NCSY Kansas City Director (Missouri)

Location: Kansas City, Kansas

Position Summary:

The Director of Kansas City NCSY is responsible for achieving the objectives of the Midwest Region of NCSY as defined by the Regional Director within an assigned geographic area, in this case the Kansas City metropolitan area. The City Director is the local NCSY leader responsible for promoting greater Torah observance to local youth, and must therefore possess the Torah knowledge and represent the values necessary to accomplish that goal.

The City Director requires personal, organizational, and leadership skills and experience to make decisions, communicate objectives, delegate authority, and guide & excite community youth. The
position requires diverse activity with varying types and levels of responsibility to ensure successful youth programs and promote greater commitment to Torah Judaism (for all age groups, Jr. & Sr. NCSY if required). The position requires engagement of the community, which includes but is not limited to the parents of NCSY participants, community Rabbis, and all other community stakeholders. The Director of Kansas City NCSY reports to the Associate Regional Director or his designated appointee.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Relationship Building

• Keep in touch with your NCSYers by phone or e-mail on a regular basis.
• Maintain positive relationships with the parents of your NCSYers.
• Communicate all information about the programs that you are running in an open and honest manner.
• Cultivate relationships with educational, rabbinical and lay leadership in your community.
• Invite NCSYers to your home for Shabbos on a regular basis.
• Manage relationships between teens and regional advisors

2. General Activities

• Encourage your chapter members, where appropriate, to participate in national NCSY programs, including summer programs and National Yarchei Kallah
• Work with the Regional Director to determine a target number of participants in such programs.
• Record all activities and events in the National Database.

3. Chapter Activities

• Plan, organize, advertise and recruit for chapter events and meetings.
• A good monthly chapter schedule should include but is not limited to:
  • Chapter board meetings: 1-2 per month
  • One Shabbat program which should include two chapter shabbatonim per year
  • Recreational trips (bowling, movie, mini golf, arcade, etc.): 1-2 per month
  • Educational programming (Latte and Learning, Partners in Torah): weekly (can be in conjunction with the chapter board/membership meetings)
  • JSU clubs – regularity based on each club.
• Other programs for annual chapter calendar include but not limited to one to two Chessed Projects/Trips (clean a shul, raise tzedaka money, help out at an area charity, etc.)
• Recruit teen participation and advisor staff for the regional events and Shabbatonim.
• Work with the Regional Director to determine the target teen participation number for your chapter. Work to achieve that level of participation.
• E-mail information to chapter members regarding chapter events and put up flyers in all appropriate areas of the community.
• Send out a quarterly constant contact newsletter to all community members

4. JSU Club Activities

• Plan and organize weekly club activities to inspire Jewish pride and identity in the Kansas City City-area public high schools for which you are responsible.
• In consultation with your Regional Director, determine a target attendance level for the JSU club at each school. Advertise and recruit for those clubs, utilizing print materials
  posted within the schools, homeroom announcements within the schools, and emails to club participant lists in order to reach your target attendance number.
• Develop educational materials (multimedia, source/reference material, skits, creative educational presentations) for use in your JSU clubs. You may also (of course) make use of any materials developed by other JSU staff people in the Midwest and North America, however the creation of new and innovative materials is also expected.
• Pick up kosher pizza or donuts, beverages, and other refreshments to bring with you to each JSU club meeting.
• Work with your Regional Director to identify 2-3 other area public high schools that are ripe for hosting JSU clubs. Endeavor to initiate JSU clubs at those high schools by contacting school officials, faculty, and Jewish teens from those schools.
• Report on a bi-weekly basis to your Regional Director on your progress. Develop relationships with the participants in JSU clubs so that those teens can be exposed to Jewish life outside their club time. Recruiting such kids for mainstream NCSY programs is of great value, although anything Jewish that the teens do outside of club time is a positive.

5. Junior NCSY (5th-8th grades)

• All of the same responsibilities related to Senior NCSY chapter events and Regional Conventions, EXCEPT:
  • Events are every month, rather than twice monthly.
  • Meetings are weekly in any week that there is no other Jr. event, and may be conducted by phone, chat room, or in person.
• There should be at least one Chapter Shabbaton per year.
• Work with the Regional Director for event ideas and report on events.

6. Develop Chapter Board

• Appoint or hold elections for a chapter board.
• Ensure that the board meets as often as the advisor deems necessary.
• Encourage the board to schedule and plan events and activities.

7. Regional events

• Recruit teen participation from your chapter in regional events and conventions.
• The target participation number for your chapter in regional events is: 3. Work
  with the regional office liaison to arrange for transportation of your chapter to
  regional events.
• Attend regional events
• Supervise your chapter members at regional events.

8. Financial management

• Chapters should plan and maintain a chapter budget with the Regional Director, and it is expected that chapter finances will be handled professionally and responsibly.
  • This plan must include anticipated costs for each event (local and
    Shabbatons) so as to ensure that any losses are anticipated ahead of time and are reasonable.
• Work with the Regional Director to develop a fundraising strategy so that chapter finances are covered.

9. Fundraising

• Work with Regional Director to set an amount that is realistic to be raised in the Kansas City area
  • The Kansas City Director will be responsible to either raise the money or set up the meetings in order to help get the money raised.
  • Work with the grants manager to fulfill all grant requirements

Many of the above duties may be performed either by the City Director him/herself, or by anNCSYer (likely a chapter board member) whom the advisor deems responsible enough to carry out the duty. However, the successful accomplishment of the task is the ultimate responsibility of the City Director. Summers should be used for planning the upcoming year’s programming and running programs for teens that are in the Chapter area for the summer.