Resource & Referral Manager

Brightpoint invites you to join our team of mission-driven staff who share a common vision: an equitable world where all children and families thrive in strong communities. As a leader in the human services sector for 140 years, we aim to advance the well-being of children by investing in families and strengthening communities through data-informed, collaborative, and preventative solutions.

The Resource & Referral Manager designs, leads, and continuous improvement for Brightpoint’s statewide Resource & Referral system across Illinois. Ensures that children and families experience timely, coordinated, and family-centered access to community resources and wraparound supports, while Brightpoint maximizes service responsiveness, data integrity, and system effectiveness. Provides statewide leadership and supervision to regional Resource & Referral staff, standardizes service workflows, strengthens referral pathways, monitors performance through data and outcomes tracking, and partners closely with program, operations, compliance, information systems, and community partners to reduce barriers, improve coordination, and enhance the referral experience for families with diverse needs.

Core Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions:

Team Leadership and Supervision

• Serves as team lead for statewide Resource & Referral staff, providing regular supervision, coaching, and performance management to ensure high-quality, family-centered service delivery.
• Supervises, manages workload, and monitors performance of staff as assigned. This includes hiring and training staff, implementing the organization’s personnel policies and practices, approval of timecards, performance appraisals, performance improvement plans, leaves, promotions, salary changes, terminations, and documentation of all personnel actions.
• Builds and sustains a strong, engaged team culture grounded in accountability, learning, collaboration, and continuous growth.
• Ensures staff are well-equipped to connect children and families to meaningful community resources and wraparound supports through ongoing coaching, technical assistance, and skill development.

Program Administrative and Statewide Referral Leadership

• Designs, implements, and oversees standardized statewide Resource & Referral workflows to ensure coordinated, efficient, and accessible service delivery across Brightpoint programs.
• Leads Brightpoint’s statewide internal and external referral efforts, ensuring services are timely, responsive, and aligned with family needs and program capacity.
• Establishes and enforces referral timelines, scheduling expectations, service guidelines, documentation protocols, and follow-up standards to ensure consistency and accountability.
• Reduces barriers to access, strengthens referral pathways, and streamlines day-to-day referral operations to improve the overall family experience.
• Designs and maintains clear, user-friendly systems and processes so staff across programs can easily access up-to-date referral and community resource information.
• Collaborates across departments—including program leadership, outreach, operations, compliance, and finance—to ensure alignment, cohesion, and coordinated care for families.
• Develops and maintains relationships with external referral partners, including schools, child welfare agencies, healthcare providers, behavioral health agencies, and community-based organizations.
• Supports special projects and strategic initiatives related to referral systems, service enhancements, voucher programs, and system improvements.
• Serves as a connector across teams to strengthen shared knowledge, cross-program communication, and coordinated family support services.

Data, Technology & Continuous Improvement

• Collects, tracks, analyzes, and reports statewide referral and service coordination data, including families served, types of supports provided, referral volume, connection rates, timeliness, and client experience.
• Develops and maintains dashboards and performance reports to support data-driven decision-making and leadership oversight.
• Ensures accuracy, integrity, and timely documentation across enrollment, referral, and case management systems, maintaining compliance with funding, contractual, and regulatory requirements.
• Monitors trends, identifies risks or regional variations in service access, and implements corrective action plans to improve efficiency, equity, and outcomes.
• Works closely with Information Systems and software vendors to troubleshoot system issues, support enhancements, and optimize technology platforms used for referral tracking and service coordination.
• Provides technical assistance and training to staff related to service delivery tools, referral platforms, and data systems.
• Supports the use of needs assessments and tracking of wraparound services to ensure families receive comprehensive, coordinated supports.
• Utilizes data and technology to drive continuous quality improvement and strengthen the overall statewide Resource & Referral system.

Candidate Requirements and Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Human Services, Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, Early Childhood, Behavioral Health, Information Systems, Healthcare Administration or a related field required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in social services, early childhood, family support, or related fields required.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in operations, intake, access management, care coordination, project management, or program administration within human services, healthcare, or a complex service environment, including designing and implementing standardized processes or workflows across teams or locations required.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience implementing or managing electronic systems, referral platforms, or client data systems, and developing tools or materials to support families and communities required.
• Experience using data, metrics, or dashboards to monitor performance, inform decision-making, and drive continuous process improvement preferred.
• Prior supervisory experience supervising staff in a multi-site, regional, or statewide environment preferred.
• Must have access to transit or other reliable transportation to execute the position’s responsibilities.
• Ability to communicate in both English and Spanish preferred.

• Compensation: Salary Range $70,000-$75,000; offers are commensurate with experience. The salary range provided represents our current estimate for this role at the time of posting and is subject to change. The final salary will be determined based on a range of factors, including but not limited to, a candidate's relevant experience, education, qualifications, skills, certifications, and alignment with organizational needs. We are dedicated to fair and equitable compensation practices and are committed to fostering a diverse workforce while providing equal opportunities for all candidates.
• Benefits: Medical/dental/vision insurance, 3+ weeks paid time off in the first year including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day (PTO increases with tenure); 11 paid holidays, supplemental insurance options, 401(k) with match (more benefits details here).
  
• Location: Hybrid (remote/home office); Home office (Western); Travel locally and to other locations in the state up to approximately 20% of the time.
  
• Schedule: Full-time, salaried; general business hours with flexibility for occasional evening and weekend hours based on program needs.
• We don’t just hire talent—we grow it: Emerging Leaders will have access to leadership development opportunities and one-on-one mentorship.
• Student Loan Forgiveness: Brightpoint is an approved agency for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).