Senior Policy Advisor

Position Title: Senior Policy Advisor

Department:  Strategic Partnerships & Policy

Reports to: Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships & Policy

Location: 3450 3rd Street, Building 2, San Francisco, CA 94124

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Safe & Sound is a children’s advocacy organization working to prevent child abuse and reduce its devastating impact on the child, their family, and our entire community.

We have been a pioneer in the field of child abuse prevention, working within San Francisco for more than 50 years. Recently, the organization has begun to expand its impact working throughout the state of California.

Child Abuse is a complex problem, but a preventable one. Our data-informed approach leverages three primary strategies: we empower children with knowledge and confidence; we support families providing resources and skills; we activate the community and the change-makers within it to create a thriving social safety net for children and their families.

The organization has an annual operating budget of approximately $15.4 million and is supported by approximately 70 staff, interns, and more than 80 volunteers. Safe & Sound’s headquarters is located in a historic firehouse in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, with a second office in the Bayview neighborhood.

Safe & Sound recently merged with The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), a national leader in the effort to advance pediatric medicine, raise public awareness, and transform the way society responds to children exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Founded by California’s first Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, CYW has created a national call to screen, treat, and heal ACEs and toxic stress.

More information is available at:  www.safeandsound.org.

OVERALL SUMMARY

The Senior Policy Advisor plays a key role in shaping, supporting and implementing the strategic direction of the organization’s advocacy and policy work. This position is responsible for creating an expanded advocacy program, program research, development, strategy, and implementation; community and policymaker engagement; and communication strategy for engagement.

The Senior Policy Advisor will be primarily responsible for creating greater engagement within the Family Resource Center Alliance, a network of approximately 40 family support organizations, as well as building on the advocacy work of the Alliance to create a powerful movement of families, community partners, and policymakers to help ensure San Francisco families and the community organizations serving them are fully supported and have essential resources allowing all families to thrive.

The ideal candidate will be familiar with San Francisco’s and California’s policy and advocacy landscape, particularly in the areas of family support, early care and education, and child welfare and will have experience and comfort in developing people as leaders in their communities and running local advocacy efforts.

This position requires flexibility, excellent strategic thinking, project development and project management skills, the ability to communicate (written/verbal) effectively, advocacy or community engagement experience, and knowledge of the needs of vulnerable children and families. 

The position reports to the AD of Strategic Partnerships & Policy, receives strategic direction from the FRC Alliance Steering Committee, and works frequently with FRC Alliance members, executive directors of family support organizations, local policymakers and elected officials, political experts, and a variety of community members.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

 Advocacy and Community Engagement

• Develop and implement advocacy strategies and activities that will build a shared vision and create public/political will for support of children and families, including the goal of increasing resources for improved outcomes for children and their families; identify multiple, creative ways to further the advocacy goals of Safe & Sound and the FRC Alliance, and represent these goals when engaging in advocacy;
• Develop and implement a plan to create a diversified and powerful voice for San Francisco families with children living in vulnerable circumstances; mobilize community members, including families, through ongoing and progressive activities, including training and support to participate in meetings, press events, public awareness activities, and hearings;
• Support state advocacy efforts, particularly with respect to transformation of the child welfare system and increased support for families living in vulnerable circumstances;
• Foster and maintain relationships with key community-based organizations, faith leaders, elected officials, civic, community, and public sector leaders, and parent/caregiver leaders that will help create positive activation of communities at the local and state level;
• Identify and work with other coalitions that work to strengthen all San Francisco and California families;
• Manage and maintain a timely and comprehensive database of current and potential members called on for advocacy;

• Provide oversight for and work with consultants, related to advocacy and policy activities, when necessary; and
• Follow, participate in, and advocate for local, state and federal policy that relates to the prevention of child abuse and the well-being of children and families living in vulnerable circumstances.

Communications

• Develop and implement external communications and public awareness strategy to support advocacy efforts; and
• Create a system to track analytics on outreach and communications efforts.

Project Management

• Pursue creative solutions to project management of advocacy and communication efforts;
• Create comprehensive project plans, outlining deliverables and timelines to meet advocacy goals and those of coalitions and partnerships;
• Oversee development and implementation of systems to ensure data and documentation of advocacy efforts and partnership collaborations is properly recorded and maintained; and
• Work in collaboration with the department members and other Safe & Sound departments to develop and implement new projects, based on ongoing and emerging needs.

Data and Evaluation

• Oversee the collection, tracking, analysis, and reporting of data relating to relevant advocacy and policy outcomes and outputs; and
• Assist the Associate Director of SPP and other staff in developing metrics that track the effectiveness of local, state, and federal advocacy and policy efforts and drive toward outputs and outcomes.

Development and Budgeting

• Provide support to the Associate Director of SPP and the Development department for development and maintenance of funding efforts related to designated advocacy and policy efforts; this includes support in drafting and revising public and private grant proposals and reports; and
• Develop and manage budgets for advocacy and coalition-building efforts.

Additional Responsibilities

• Continually broaden expertise; pursue cutting-edge knowledge relevant to the work; and serve as a resource for colleagues, partners and community-members;
• Attend meetings in the community, other meetings, webinars, and conferences specific to duties mentioned above as well as all internal staff meetings as required;
• Work with the SPP department to develop effective and efficient internal communication tools so that team members are apprised of relevant information; and
• Maintain files and documents in compliance with legal, organizational, and funding requirements.

 Undertake other duties as assigned.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in public policy, public administration, law, public relations, communications, early childhood, social science, education, or related discipline;
• Minimum of 5-7 years of professional work experience in public policy, advocacy, law, nonprofit/social service management, community engagement, and/or in the ECE/Family Support sector;
• Experience in campaigning, lobbying, organizing, advocacy, public policy, or law; and Strong commitment to racial and economic justice.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with policy advocacy in San Francisco;
• Knowledgeable about San Francisco and California government processes and the needs of vulnerable families;
• Experience managing multiple, simultaneous work efforts and a strong ability to plan strategically and marshal resources toward implementing that plan while staying on top of specific tasks and consistently meeting deadlines;
• Ability to take initiative and assume high levels of ownership for outcomes while exercising sound judgment in day-to-day decision-making;
• Outstanding project management skills and an ability to handle a complex environment with multiple priorities;
• Ability to navigate ambiguous, fast-paced environments and handle uncertain situations;
• Ability to maintain flexibility to respond to changing circumstances or priorities;
• Strong written and oral communication skills with demonstrated ability to develop and deliver reports, recommendations, and presentations;
• Ability to engage with and build authentic relationships quickly with diverse stakeholders;
• Ability to embrace obstacles that will arise and be creative in coming up with solutions; capable of remaining steadfast and resilient in the face of opposition;
• Ability to work well as a team member and independently while collaborating with others to achieve desired goals/results; and
• Action-oriented: Greatly enjoys getting people together to take action and willing to step outside of their comfort zone and awareness of how to motivate others to get out of theirs.

POSITION SPECIFICATIONS

• Full-Time
• Exempt
• Position will be reference-checked and fingerprinted

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Typical Working Conditions
  • Standard office; heavy keyboard work; phone and video meetings;
  Equipment Used
  • Computer, phone, fax, and copier;
  Essential Physical Tasks:
  • Ability to lift/push/pull up to 20 pounds unassisted; Ability to travel around San Francisco, the Bay Area, and to Sacramento when necessary.

The base salary for this position is $94,300.00 annually and is eligible for agency-sponsored benefits.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Safe & Sound provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Qualified candidates should submit a resume and a detailed cover letter to Human Resources at employment@safeandsound.org. 

**Beginning September 15, 2021: Safe & Sound implemented a Mandatory COVID-19 Testing Policy for all staff either to be fully vaccinated or, if they are unable to provide proof of full vaccination for any reason, they must provide weekly documentation on a negative COVID-19 test. This policy accompanies current CDC recommendations for Safe & Sound worksites including wearing masks indoors and maintaining social distancing practices regardless of vaccination status.

Should you be offered, and subsequently accept this position, it is expected that you will abide by this policy, in addition to other organizational policies.