Program Development Manager Jobs in Kentucky

New Life Directions Ministries is seeking a part-time Early Childhood Resilience & Program Development Specialist to help develop and implement Hope Begins Here: Resilience for Little Hearts, a year-long early childhood resilience initiative serving young children living on the NLDM campus.

Children served by the program may have experienced homelessness, housing instability, trauma, significant life transitions, or other adverse childhood experiences.

This position combines direct work with young children with the opportunity to help create a structured, measurable, and sustainable early childhood resilience program for NLDM.

Position Summary

The Specialist will provide developmentally appropriate, child-focused activities and individualized supports designed to strengthen emotional regulation, coping skills, resilience, sensory regulation, positive behavior, social-emotional development, and school readiness.

A major responsibility of this position will also be developing the structure of the Hope Begins Here program, including assessment and observation processes, intervention resources, documentation tools, outcome measures, referral procedures, and a clearly defined program scope of work.

The goal is for the Specialist to help NLDM move from an initial grant-funded initiative to a well-defined program model that can be evaluated, sustained, and potentially replicated.

Primary Responsibilities

The Early Childhood Resilience & Program Development Specialist will:

• Provide individualized and small-group child-focused sessions.
• Support emotional identification, emotional expression, and emotional regulation.
• Teach developmentally appropriate calming and coping strategies.
• Use play, movement, art, music, stories, visual supports, games, and sensory activities to support learning and regulation.
• Help children improve transitions, routines, frustration tolerance, and participation.
• Strengthen social-emotional development and positive peer interaction.
• Support attention, communication, independence, and school-readiness skills.
• Incorporate appropriate sensory-based and movement activities.
• Observe children for developmental, behavioral, social-emotional, or sensory concerns.
• Recommend referrals to appropriate community or clinical resources when needs exceed the scope of the program.
• Develop individualized Child Resilience Plans based on identified strengths, needs, and developmental goals.
• Establish measurable child-focused goals and methods for documenting progress.
• Maintain appropriate documentation of services, observations, participation, interventions, and outcomes.
• Assist with data collection and reporting associated with program grants.
• Collaborate with childcare providers, early childhood professionals, occupational therapy professionals, behavioral-health providers, universities, and community partners when appropriate.

Program Development Responsibilities

An important component of this role is helping NLDM create the permanent structure for Hope Begins Here: Resilience for Little Hearts.

The Specialist will help develop:

• A formal program scope of work
• Program eligibility and participation criteria
• Child screening and observation procedures
• Child Resilience Plan templates
• Individual goal-setting tools
• Progress documentation
• Session structure and intervention protocols
• Developmentally appropriate activity resources
• Sensory and emotional-regulation resources
• Referral procedures
• Outcome measures
• Data-collection procedures
• Program evaluation tools
• Staff guidance materials
• Recommended frequency and duration of services
• Procedures for identifying children who need specialized services
• Recommendations for future staffing, partnerships, and program development

The final goal is to create a clearly documented program model that defines what services are provided, how services are delivered, how progress is measured, and how the program can be sustained beyond the initial grant period.

Areas of Child Support

Services may focus on:

• Emotional identification and expression
• Emotional regulation
• Sensory regulation
• Coping skills
• Calming strategies
• Transitions and routines
• Frustration tolerance
• Positive behavior support
• Social-emotional development
• Relationship-building
• Early problem solving
• Developmental skills
• Fine- and gross-motor activities
• Attention and participation
• Communication
• Independence
• Preschool and school readiness

Qualifications

Applicants should have a master's or doctoral degree, or be currently enrolled in an appropriate graduate or doctoral program, in an area such as:

• Occupational Therapy
• Child Development
• Child Psychology
• Counseling
• Social Work
• Behavioral Health
• Early Childhood Education
• Special Education
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Human Development
• Family Studies
• Related discipline

A bachelor's degree alone is not sufficient for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

Preference may be given to candidates with:

• Occupational therapy training
• LPCC or LCSW credentials
• Advanced graduate or doctoral-level training
• Experience working directly with preschool-aged children
• Trauma-informed early childhood experience
• Sensory-regulation experience
• Positive behavior-support experience
• Early childhood mental-health experience
• Experience creating programs, protocols, or intervention resources
• Experience establishing measurable child outcomes
• Experience with grant-funded programs or program evaluation

Graduate students, doctoral students, occupational therapy students, and qualified capstone candidates may be considered when their education, experience, supervision, and scope of practice are appropriate for the position.

Scope of Practice

All responsibilities must remain within the contractor's education, credentials, supervision, and lawful professional scope of practice.

This position does not independently diagnose children or provide clinical services requiring professional licensure unless the individual holds the appropriate license and authorization.

Children requiring services beyond the scope of the program will be referred to appropriate qualified providers.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate enjoys working directly with young children and is creative, organized, compassionate, and comfortable helping build a program from the ground up.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can combine strong child-development knowledge with practical program-development skills.

The successful candidate should be able to translate evidence-informed early childhood practices into a program that is understandable, measurable, practical, and sustainable.

Compensation and Contractor Status

This is a grant-funded, part-time 1099 independent contractor position.

Pay: $38.00 - $46.00 per hour

Expected hours: No more than 20.0 per week

Benefits:

• Childcare

Work Location: In person