Director of Research Job

Overview

*This position is remote, but will require some travel.*

Company Overview

Youth Villages has been a national leader in the implementation of research-based treatment philosophies in the field of children's mental and behavioral health. Our commitment to helping troubled children and their families find success spans 30+ years and includes a comprehensive array of programs and services.

If you are looking for a positive career move where you are meeting the challenges of life and striving to make a positive difference, then Youth Villages is the place for you. We are looking for people with a strong sense of purpose and focus to continually build confidence in yourself and our organization.

Responsibilities

Youth Villages is a leader in behavioral health services for children, families, and young adults. As both a direct service organization and model purveyor, our evidence-based services are provided in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Founded in 1986, the agency has grown from two residential campuses to a nationwide organization that provides a continuum of care from intensive residential treatment to community-based programs. Intensive in-home services are the agency's largest program, reflecting the core value that children are best raised by their family. Transition-age youth services are growing fastest, as the agency tries to fill a gap in high-quality services for young adults in and exiting from state custody without adequate support.

The agency's Research Department began in the early 1990's, shortly after the implementation of the agency's first electronic medical records system. Partnering with independent researchers since the founding of the department, one of the department's goals has always been to advance knowledge about effective services for children, families, and young adults and facilitate implementation of effective services nationwide.

The Research Department has worked with research organizations across the country (MDRC, Chapin Hall, Urban Institute) to conduct rigorous evaluations of two of our community-based programs, Intercept and LifeSet. Our work with Dr. Mark Courtney and MDRC on LifeSet provided evidence of program effectiveness; the current work with Dr. Courtney and the Urban Institute extends the learning agenda around LifeSet to gain further understanding of service uptake. Based on two studies conducted by Dr. Fred Wulczyn at Chapin Hall, the Intercept Program earned a rating of Well-Supported on the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.

In addition to building rigorous evidence for our programs, the agency is engaged with multiple researchers to learn more about the implementation of our programs and outcomes experienced by those we serve. Examples include the following:

• Amy Dworsky and her team at Chapin Hall are working to understand various aspects of the implementation of a continuum of transition-age youth services.


• Paul Lanier and his team at the University of North Carolina are exploring use of administrative data (Medicaid claims, data from programs such as TANF and SNAP, child welfare data) to better understand outcomes experienced by those served in Intercept and LifeSet in the state.


• Fred Wulczyn's study of county-level characteristics aims to increase accuracy of targeting of prevention services to match level of need, accounting for factors related to social vulnerability as well as trends in child welfare metrics over time.

Job Duties:

• Lead the development of the vision and strategy for third party evaluations of programs and adaptations that are aligned with the long-term strategy and mission of Youth Villages


• Build relationships with leading researchers in areas of interest to the agency, developing awareness of their areas of work and emerging best practices


• Develop partnerships with public and private agencies to engage in research that will build knowledge in the field


• Partner with independent evaluators/researchers to build knowledge related to effective services for children, families, and young adults including implementation issues that facilitate the most effective use of the agency's services


• Ensure the evaluation plans developed by independent researchers have appropriate scope, address the key questions of most urgency to the organization, focus on outcome areas most correlated to the programs' theory of change, are appropriate in terms of sample size, data collection methodology, and analytic plan, and reporting processes allow for feedback from Youth Villages prior to publication/presentation


• Oversee and support day-to-day evaluation progress on external research project, ensuring regular communication with all stakeholders in each evaluation including, as appropriate, evaluators, participants, partners, Youth Villages and/or partner program leaders, and payers; closely monitor all aspects of the evaluations including IRB approvals, study recruitment rates, service update rates, response rates, and other aspects of the evaluation as needed


• Establish a research agenda for the agency that highlights important topics of concern to the agency and the field


• Ensure that issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity are considered in all aspects of research projects and that the those with lived experience inform the research work of the agency


• Oversee all projects with independent evaluators/researchers to ensure appropriate data collection and statistical methods are employed and that best practices are used throughout the projects


• In coordination with Communications, Business Planning & Policy, and Strategy, identify key learnings from the agency's research projects share information with child-serving fields through publications of peer-reviewed articles, white papers, webinars, presentations, and social media


• Additional responsibilities as assigned that support the organizations goals

Qualifications

Competencies:

• Strong understanding of child-serving systems meeting the needs of individuals with behavior and mental health challenges including child welfare, mental health and justice systems and issues that children, families, and young adults face when interacting with these systems


• Expertise in research qualitative and quantitative research methodologies relevant to building knowledge and evidence related to child welfare, children's mental health, juvenile justice involvement, and related topics


• Experience with data management for quantitative research studies including longitudinal studies


• Excellent critical thinking skills that facilitate conceptualization and implementation of innovative and creative research projects


• Problem-solving skills that seek first to understand the issues from multiple perspectives, that challenge the status quo, and that offer solutions that support the agency's work.


• Strong understanding of the agency's mission and a commitment to creating knowledge that will facilitate our work with children, families, and young adults.


• Excellent written and oral communication skills to facilitate dissemination of knowledge to a broad and diverse audience including policymakers, researchers, service providers, and those who are likely to be affected by policy/practice implications of the agency's research


• Experience with working on cross-functional teams with a wide range of skillsets to accomplish a goal or complete a project


• Strong interest in participating as a leader in national research and evaluation groups that are relevant to the agency's interests and goals


• Experience working with Communications staff to build/maintain a social media presence aimed at engaging with child welfare leaders, policymakers, and others who influence policy and practice in areas related to the agency's work


• Excellent organizational and time-management skills that facilitate management of multiple concurrent projects

Requirements:

• PhD in a relevant social science field with at least 10 years of experience with large-scale research projects


• Diversity of experience with a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods


• 7+ years of experience with research related to the child welfare system


• Experience designing/implementing/overseeing data management for large- and small-scale research projects

Benefits

Medical, Dental, Prescription Drug Coverage and Vision
401(k)
2 weeks paid vacation
12 paid sick days per year
11 paid holidays

Paid Parental Leave
Mileage & Cell Phone Reimbursement (when applicable)

Tuition reimbursement and licensure supervision

Growth & development through continuous training

Clinical and administrative advancement opportunities

Youth Villages is an equal opportunity employer and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Youth Villages is committed to not only advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace but also in our work with children and young adults. We know that children, families and young people of color can face inequity in child welfare and justice systems, and we train our employees to build the skills they need to work with the communities that we serve, as well as, other employees from different cultures and backgrounds. Youth Villages is opposed to racism in any of its forms and is committed to inclusion, equity, and diversity. We believe that respect for each other is crucial in the work that we do each day.