POSITION: Director of Advocacy and Training
REPORTS TO: Chief Program Officer
STATUS: Full-Time; Exempt
COMPENSATION: $5,667-6,260 per month
BENEFITS: Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance; Employee Assistance Program; 403(b) Retirement Plan; Paid Holidays, Sick, and Vacation
LOCATION: Sacramento, CA (this position is not eligible for full-time remote)
JOB SUMMARY:
The Director of Advocacy & Training serves as a strategic and operational program leader for our rapidly growing agency. This position will serve as an LGBTQIA+ subject matter expert, increase awareness of LGBTQIA+ issues, advance policy initiatives, and direct the Center’s Training Institute, workforce development and employment services, youth advocacy and harm reduction services, policy advocacy, and community organizing efforts in our work to create a region where all LGBTQ+ people thrive. The Director of Advocacy & Training must be grounded in equity leadership with a deep commitment to reducing disparities faced by the most marginalized in the LGBTQIA+ community. They routinely work in partnership with other programming staff, stakeholders, elected officials and advocates, as well as directly with adult and youth community members of diverse backgrounds. This position serves on the Leadership Team and is responsible for management of the Advocacy & Training Department with direct supervision 4-6 employees, interns, and volunteers at both our Lavender Heights and Marsha P. Johnson Center South locations.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
1. Design and implement advocacy and training programs in alignment with the Center’s strategic plan and in collaboration with the CPO and Program Leadership Team.
2. Effectively lead and manage the Advocacy Department team to ensure good communication, collaboration with other departments, and support each team member’s professional development.
3. Direct advocacy and training program operations and exercise appropriate fiscal, legal, data capture, and grant reporting and contract oversight.
4. Serve as an effective community organizer and policy advocate advancing LGBTQIA+ and racial equity internally and externally.
Program Design and Implementation:
1. Identify, create and implement high-quality training programming and curriculum, employment services, youth and community advocacy initiatives, harm reduction services, and all other related LGBTQIA+ community needs, built on best practices in the field, innovation, and sharing of resources.
2. Training Institute: develop and maintain deep LGBTQIA+ subject matter expertise using research, industry best practices, and deep community engagement; leverage public engagement and data for effective community organizing and grassroots advocacy campaigns to address the needs of the LGBTQ+ community; and develop a robust, revenue-generating, LGBTQIA+ cultural humility and racial equity training and consultation practice designed for all employers with an emphasis on healthcare, education, faith communities, public and nonprofit social service agencies.
3. Economic Justic Program: Manage workforce development and employment services programming for LGBTQIA+ people, prioritizing transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals, and youth experiencing homelessness, to improve job readiness and place them into positions that provide economic security and career pathways with LGBTQIA+ affirming employers.
4. Elevate Youth Program: Manage youth advocacy programming and harm reduction services; Serve as a subject matter expert on the intersection of the LGBTQIA+ community, communities of color, and impact of the War on Drugs.
5. Victim Services: Build and maintain victim services resource directories, build relationships with affirming referral partners, and serve as an agency liaison to law enforcement agencies; monitor the Center’s Hate & Bias Incident Form reporting tool, promptly following up with community members to assist directly with crime reporting, victim advocacy, and resource navigation as needed; Promote access to these services in the community and produce monthly internal reports for the Senior Leadership Team.
6. Community Organizing: Develop and support a grassroots network activists and advocates who can provide continuous insight to community sentiment, organized for pro-active policy influence, and be deployed for rapid response community activations, public testimony, and media interviews.
7. External Research Requests: Manage intake, track, and evaluate requests from external parties to conduct research within our organization or the LGBTQIA+ population; Make recommendations to the Senior Leadership Team for engagement (or not) based on capacity, benefit to the Center or contribution to the body of LGBTQIA+ knowledge; and follow up with party to provide a definitive and timely response.
Leadership and Management:
1. Hire, inspire, motivate, and lead a diverse team of committed, engaged, and successful professionals to realize strategic organizational and program goals with a high level of trust and integrity.
2. Maintain a supportive work environment that encourages and empowers innovation, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning that attacks and retains diverse, qualified employees, interns and volunteers and provides opportunities for personal and professional growth, prioritizing advancement pathways for queer and trans people of color.
3. Meet regularly with and support staff and interns to carry out program activities aimed at the personal and emotional development of youth and adults.
4. Collaborate regularly with community members, staff, and partner organizations to achieve program and advocacy goals through a team approach including developing youth leadership and advocacy programs including community advisory bodies, internships, and other community learning opportunities to enhance program quality and impact.
5. Instill a sense of accountability among team members by modeling tight oversight of individual, organizational, and program performance and personal conduct standards.
6. Center racial justice as a form of liberation for LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and stakeholders and maintain healthy boundaries with colleague and clients.
Program Operations:
1. Ensure uninterrupted program operations, including scheduling staff, interns, and volunteers for shifts at least 2-weeks out; monitor day-to-day Marsha P. Johnson Center South facility operations and address any issues that arise in a timely manner.
2. Develop and maintain department-specific policies, procedures, and training protocols; evaluate risks and make recommendations, and implement safety and crisis response protocols
3. Create annual program plans and publish monthly event/program calendars in collaboration with the Communications & Marketing team.
4. Assist in the development of department, program, and event budgets; closely monitor revenue and expenses and ensure compliance with Fiscal Operations Policies.
5. Regularly evaluate program components to ensure that the requirements of funders are met and that outcomes measurements are produced that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other stakeholders and that can be used to drive program improvement.
6. In collaboration with the Data Manager, develop and maintain effective systems to track client data and outcomes, policy actions, trainings, outreach activities, and all other department activities including assisting staff with entering data in Apricot and external data systems and ensuring compliance with required data entry protocols.
7. Ensure compliance with all laws and regulations, contract terms, internal operating policies and procedures, and standards of professional conduct with the Advocacy team.
8. Use data-driven approaches to monitor program outcomes and progress toward grant deliverables, leveraging analytics to continuously improve defined success metrics and produce complete and engaging reports that demonstrate program effectiveness ahead of reporting deadlines.
9. Collaborate with External Affairs team to maintain up-to-date shared directories of all LGBTQ+ organizations, allied partners, LGBTQ+ representatives on community advisory bodies, and elected representatives in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, and Yolo counties.
10. Seek and maintain funding to sustain and build advocacy programs that align with the Center’s strategic plan.
Policy Advocacy and Community Organizing
1. Represent the Center in collaborative partner and advocacy networks and at related community events and activities, including maintaining close relationships with CenterLink, Equality California, the network of California LGBTQ+ centers, VOCA, California Coalition for Youth, Sac Kids First, amongst others.
2. Establish and maintain relationships with local policy makers and leadership staff with the purpose of influencing policy and funding outcomes.
3. At the direction of the CEO, serve as an agency spokesperson to raise awareness and build support for LGBTQIA+ issues, respond to current events, and advance organizational strategic and program goals.
4. Track and analyze public policy proposals relevant to the Center at the city, county, state, and federal level; make recommendations to the CEO for support/opposition/no position; draft position papers, letters, and talking points,
5. Meet with elected representatives, testify or provide at public meetings, and organize community members to engage with policy makers to advance policy and funding goals.
6. Build power networks with local community-based organizations, community coalitions, and other neighborhood partners, and historically disinvested communities to identify needs, develop policy proposals, and to build support for proposed legislation.
7. Conduct outreach with local community partners and organize events to engage local QTBIPOC youth.
General Duties:
1. Functions as a strategic member of the Leadership Team regarding key organizational and management issues; Routinely collaborate with the Senior Leadership Team and other departments including community engagement, communications and marketing, youth services, housing services, health services, and external partner to integrate cross program/organization communication, activities, and functions.
2. Support the Center’s internal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives.
3. Facilitate or participate in staff meetings, planning meetings, committee meetings, and other meetings as needed.
4. Provide guidance and mentorship to less experienced internal staff, community activists/advocates, and leaders at developing LGBTQ and allied organizations locally and across the country.
5. Maintain strict confidentiality and the highest level of integrity and professional boundaries in relationships with all program leadership team members, staff, clients, media, and donors.
6. Participate in a rotating Leader On-Call Program to support on-site staff and clients in case of after-hours emergencies.
This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
1. Knowledge and understanding of the issues, needs, and interests of LGBTQIA2S+ people, including knowledge of the spectrum of gender and sexual identities, racial equity, HIV and LGBTQ+ health, homelessness, mental health, economic justice, drug policy, and youth development, amongst others,
2. Embodies an equity mindset--understands and is committed to the goals of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the organization’s work and workplace.
3. Demonstrated ability to work effectively with people of diverse races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic backgrounds, religions, ages, English-speaking abilities, immigration status, and physical abilities in an intersectional environment.
4. Critical thinking skills and high emotional intelligence--consistently identifies, gathers, and applies relevant information to their work;
5. Highly collaborative orientation--builds relationships internally and externally with diverse constituencies, helps colleagues as needed, and views responsibilities as shared.
6. Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication with staff, volunteers, internal and external stakeholder groups; demonstrates empathy and active listening; and a strong presence in public speaking and facilitation roles.
7. Problem solving ability to identify challenges, formulate and implement solutions drawing on expertise and the input of others, and proactively adapt to support the team.
8. Continuous improvement mindset, including a desire to learn from others, research and weigh diverse inputs, and implement strategies and evidence-based program models to improve organizational impact.
9. Track record building and maintaining trust, team cohesion, and a collaborative and engaged culture that breaks down silos and creates better outcomes for clients across a continuum of care.
10. Project/event management skills, including attention to detail in managing project logistics with multiple strict and competing deadlines, budgets, and engagement targets.
11. Ability to work independently and as part of a team and a demonstrated track record developing less experienced staff, interns and volunteers.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Passion for the Center’s mission and work to create a region where all LGBTQ+ people can thrive and a passion for LGBTQIA+ issues including a robust understanding of anti-racist frameworks, intersectionality, systems of oppression, and civil rights policy;
2. Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science/public policy, communications, cultural or ethnic studies, social work, or other related field is required; Five years of directly related work experience may be substituted for formal education.
3. Experience: A minimum of three years of experience in community organizing, policy advocacy, public health, or relevant field and three or more years of experience managing employees is required (may be concurrent);
4. Computer/Office Equipment Skills: Superior proficiency working with Microsoft Office, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, and Teams, database systems, and social media tools.
5. Language Skills: Fluency in English is required. Bilingual individuals who are able to speak/read/write/translate and respond to media questions in Spanish are encouraged to apply.
6. Transportation: Access to reliable transportation is required. This position will require regular travel throughout the Sacramento region and may occasionally be required to drive rented vehicles and/and travel by air throughout California and the United States.
7. Background Check: Offer of employment may be contingent on satisfactory results of a criminal history background check.
8. Employment Eligibility: Employees must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
9. Drug Free Workplace: The Sacramento LGBT Community Center is a drug free workplace; employees may be subject to a drug test.
10. Vaccination Requirement: All employees are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and are encouraged to stay up to date annually or obtain an approved medical or religious exemption. Documentation will be required prior to your first day of work.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:
The Sacramento LGBT Community Center works to create a region where all LGBTQ+ people can thrive. We support health and wellness, advocate for equity and justice, and work to uplift a diverse and culturally rich LGBTQ+ community.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY:
The Sacramento LGBT Community Center is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All individuals, including those of color, women, persons with disabilities, and persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex are encouraged to apply. The Center maintains a policy of non-discrimination with respect to employees, volunteers, interns, and applicants. No aspect of employment will be influenced in any matter by actual or perceived race, color, religion, religious creed, ancestry, sex, age, national origin, marital status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, physical or mental disability (including HIV or AIDS), medical/mental condition, genetic information, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by statute; nor as to any individuals associating with an individual of any legally protected class.
TO APPLY:
Please submit application materials through our career portal at saccenter.org/careers. No phone calls please. Posting will remain up until position is filled.
