COMMUNITY ADVOCACY COORDINATOR

POSITION SUMMARY

The Community Advocacy Coordinators are responsible for providing the foundational resources for youth-led advocacy and leadership development activities in county-based chapters throughout California. They do this by building and expanding the membership base and volunteers, developing sound organizing strategies specific to the chapters they serve in collaboration with members, assisting with fundraising, supporting members to run chapter meetings and strengthen engagement, facilitating community outreach and advocacy efforts, and developing and facilitating curriculum and trainings that support member leadership. Supervises trainee members and performs a variety of complex administrative and technical functions related to overseeing programs, projects, and committees.  The current openings for the Community Advocacy Coordinator position are in the Southern CA (Far South Region), Bay Area (Bay Area Region), and the Northern CA (Far North Region)

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES 

Youth Leadership and Chapter Development Technical Assistance

• Support members in specific regions of CYC’s youth-led chapters to identify local policy, practice, and challenges youth in foster care face in their community and to identify goals and strategies for systems transformation.
• Assist chapters in developing goals for training, fundraising, and member and supporter outreach and engagement as needed (at least annually).
• Meet the unique needs of each chapter through regular chapter visits (monthly at a minimum), general support, training, and one-on-one preparation work for CYC activities and community advocacy meetings. 
• Identify and prepare members for leadership opportunities involving connection to statewide policy issues (e.g., public hearings, presentations, workshops at conferences, CYC committees, SMCs, RCMs) by helping members develop their talking points and presentation skills.
• Provide leadership and practical skill development for members to participate in statewide policy advocacy and leadership opportunities, including SMC members, chapter chairs, committee members, and facilitators.
• Coordinate and transport youth to regional and statewide events on an as-needed basis.
• Work closely with the Community Engagement Manager to recruit and train supporters for new and rebuilding chapters.
• Provide mediation and conflict resolution training and assistance to chapter members and supporters.
• Support curriculum development, T4T, and conferences, including the recruitment and training of members to be trainers at regional meetings, annual conferences, statewide policy,  and within chapters.
• Integrate work with policy and training teams as needed.

Community Advocacy

• Build relationships with county-level decision-makers and participate in community meetings (including member preparation/feedback and participation) related to CYC’s policy agenda and expansion of local chapter work.
• Develop and implement strategies for outreach and communication to build and maintain the chapter base.
• Engage CYC members in community stakeholder meetings by preparing members to participate in meetings and working with them to draw connections between community work and chapter work, including quarterly director meetings.
• Maintain and expand CYC’s visibility and represent CYC at community events.
• Partner with CYC program staff to share resources and best practices, communicate local chapter work and build connections between chapters and members across the state.
• Listen, guide and skillfully agitate members and learn to identify their own needs.

Administrative

• Carries out supervisory responsibility in accordance with policies, and procedures including recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and training trainee members; planning, assigning, scheduling, and directing work; evaluating progress; approving timesheets;  and addressing conflicts and resolving issues.
•  Plans, coordinates, assigns, and monitors performance and coaches, counsels, mentors, trains, and advises trainee members in meeting program or project goals, and assists in completion of assigned tasks.
• Collect, analyze, and manage chapter level data to measure the impact of various strategies. 
• Supervise and support chapter chairs.
• Decision-making skills for chapter and leadership development at a local chapter level.
• Track participation by members/supporters and update the database with attendance/participant information.
• Prepare and submit program and expense reports in a timely manner on at least a monthly basis.
• Assist in the development of operational policies and procedures.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience:

• Experienced the foster care system and/or are current or previous CYC members, and/or
• Associates Degree from an accredited (2) year college, and/or
• At least 3 years working with youth and young adults, preferably within foster care, and
• Two to three years of progressively responsible related experience; or, any combination of education, training, and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.
• Experience with foster care issues, community organizing, state legislation, policies, and working with government agencies.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Supervision of staff and programs, either directly or through subordinate supervision.
• Proficiency in using personal computers and various office software packages, including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, Google calendaring, and email and data management.
• Experience and understanding of K-12 school system as it relates to youth from foster care.
• Demonstrated experience in group facilitation and training with the ability to present information to youth effectively, volunteers, staff, and community stakeholders.
• Experience working directly with youth and adult volunteers and a love for working with teenagers and young adults.
• Planning, organizing, assigning, directing, reviewing, and evaluating the trainee members.
• Selecting and motivating staff and providing training and development of trainee members.
• Ability to build and oversee programs, projects, and committees and supervise member trainees.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret state and local legislation, including effectively communicating complicated policies and ideas into a youth-friendly format.
• Ability to demonstrate the use of clear boundaries working with young adults and stakeholders.
• Willingness and ability to travel, including frequent travel within the assigned region and occasional travel throughout California and other locations, including overnight travel.
• A current driver's license with at least (3) years driving experience, car (or access to transportation), automobile insurance, and cell phone.
• Ability to attend at least two 3-4 day-long conferences annually and monthly staff meetings.
• Prioritize and implement a work plan.

COMPENSATION 

This is a full-time, exempt position working both in-person and remotely in accordance with the organization’s current work schedule. The salary for this position is $62,400. Because we know that the practice of salary negotiation can contribute to paying inequities, this salary is non-negotiable. We will share more about our approach to compensation with the final candidate.

CYC provides excellent benefits, including health/dental/vision insurance, vacation and sick leave, and a Simple IRA Retirement plan (up to 3% match). EAP services are available.

Physical Demands and Work Environment 

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the job’s essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to travel by plane, train, bus, and rental cars; drive and transport young people; remain in a stationary position for long periods while operating a computer to create documents, conducting Internet research, sending and receiving email and participating in meetings; communicate on a telephone and in-person; read and write’ apply logic and focus attention in the presence of distractions.