Policy & Outreach Associate

Description

Position Title: Policy & Outreach Associate

Location: Remote work based in Michigan with occasional travel within the state

Schedule: Monday - Friday

Salary Range: $60,670 - $67,411

Class: Exempt

Position Summary

The Policy & Outreach Associate works closely with the Senior Director of External Affairs and with coalition partners to advance policy change at the state and federal levels. This role will have a Detroit-based policy portfolio, focusing on early childhood policy efforts and advocacy initiatives specific to the Detroit area, while also contributing to the broader state and federal strategies. The Policy & Outreach Associate will organize and facilitate meetings with partners; use research and data to make recommendations to improve the early childhood system; advance advocacy efforts at the state and local levels; and develop rapid and strong communications around ECIC’s policy initiatives.

Requirements

This list is intended to represent job-related duties and should not be viewed as exhaustive.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyze federal, state, and local policies that are related to early childhood.
• Collaborate with childcare providers and health care practitioners, parent leaders, state government representatives, community leaders, and others to coordinate and advance policies that support coalition policy priorities, ECIC’s policy agenda and promote equity in early childhood.
• Coordinate the creation of materials for educating and engaging a wide base of partners around ECIC’s policy priorities. This includes, but is not limited to, website, newsletters, and social media platforms.
• Research and develop high-quality reports, policy analyses, issue briefs, explanations, and presentations in fundamental areas of work.
• Build and manage new and existing relationships with a diverse group of advocacy and community partners, including outreach to policymakers, coalition partners, and other critical collaborators.
• Support the overall management of select projects, including creating workplans, tracking project deliverables, creating materials necessary for advancing projects outcomes, scheduling meetings, and production of meeting minutes.
• Collect, review, and analyze data from a variety of sources to make cross-system policy recommendations and data visuals.
  
  

Requirements, Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree required in public policy, public administration, political science, or related field preferred.
• Three (3) years of experience with successful track record in public policy work, preferably with a nonprofit organization or coalition; experience working in the Michigan State Legislature on pertinent legislative issues is a plus.
• Demonstrated skills and comfort in proactively building relationships with diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic audiences, including public officials, coalition partners, community and parent leaders, and members of the media.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Effective group consultation and meeting facilitation skills.
• Excellent research, writing, speaking and analytical skills.
• A broad understanding of federal and state early childhood policies.
• Familiarity with and confidence using a wide variety of data sources.
• Ability to communicate complex and technical information in easy-to-understand formats.
• High attention to details and ability to manage multiple projects with competing priorities and project deadlines.
  
  

Physical Requirements

Talking - Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word to impart oral information to others accurately. (4-5 hours daily)

Hearing - Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound. (4-5 hours daily)

Walking - Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another. (1-2 hours daily)

Standing – In one position, particularly for sustained periods of time. (1-2 hours daily)

Visual Acuity – Viewing objects with close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and/or extensive reading. (4-5 hours daily)

Office Setting - Sedentary work in which exerting up to 10 pounds of force is occasional and a negligible amount of force is frequently or constantly used to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move object

Work Location

Remote work based in Michigan with occasional travel within the state or to other geographical areas for projects, ECIC meetings and to meet the needs of the organization.