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Policy Director

Employer
All Our Kin
Location
At any one of All Our Kin’s four offices (New York City; Stamford, CT; Bridgeport, CT; and New Haven
Closing date
Aug 2, 2019

Position Title: Policy Director 

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer 

Position Status: Full-Time 

Location: Flexible. Some travel is required.

Target Start Date: August 1, 2019

About All Our Kin

All Our Kin, Inc. is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that trains, supports, and sustains family child care providers to ensure that children and families have the foundations they need to succeed in school and in life. Through our programs, child care professionals succeed as early childhood educators and as business owners; working parents find stable, high-quality care for their children; and children gain an educational foundation that lays the groundwork for achievement in school and beyond. 

All Our Kin first opened its doors in a New Haven housing development in 1999 with two staff members, six mothers, six children, and one core belief: all children deserve access to high-quality early learning opportunities. Today, All Our Kin serves more than 600 family child care educators in New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, and the surrounding communities, as well as in the Bronx, New York City. These educators in turn serve more than 3,600 of their community’s youngest children and their families. Our ambitious strategic growth plan calls for us to add one new site per year, expand our technical assistance initiative to support additional communities, and grow our organization from approximately 60 to 80 staff members over the next 2 years, with the goal of reaching 20,000 children by 2021. To learn more about our work, please visit www.allourkin.org.    

Policy Director Responsibilities

All Our Kin is seeking a skilled and passionate leader to drive our growing policy work. The Policy Director will report to and work closely with the Chief Executive Officer and will oversee all components of All Our Kin’s policy work. This work has three major strands: 

  • Local/State:In the communities in which All Our Kin operates our networks, staff engage with local and state level partners and policymakers to influence the policies, programs, and practices that impact the day-to-day lives of family child care providers and the children and families they serve.  
  • Policy Advising:Through All Our Kin’s technical assistance work, we offer advising at the nexus of policy and practice to states and localities across the country on how to create the conditions necessary for family child care to thrive. 

·      National:As All Our Kin gains recognition as a national model for increasing the supply, quality, and sustainability of family child, we are often called on to contribute the family child care perspective in national conversations about early care and education, women’s economic empowerment, and workforce development. We anticipate a growing national presence in the coming years. 

Key responsibilities of the Policy Director include but are not limited to:   

Strategy

·      Craft a vision and implementation plan for All Our Kin’s policy work that ensures a strong family child care provider voice in setting policy priorities and ensures that all efforts are aligned and contribute towards a set of measurable goals

·      Collaborate with the CEO, All Our Kin staff, family child care providers, families, and community partners to create and update local, state and national policy agendas related to the supply, quality, and sustainability of family child care and the viability of All Our Kin’s model in the communities in which All Our Kin has a presence

  • Identify, monitor, and communicate key opportunities and challenges in the policy arena and determine how All Our Kin can contribute, respond, and adapt to them  
  • Work closely with the finance team to create and manage resources and budgets related to policy work 

Supervision and Internal Collaboration

·      Supervise and support all policy staff focused on site-based and technical assistance efforts

·      Support site-based teams in identifying and navigating regulatory and legislative challenges and opportunities, and be a conduit for sharing learnings across sites

·      Support the technical assistance team in implementing the policy advising initiative, and help determine future locations for both site-based and policy advising work 

External Representation

·      Build All Our Kin’s presence at the national level by representing All Our Kin in national conversations about early care and education, women’s economic empowerment, and workforce development. This may include:

o  Building relationships with local, state, and federal policymakers 

o  Building and strengthening relationships with key national partners, and bringing the family child care perspective to their work 

o  Fielding inquiries from stakeholders across the country who are interested in learning how to strengthen family child care-supportive policies, programs, and practices in their communities (together with the technical assistance team)   

o  Leveraging All Our Kin’s work with states and localities across the country to transform the national narrative around family child care

·      Contribute to grant proposals and reports related to All Our Kin’s policy and advocacy work and share updates with key funders and other stakeholders 

·      Seek opportunities for family child care providers themselves to contribute to national conversations and share their stories 

 

Our Ideal Candidate is

§ Deeply committed to 

·      Making high-quality early care and education available to all children 

·      Policy change as a mechanism to dismantle systemic racism and achieve equity in early care and education   

·      All Our Kin’s mission, core values and model 

·      Collaboration, and is eager to partner with family child care providers, All Our Kin staff, and key stakeholders  

§ Experienced in

·      Influencing legislative and administrative policy at the local, state and national levels and understanding the political process

·      Leadership and project management, including significant supervisory experience  

·      Setting priorities and managing multiple, multifaceted projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, deadline-driven environment 

·      Working sensitively with staff and other stakeholders representing all areas of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender, ability, age, sexual orientation and religious beliefs/faith practices 

§ Able to 

·      Communicate complex information persuasively in writing and speaking, and tailor communication for different audiences

·      Build long-term, strength-based relationships with diverse stakeholders 

·      Be organized and detail-orientedin strategic planning and program implementation

·      Engage in creative problem-solving around complex issues 

·      Offer, receive, and respond to regular feedback 

·      Balance accountability with emotional intelligence when interacting with staff at all levels 

·      Operate various software and computer systems and learn to use new technology

·      Travel to All Our Kin sites, technical assistance locations and national conferences and forums

·      Work evening and weekend hours, as needed 

§ Eager to build on 

·      7-10 years of experience in policy and advocacy 

·      Strong supervisory experience and complex program development

·      Considerable experience engaging in equity and social justice work 

·      A deep knowledge of early care and education (ideally family child care), workforce development, or a related field 

·      A history of demonstrated discretion with confidential information 

·      Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy, Early Childhood Education or other relevant field

Benefits of Working at All Our Kin 

All Our Kin is an innovative, high-impact organization that empowers a growing number of family child care providers, children, and families to succeed. As we scale All Our Kin’s reach, we strive to maintain the collaborative, values-centered environment that is our hallmark and to continually invest in the backbone of our organization: our talented, mission-driven team. All Our Kin is an equal opportunity employer and recognizes that diversity and opportunity are fundamental to children’s lives and to our work. 

Benefits we offer to our staff include: 

  • Competitive salary commensurate with experience 
  • Medical, dental and vision insurance 
  • Three weeks paid annual vacation as well as federal holidays and a December holiday (typically December 24 – January 1) 
  • A 403(b) retirement plan

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