptional relationship builder and project manager who can navigate complex, multi‑partner initiatives while keeping people connected, informed, and moving toward common goals. They will bring strong communication, facilitation, and organizational skills, along with a commitment to listening and learning from communities and translating local insights into approaches that can be shared, adapted, and scaled nationally.
Primary Responsibilities:The following primary responsibilities are vital to successfully meeting the expectations of this position in an effective and efficient manner. This is not an exhaustive list and areas of focus may fluctuate between the primary and secondary responsibilities, as needed.
Manage the full RFP process for participating public media stations, including development, outreach, application coordination, review, selection, notification, and onboarding.
Manage station contracting and partnership agreements, coordinating deliverables, timelines, required documentation, and ongoing contract administration with internal teams.
Plan and execute Everyday Literacy Alliance conferences, convenings, and meetings, including agendas, partner participation, programming, logistics, communications, and follow‑up.
Lead the alignment of local demonstration site work with participating public media stations and national community partners, to ensure lessons, resources, and promising practices inform national implementation.
Lead the strategy to engage and support public media stations and national community partners throughout the initiative.
Lead station and partner onboarding, orientation, ongoing communication, and relationship management.
Support stations in developing and implementing community engagement strategies that connect local priorities and needs with the
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