Program Specialist

The University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO has an amazing opportunity for a Program Specialist to join our team! This individual will lead and supervise day-to-day programming of the Community Peer Education Project (CPEP) and the New Mexico Peer Education Project (NMPEP).  

CPEP and NMPEP is a collaboration between Project ECHO and the New Mexico Corrections Department. With a solutions-based focus, CPEP works closely with a marginalized population of returning citizens to train them become Community Peer Educators, while NMPEP trains selected prisoners to become Peer Educators. The goal of these projects is to increase an individual’s self-efficacy to ensure successful transition back into the community and ultimately reduce recidivism. 

As a successful Program Specialist, you will play an active role in: 

•Overseeing and administering the main components of The New Mexico Community Peer Education Project
•Overseeing the community peer educator's workshops, both virtually and in-person, including identifying approved locations for facilitation, reviewing all educational materials and presentations, and helping facilitate the coordination of presenters, along with ensuring adequate tracking of attendance and issuing of certificates of completion for community service credit
•Supporting the Program Manager with coordinating travel to each of the five regions to meet with Probation and Parole Region Managers and remote peers, gathering continuous feedback and reporting to Program Manager
•Serving as the primary liaison with internal staff that collaborate with CPEP project, such as finance team, grants team, community health worker team, replication team and IT team. 
•Serving as the primary liaison with PPD site liaisons, Region Managers, and all peer educator teams, including PPD top administrative staff.
•Meeting community partners and collaborators, locally, nationally and internationally, to develop grant funding and fundraising opportunities
•Overseeing coordinate and compile data, statistics and narratives of the project through collection of peer educator training data such as: weekly Virtual and/or In-person Workshops, peer to peer engagements, resources used and peer outcomes.
•Collecting and analyzing bi-monthly ECHO sessions evaluations from each of the eleven peer educators teams, and ensuring all data and statistics are captured in iECHO, Salesforce, Redcap and other project databases for the creation of monthly and quarterly reports and proof of project functionality and best practices.
•Overseeing the creation of project flyers and one-pagers, along with the revisions of project curriculum and replication guide. They will also provide presentations during monthly immersion at Project ECHO, and at national or international conferences to promote project, including through webinars
•Supervising one other staff member, a student employee and a minimum of seven contractors
Project ECHO is unique and innovative center based within a vibrant academic community at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Our mission is to democratize implementation of best practices with a goal of helping 1 billion people lead better lives by 2025.  We are looking for mission-driven high performers who share similar values to join our team and help us achieve this goal. 

Project ECHO is committed to democratizing implementation of best practices in healthcare, education and other areas where first mile professionals need support.  We do this by training universities, nonprofits, and dedicated individuals on facilitation skills and how to set up robust virtual communities of practice to be able to scale their own expertise and missions to the benefit of their local communities.  Over the past 20 years, Project ECHO and our partners have trained more than 1,000 partners who make up our global network of Universities, ministries of health, and NGOs around the world. Examples of programs we and others run include infectious disease control (Hepatitis C, HIV), mental health and addiction treatment, literacy, math, climate mitigation and many more.  

Project ECHO is funded in part by philanthropic grants and gifts from organizations such as the GE Foundation, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the Merck Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the US Government.  Additionally, for programming benefitting New Mexico we receive support from the NM Legislature, the New Mexico Human Services Department and the New Mexico Department of Health. 

Project ECHO prides itself on being a values-based organization and inclusive place to work.  Our seven values include: Service to the Underserved, Democratization of Knowledge, Mutual Trust and Respect, Teamwork, Excellence and Accountability, Innovation and Learning and Joy of Work.  We strive to find individuals who can embrace and exemplify these values.  In addition, Project ECHO was named one of Albuquerque’s Top Three Best Places to Work in 2023. This award recognizes organizations of all sizes with exceptional climates, team atmospheres, benefits, and employee engagement. For more information and a brief overview of benefits available please visit Project ECHO Newsroom.

 We work with partners all over the world and work hours outside of normal business hours may be required. We are fortunate to have access to advanced technology, which will require some teleworking. 

See the Position Description for additional information.

• Employees who provide services or work in patient care or clinical areas are required to be in compliance with the University's influenza vaccination requirement.
• If located at the UNM Children's Campus, successful candidate must pass a comprehensive post-offer, pre-employment criminal and New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) fingerprint background check, and a continued successful status will be verified by periodic future background checks.

High school diploma or GED; at least 6 years of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.

Completed degree(s) from an accredited institution that are above the minimum education requirement may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

• Demonstrated ability of strong interpersonal skills, including conflict resolution and visionary thinking 
• Training in formal leadership and influence
• Extensive knowledge of programmatic systems/operations, such as case management

Only applications submitted through the official UNMJobs site will be accepted. If you are viewing this job advertisement on a 3rd party site, please visit UNMJobs to submit an application.

Positions posted with a Staff Type of Regular or Term are eligible for the Veteran Preference Program. See the Veteran Preference Program webpage for additional details.

The University of New Mexico is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.

The University of New Mexico requires all regular staff positions successfully pass a pre-employment background check. This may include, but is not limited to, a criminal history background check, New Mexico Department of Health fingerprint screening, New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department fingerprint screening, verification of education credentials, and/or verification of prior employment. For more information about background checks, visit https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3280.html . Refer to https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3200.html for a definition of Regular Staff.