ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION

Founded in 1965, the Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc. (CPC) aims to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities. Today, CPC is the nation's largest Asian American social services agency and offers more than 50 programs at over 35 sites throughout New York City, including early childhood education, school-age care, youth services, workforce development, community services, and senior services. CPC strives to be the premier social service and leadership development organization. In 2017, CPC launched Advancing Our CommUNITY, its organization-wide strategy to expand services to address persistent needs and emerging trends and to improve leadership skills among staff and community members. In 2022, our core programs and emergency services reached 200,000 people living in all five boroughs and all 51 city council districts. In the summer of 2022, CPC was recognized as the number one Chinese American organization in New York City to recommend to a Chinese immigrant looking for in-language and culturally competent resources according to a recent survey. This accomplishment is a testament to the incredible work and dedication of our staff. (For more information, please visit: https://www.cpc-nyc.org/)

PROGRAM SUMMARY

The Policy and Public Affairs team conducts policy analysis and works on advocacy campaigns focused on promoting legislative and budget policies that improve the social and economic empowerment of AAPI, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers. The team also does civic engagement and community mobilization work, as well as government affairs and media relations.

JOB SUMMARY

Reporting to the Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer, the full-time Advocacy Manager will be critical in carrying out CPC’s strategic plan, focusing on organizing advocacy activities, creating meaningful opportunities for staff and community members to participate, and building accessible resources and communications.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create a strategy for engaging staff and community members in a cohesive schedule of advocacy events that builds skills, power, and partnerships with other organizations and electeds.
• Plan and create a centralized resource database to help staff and community members learn more about policy and advocacy, key issue areas, and rapid response or emerging issues
• Outline talking points for key issues and for rapid response, helping connect and support staff and community members in understanding key issues, why given issues matter, why advocacy on them is important and speaking confidently about them
• Develop and implement a comprehensive communications strategy, alongside Policy Team, to better communicate out advocacy issues and actions to community members
• Build out and implement a standard communications system to connect CPC staff with Policy & Public Affairs team at different levels of engagement
• Lead on planning and implementation for CPC-led events such as City and State Advocacy Day; work with partners on planning joint advocacy actions and coordinating CPC participation
• Develop a project management system for planning advocacy events, particularly the larger events, that makes it accessible for a growing number of participants to stay engaged and take ownership.
• Identify new opportunities and meaningful types of actions to get involved in, and sunset ones that don’t work.
• Serve as a point of contact for key campaigns and coalitions, summarize and report key information to Policy and Public Affairs team and CPC Staff.
• Represent CPC at policy and advocacy events, including legislative meetings, advocacy days, rallies, press events, public hearings, etc.
• Work with program sites to connect elected and administrative officials to our service
• Contribute to CPC thought leadership through writing for the newsletter and website, and helping manage CPCs social media presence.
• Assist with financial reporting, grant administration, communication with other divisions, participating in supervisors and all staff meetings, etc.
• Other duties as requested by the Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Graduate degree in policy, public administration, law, social work, or related fields preferred.
• 2-5 years previous advocacy experience preferred
• Experience in social media preferred.
• Knowledge of policy issues that impact low-income, immigrant and AAPI communities; understanding of city, state and federal legislative and budget processes

Skills and Competencies:

• Commitment to Social, Racial, and Economic Justice - understanding of policy issues and areas of need that impact Asian-American, immigrant and low-income communities in New York; commitment to building transformative policy change to combat systems of oppression.
• Research and Writing – proven research and analysis skills. Strong writing skills, with the ability to communicate complex issues to a public audience. Ability to contribute to rapid response analysis and statements.
• Language - Bilingual Cantonese or Mandarin speaking candidates, especially those able to write and translate policy content and/or facilitate presentations in-language, are strongly preferred.
• Project Management – Ability to manage multiple priorities and ensure that key stakeholders and staff are kept in the loop, high level of organization and tracking multiple issues areas, targets and actions.
• Action Oriented - ability to act and react as necessary, even if limited information is available; a high degree of independence, flexibility, initiative, commitment and ability to work as part of a team.
• Effective Partnerships – ability to work effectively with internal and external stakeholders; ability to develop effective partnerships; demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team
• Communication and Social Media – Strong writing and speaking skills; able to communicate complex issues in a simple manner

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS OVERVIEW

• $75,000 - $75,000 annual salary; 35 hours per week with occasional evenings and weekends
• CPC offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to generous paid time off (holiday, sick and vacation time), Medical, Dental, Vision, Basic Life Insurance Coverage, Commuter Benefits, and a 403(b) Retirement Plan

COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS

CPC has been committed to two goals: 1) keeping staff and community members healthy and safe and 2) continuing to safely provide services to community members. CPC no longer mandates COVID vaccination, but vaccines and boosters are highly encouraged for all our staff and community members.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested individuals should submit their resume, along with a cover letter addressed to Carlyn Cowen, when applying online via CPC’s website: https://www.cpc-nyc.org/jobs or selected online job boards. A writing sample is encouraged, but not required. All documents should be submitted as one single file. Applications will be reviewed, and interviews offered on a rolling basis. Applicants may reach out to careers@cpc-nyc.org with any questions or further inquiries.

CPC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. CPC values a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and strongly encourages women, BIPOC, immigrants, LGBTQ , individuals with disabilities, and veterans to apply.