Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, widely recognized as one of New York’s premier human services providers, is a settlement house founded in 1894 that provides an extensive array of effective and integrated services—social, educational, health, housing, mental health, nutritional and fitness—which significantly improve the lives of 16,000 people each year, ages 3 to 103, on the East Side of Manhattan. Our clients include older adults, unhoused and formerly unhoused adults, children and families, recent immigrants, adult learners and more. For more information, please visit lenoxhill.org and check us out on Facebook or Instagram.

The Neighborhood House is committed to maintaining an organizational culture of excellence, and our outstanding and caring staff use their unique expertise to help our clients gain the skills and resources they need to strengthen themselves and their communities. We are now expanding our policy, advocacy and community engagement efforts with an inaugural Director of Policy and Advocacy who will work closely with our senior leadership and clients and engage elected officials, leaders and partners as they focus on civic issues critical to our clients and community. Working closely with and reporting to the Chief Program Officer, the Director of Policy and Advocacy will assist with developing and managing our organizational policy and advocacy agenda that will focus our impact on creating positive change to the systems that directly affect our clients and other low-income New Yorkers.

The Director of Policy and Advocacy must be committed to the mission of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and have a passion for advocacy to improve the lives of our clients. The Director of Policy and Advocacy will work across multiple fields of human services and with populations representing the full diversity of New York City and those that the Neighborhood House serves. The goal of this position will be to deliver actionable organizational policy and advocacy efforts to better position the Neighborhood House to address the needs and interests of our community. The Director of Policy and Advocacy will work both independently and collaboratively with internal and external key stakeholders, our clients and community, government officials and local elected officials, and with select coalitions as we advocate for laws, regulations and policies that will improve our clients’ lives and enhance the prosperity of community.

The Director of Policy and Advocacy will start their efforts by focusing primarily with three of the most crucial issues impacting our clients and community:

• Aging issues and how to tailor our advocacy efforts to support service and resource expansion to achieve critical outcomes on behalf of older adults
• Food insecurity and healthy food initiatives to ensure healthy food access for all New Yorkers, encourage local procurement for government-funded meals and to make New York’s food systems more equitable and sustainable
• Government benefits and housing issues to ensure New Yorkers have access to essential benefits and housing subsidies to ensure that these programs remain available to our clients who depend on them

The Director of Policy And Advocacy will:

• Work in partnership with leadership to develop, manage and implement a growing policy agenda that will seek to impact policies and systems that directly affect our clients and other low-income New Yorkers
• Act as an ambassador and representative of the organization and mission, demonstrating our values through thoughtful engagement with community partners and policymakers
• Support the advancement of our policy agenda at the state, local and federal levels and support our organizational lobbying efforts 
• Develop and draft policy publications, reports, testimony and regulatory comments to advance our advocacy agenda
• Translate internal program and services data and efforts into high-level messages and visualizations that have meaning for a broad audience
• Conduct policy research and reports for internal use and build relationships with community partners
• Identify and work toward important improvements, expansion and funding opportunities for the organization
• Developing advocacy and campaign materials aimed at education and mobilization. 
• Cultivate diverse partnerships and relationships with stakeholders, including advocacy coalitions, umbrella groups, community-based organizations and individuals in order to maximize our impact
• Work collaboratively with our teams to leverage capacity for social innovation and increase systemic impact in our sector
• Complete all other responsibilities and duties as assigned 

Qualifications:

• Minimum of five years’ experience in public policy advocacy, public policy research, community affairs, legislative and local government experience, or community-based advocacy work required
• Interest and strong working knowledge of human services programs and commitment to social justice 
• Excellent oral and written communication, research, analysis, and presentation skills
• Excellent writing and editing skills, with proven ability to describe complex policy issues clearly and accurately for different audiences
• Project management skills to work both independently and as part of a team to execute assignments and policy strategy
• Interpersonal and communication skills necessary to work directly with a wide range of key stakeholders, ranging from clients, government agencies, elected officials, nonprofit partners, advocates, policy experts and other individuals and organizations in our community

Salary: $90,000-$110,000 annually 

To Apply: Included in all applications submitted through the ADP portal, interested applicants will submit a cover letter, resume, and a relevant writing sample.

What We Offer

• Comprehensive benefits package 
• Extensive paid time off – 25 days’ vacation and discretionary time; 13 holidays; and substantial sick time
• Wonderful paid parental leave policy for all staff
• Professional Development Opportunities – trainings, lectures and more
• Free Life Insurance – 3x annual salary
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical, Dependent Care and Parking/Mass Transit
• Supplemental Insurance Coverage (Accident, Hospital and Critical Illness)
• We like to have fun! Monthly Film and Dinner nights, bowling parties, Mets and Yankee games, cruises, food trucks, holiday parties, parties on our two Green Roofs, chocolate event for Valentine’s Day and ice cream socials, and much more.
• State-of-the-Art Fitness Center, Gym and Swimming Pool
• Staff yoga and boot camp classes (six a week), swimming lessons and lap swim for staff 
• PSLF (Public Service Loan Forgiveness) Eligible Employer
• The best colleagues in New York!

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House is a client-facing and essential community-serving organization. To keep our clients and our colleagues safe, and to comply with various governmental contractual requirements, all new employees must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (except where valid medical exemptions apply) and will be required to submit proof prior to the time of onboarding.

At Lenox Hill Neighborhood House we value respect, diversity and integrity. We are an equal opportunity employer. Lenox Hill Neighborhood House prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. Lenox Hill Neighborhood House conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations. The policy of equal employment opportunity (EEO) and anti-discrimination applies to all aspects of the relationship between Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and its colleagues.