Our History
In 1879, Father Bernard Donnelly established Mount St. Bernard’s Orphanage in Kansas City. With that one act of faith, hope and charity, many lives — and a community — were transformed. And, from that humble beginning a strong tradition of compassionate care and social service took root, thrived, and grew to become Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Catholic Charities empowers at risk people to create a pathway out of poverty by alleviating their immediate crises to create stability; then providing robust support to lift them to dignity and self-reliance.Today, millions of lives have been transformed, in the communities we serve. We have office locations in the Kansas City metro-area, St. Joseph, Missouri, a Food Pantry in Kansas City and another in Cameron, Missouri, while serving a 27-county region.
Our Culture/Mission Characteristics
While performing job duties, staff will:
- Follow the Catholic Social and Moral Teachings in all aspects while performing job duties.
- Work collaboratively to achieve goals and resolve conflict to achieve the greater good.
- Respect the diversity of talents and gifts of others and believe in cultivating those to promote personal and professional development.
- Demonstrate compassion and commitment for helping others improve their own lives.
Mission
Helping people move to a better life through hope-filled care, services, and advocacy; calling all those of goodwill to join us.
Vision By lifting people in need to the dignity of self-reliance, and encouraging others to help, our communities will become one human family.
Values
Hope/Faith, Trust, Commitment, Collaboration
Benefits
This position is eligible for a comprehensive employee benefits program, including medical, dental and vision plans, STD/LTD fully paid by the employer, 401(k) retirement plan with employer match of employer contributions up to 5% of their annual pay, paid time off including vacation/sick leave accrual, 10 holidays each year, and much more! Our office hours are Monday - Thursday, 8:00 am to 5:30 pm and our offices are closed on Friday - giving you a three-day weekend!
Position Objective
This position reports directly to the CEO, is second in command, and oversees program operations for the Agency. This position is guided by the mission, values, and goals of Catholic Charities of Kansas City – St. Joseph and provides leadership, management, and vision to the Agency’s program operations. The Chief Programs Officer (CPO) is responsible for the Agency’s consistent achievement of its mission and financial objectives. The CPO develops and leads program services, staff, and resources to achieve goals. The CPO may also represent Catholic Charities publicly for those program services over which he/she is responsible. Because Catholic Charities is the social service arm of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph, the CPO is responsible for upholding the Catholic beliefs, Catholic Social and Moral Teachings, and Catholic doctrine while performing their role and counsels program staff on each of these to ensure staff do not advocate for anything that would be against the Catholic faith/beliefs/doctrine, while performing their jobs or while representing Catholic Charities or the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph.
Essential Job Duties
- Provide organizational leadership that is formative for the people of God (staff, volunteers, and clients) and facilitates the advancement of the Catholic culture/identity and mission of the Agency.
- Provide leadership in formulating and administering the Agency’s goals and policies, and act in a manner consistent with Catholic Charities’ mission and values, and the teachings of the Catholic Church.
- Lead and manage the development and delivery of services to address the priorities and goals of the Agency.
- In collaboration with the CEO and other executive staff, develop short-term, long-term, and strategic plans and priorities for the Agency and direct implementation.
- Develop direct reports – especially directors – to perform at a level which meets or exceeds performance expectations.
- Provide overall direction for service delivery activity, including identifying new opportunities to serve the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalized.
- Ensure appropriate techniques and standards are applied in all programs and service delivery. Continually assess and evaluate the effectiveness of program services, benchmark against other social service providers, and continually improve processes and programs which help lift others out of poverty, reduce operating costs to the agency, and make it easier for case managers to do their jobs.
- Analyzes program statistics to evaluate service outputs, outcomes, and impacts while directing implementation of improvements as appropriate.
- Monitors all areas of service to ensure goals are met and make appropriate adjustments as needed.
- Ensures that programs and services are in compliance with licensing, accreditation, state and federal standards and other regulatory or professional requirements.
- Working with the Finance Director and other directors, develops and oversees budgets and ensures financial responsibilities are met.
- Exercise integrity and high ethical standards that ensure fairness and transparency.
- Working with the Agency’s grants team, develops new and diverse forms of funding for services.
- Coach direct reports and establish accountability for ambitious but achievable team goals.
- Create a work environment which promotes diversity and full inclusion, celebrates religious symbols and practices, values work-life order, and encourages participatory strategic planning.
- Promote and adhere to Catholic Charities’ mission, values, Code of Ethics.
- Model Catholic Charities’ commitment to treating all persons with dignity and respect.
- Attend meetings to update the Board of Directors on current organization projects.
- Lead management meetings and be a part of the Executive Team of the Agency.
- Manage direct reports including, but not limited to, program directors and program staff.
- Serve a minimum of one hour per day in the Welcome Center. Act as a lead “care officer” through direct contact with clients, program partners, and staff (i.e., management by walking around).
- Lead in alignment with the CEO to ensure the sustainability and vitality of the mission.
- Any other duties or tasks as assigned.
