Director Youth Advocacy Jobs

Boys & Girls Clubs of America named "One of the Best Nonprofits to Work for in 2017, 2018 and 2019" Indeed.com

Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the nation's premier youth development organization. Our programs, training and services impact nearly 4 million children and teens every year. We are always looking for qualified professionals with a passion for improving young lives, as a member of our national staff. We have strong values, embrace diversity and offer great benefits to allow our employees to maintain work/life balance.

LOCATION: This position is on-site, office-based in Washington DC (hybrid model - 3 days remote / 2 days in office- Tuesday & Wednesday)

Under the direction of the NVP, Advocacy & Government Relations and under consultation of the Director, Advocacy the Director, Youth Advocacy has responsibility for supporting our organization-wide Advocacy and Youth Advocacy strategy. Strong focus will be placed on supporting funded youth advocacy opportunities, expanding current trainings, models, and advocacy events. The director will develop internally and externally facing advocacy collaterals to further Advocacy goals and ensure interdepartmental coordination and collaboration to ensure deliverables are met.

Alignment and Strategy

• Work closely with Youth Development, RD, GR, and other cross-function BGCA teams to ensure aligned strategy, resources, and programs to support Youth Advocacy initiatives.
• Support development of a movement-wide framework for elevating youth voice and teen recruitment and retention through initiatives like a BGCA Youth Advisory Council.
• Help plan and project manage advocacy in events like National Days of Advocacy, State Legislative Days, Club to Capitol, National Conference and Summit for America’s Youth/National Youth Advocacy Day, and Keystone.
• Support development and implementation of a scalable comprehensive Youth Advocacy strategy for BGCA and Clubs.
• Support Federal GR tracking such as appropriations, Congressional Champions and funding.

Project Manage and Coordinate Funded Opportunities

• Work with RD partners support funding opportunities, ensure funding deliverables are met and support stewardship opportunities.
• Develop and implement support plan for funded Clubs including managing pass-through opportunities, MOU’s, contract and deliverables management, and ongoing project support.
• Maintain a diverse pipeline of Clubs with a strong capacity for youth voice/advocacy initiatives.
• Project manage combined Youth Advocacy funding opportunities including budgets, alignment of Clubs and deliverables, and reporting mechanisms.

Develop Resources to Support Clubs and Alliances

• Develop and/or curate internal and trusted external resources to support movement wide youth advocacy strategy including top issues identified by youth for engagement.
• Support digital advocacy strategy at Federal and state levels by driving online engagement through targeted BGCA digital and social advocacy campaigns on key policies.
• Develop appropriate advocacy collaterals including one-pagers, newsletters, toolkits, talking points, editorials, or additional supporting materials to share internally, externally, and with Government officials to further Advocacy goals. Work with appropriate BGCA departments to collaborate on the development of these materials and to identify opportunities for internal collaboration.
• Establish affinity group of Youth Development professionals to support Youth Advocacy capacity building in Clubs and Alliances. Create structure, content, goals and implement for the group.
• Develop, oversee, and measure success of Youth Advocacy trainings including curriculum development, multiple modes of delivery and be adaptable for different audiences including Clubs, BGCA staff, leadership volunteers and young people.

SUPERVISION EXERCISED

• No direct Reports. May monitor and coordinate the work of temporary employees and student interns.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Demonstrated success in youth development and advocacy including experience in staff training and support across multiple levels; content creation for direct sources; content creation for marketing/funding; database and project management; partnership management; and high visibility activities and events.
• Minimum of seven years’ experience working in the Government Relations field including experience with Boys & Girls Clubs, associations, non-profits, think tanks, or foundations engaged in advocacy at the Federal and/or State levels.
• Experience utilizing grassroots, grasstops, digital and media advocacy tactics and innovative strategies.
• Working knowledge of Government policy processes.
• Bachelor’s degree in Political Science or a related area or equivalent experience
• Demonstrated successful experience in building community collaborations, engaging in advocacy activities, and working in partnership with coalitions to advance government relations goals.

SKILLS
Proficiency in prioritizing tasks; ability to think strategically; strong project and time management skills; excellent verbal and written presentation skills; superior interpersonal skills; problem resolution skills and intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Office. Demonstrated high standards of ethics and integrity. Must be a self- starter with strong leadership, management, and communication skills. Ability to build and manage project budgets and metrics is required.

• Should be familiar with the latest digital collaboration methods, communication, analytics, using these tools to forward the work of the organization.

ABILITIES

• High energy level, comfortable planning, managing, and performing multi-faceted projects in conjunction with day-to-day activities. Superior interpersonal skills. Ability to get along with diverse personalities, tactful, mature, flexible. Good reasoning, abilities, and sound judgment. Physical requirements include: sight, hearing, sitting for more than four hours each day and other physical requirements required to complete essential functions of the position.

ENVIRONMENTAL & WORKING CONDITIONS