What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Director of Advocacy position at KIPP Public Schools Northern California?
Position Summary
The Associate Director of Advocacy will join KIPP Northern California’s Regional Support Office to support in advancing KIPP’s local, state, and federal education policy priorities. Reporting to our Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement, this position will lead authorizer engagement across a subset of our district authorizers, mobilize families for local policy issues and charter renewals, and build parent power through a regional parent advocacy group.
This person must be able to quickly build relationships with key external and internal stakeholders, including elected board members, district staff, superintendents, school teams, students, and families.
This role is based at our Regional Support Office in downtown Oakland, with a minimum of two days a week in the office. The job will require reliable transportation to travel to our schools and communities throughout the Bay Area and Stockton.
Experience:
- 5 years of professional work experience with a track record in advocacy, consulting, strategic planning, operations, or nonprofit management
- Proven record of thinking strategically, translating plans into action, using data to solve issues or questions, and exhibiting excellent judgment
- Experience working with C-level executives, board members, or elected officials
- Proven track record of building relationships and collaborating with a diverse group of leaders and stakeholders to advance organizational strategy and goals
- Experience managing cross-functional projects
Education:
- Associate, Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience required
Qualifications:
- Experience in education, campaign management, or advocacy work
- A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the ability to partner across lines of difference
- A deep passion for social justice and equity for all children
- Spanish fluency or proficiency is highly desirable
Required Knowledge/Skills:
- Deep knowledge of one or more of the communities in which our schools operate (San Francisco, Peninsula, East San Jose, Oakland, San Lorenzo, or Stockton)
- Demonstrated commitment to families and students in Northern California
- Strong written, verbal communication, and presentation skills with keen attention to detail
- Ability to quickly build trusting relationships with a broad set of people, including families, external stakeholders, school staff, and teammates
- Ability to self-direct and prioritize among competing goals, exhibit flexibility, and drive for results in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Manage Relations with Charter Authorizers
- Oversee a subset of KIPP NorCal’s charter authorizer relationships and build partnerships with district staff and elected officials to effectively navigate charter renewals, material revisions, and influence decisions that impact our long-term organizational goals.
- Regularly staff school visits with elected officials (e.g. local board members, City Council members, County officials, State and Federal legislative representatives).
- Regularly attend and represent KIPP at school board meetings and occasionally at city council or county board meetings.
- Lead and guide schools during annual oversight visits, public hearings, and authorizers’ annual compliance requests, and collect and submit annual documents for authorizers.
- Regularly monitor relevant policy and political news for assigned authorizers.
- Coordinate and oversee charter renewal and advocacy project plan creation, execution, and delivery of strategic initiatives, including cross-functional management of team members toward a successful outcome and support on hearing materials and responses to authorizer requests.
- Support the preparation of charter petitions by conducting school-level data analysis and integrating key academic, operational, and financial inputs from cross-functional teams.
Local Advocacy Mobilizations
- Partner with the PACE Director and Chief External Impact Officer to align on local campaigns, develop campaign plans, and set turnout goals.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to implement local advocacy strategies for school-level needs (e.g., Prop 39, FUA negotiations, facilities upgrades, school safety issues, etc.).
- In advance of local campaigns, build relationships with key school stakeholders and educate all parents, students, and staff on the relevant issue.
- Plan and lead stakeholder meetings and broader mobilization efforts that meaningfully engage stakeholders and contribute to our advocacy outcomes.
- Plan and lead community support campaigns that demonstrate strong community ties and contribute to our advocacy outcomes.
Manage KIPP Parent Leadership Team
- Plan and facilitate quarterly KIPP Parent Leadership Team meetings across our network to build parent power and advocacy capacity.
- Partner with the PACE Director to align on KIPP’s state and federal advocacy policies and hold one state and one federal stakeholder mobilization event per year to advance KIPP’s policy priorities.
- Build trusting relationships with family leaders across the network through 1:1 parent meetings and attending family engagement events at school sites.
Physical, Mental, and Environmental Demands
Physical: Ability to navigate office and school campuses, and hold meetings in different spaces. Traditionally, much of the day involves sitting. Ability to access and utilize technology. Occasional lifting/carrying of equipment up to 20 lbs.
Mental: Stress of deadlines and normal work standards, ability to analyze problems and generate alternatives, work with interruptions, concentrate for long periods of time, read, calculate, perform routine math problems, memorize, and recall objects and people.
Environmental: This role is currently hybrid with a minimum requirement of two days in the office or at a school (schedule subject to change based on organizational needs). This position will require travel approximately 20% of the time from the regional office to school sites and community meetings. This role will be expected to be able to join in-person family meetings at school sites, meet one one-on-one with family and community leaders, as well as join community events.
Classification
This is a full-time, exempt position with a full-year calendar cycle, located in our Regional Support Office, and involves frequent travel to schools and districts.
This is a hybrid role with the expectation that 2 days per week be spent onsite at our school campuses or at our Regional Support Office in Oakland.
About KIPP Public Schools Northern California
We are a thriving nonprofit network of 22 tuition-free, public charter schools open to all students. At KIPP, we believe all children should grow up free to create the future they want for themselves and that schools can and should be a critical factor in making that vision a reality. Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.
Our student community consists of nearly 7,000 elementary, middle, and high school students in East Palo Alto, Oakland, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, San José, Redwood City, and Stockton. Eighty-one percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, 34% are multilingual learners, and 12% have special needs. We strive to cultivate a representative team of teachers and leaders that reflects the diversity of our students.
Compensation
We offer a competitive salary, as well as a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and transportation benefits. We benchmark annually against comparably-sized non-profit organizations in the regions where we operate, to offer competitive salaries. The salary range for this position is between $102,000 and $117.000. Most candidates would be compensated at $109,000.
How to Apply
Please submit a cover letter and resume by clicking apply on this page.
Salary : $102,000 - $117,000
