Program Officer, Civic Engagement And Government (Reflective Governance)

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Deadline to Apply: June 2nd, 2023

Summary Description

The Ford Foundation’s U.S. Program in Civic Engagement and Government (CEG) seeks a collaborative, strategic, team-oriented Program Officer to help build out and implement the foundation’s nascent reflective governance work. Reporting to the CEG Director and working alongside four other program officers, the Program Officer will lead our emerging reflective governance portofolio, supporting broad coalitions of actors outside and inside government to demonstrate how democratic government centered on justice can deliver for communities, particularly those long excluded from power, and seed new democracy.

In particular, the foundation seeks a dynamic, credible, proven field or government leader who brings a strong intersectional analysis to the work with a particular emphasis on gender, disability, and racial justice. The Program Officer must have a proven track record of working closely with communities that have been historically marginalized from the systems that affect their lives keeping the lived experiences of people and communities at the center of CEG’s grantmaking approach.

An ideal candidate is curious about the intersections of structural democracy reform, the value and impact of government in protecting rights and providing public goods, and most importantly that representative and reflective constituencies and communities should work together to implement public policy agendas. They would also be able to help anticipate how the work must evolve to realize the promise of democracy through a government-centered approach to civic engagement. Ideal candidates possess superb analytical skills and the ability to strategize and prioritize and assess opportunities, challenges and institutions with which to engage. They are action-oriented and entrepreneurial self-starters who are open to new ideas and can work well independently and in teams.

BACKGROUND

The foundation’s core mission is to help reduce inequality in all its forms: political, economic, and cultural. At the heart of the CEG program strategy is the notion that everyday people can and should directly shape and influence the issues, policies, and systems that affect their lives. Addressing these fundamental challenges to U.S. democracy means building a sense of common purpose and “bigger we” for the nation, and it means demonstrating that government at every level can in fact reflect and advance the interests of the people. We support efforts to tackle the longstanding problem of unequal access to government decision-making and allocation of public resources, particularly for communities of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and young people.

Our theory of change posits that strong civic organizations and community groups are required in order to engage everyday people in civic life and solve public problems that address the material conditions of people’s everyday lives, especially for those who have been historically excluded from decision-making. Paired with efforts to reform formal approaches to representation (e.g. voting rights and census), government will be more representative of a changing American demographic, decision-making will be a more inclusive enterprise, and public institutions will be more responsive.

The Program Officer will lead our emerging reflective governance portofolio, supporting broad coalitions of actors outside and inside government to demonstrate how democratic government centered on justice can deliver for communities, particularly those long excluded from power and seed new democracy.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the CEG Director and working with a multidisciplinary team of Program Officers, the Program Officer will:

• Contribute to the thinking and work of colleagues in the CEG team and foundation overall and advancing team building and team effectiveness.
• Collaborate across the Foundation’s US Programs, and work with relevant actors and other funders to analyze challenges and opportunities, seek rigorous evidence about program effectiveness, identify levers of change, and play a leading role in shaping specific grant activities.
• Write and communicate in a lucid and accessible manner; develop and implement grant-making approaches that support the use of strategic communications as part of the program strategy.
• Promote engagement with grantees to review opportunities, challenges and advances and encourage collaboration, learning, exchange and strategic partnerships.
• Promote and participate in fostering open-mindedness and a culture of learning – including learning and evaluation activities to guide the evolution of programmatic work – seeking to continually ask hard questions, gather independent and rigorous data and evidence about effectiveness of the foundation and grantees’ strategies, and help adapt practice as needed.
• Develop grant-making activities in a team-oriented context, with a ‘grantee-in-the-driver’s-seat’ orientation, that are aligned to the strategic goals of a thematic area and support a connected ‘ecosystem’ of work where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Represent the Foundation and its work to the government, media, academic, business, philanthropic, and civic leaders through meetings, updates, speeches, blog posts, briefings and interviews, with guidance from the CEG Director.
• Support strategy, budget, grants, relationships, and team coordination activities associated with assigned individual priority states that are part of the CEG strategy.
• Work collaboratively with other team members to develop, define and implement program strategies to achieve significant and scalable impact toward team goals.
• Manage, monitor and coordinate a grants portfolio, including: long-term grant planning; identifying and working with prospective grantees to develop proposals for grant recommendations (including helping determine the goals for a grant, its activities, expected results, indicators of success and budget); conducting organizational assessments; undertaking periodic reviews of progress with grantees; and reviewing financial and narrative reports.
• Continually scan the fields related to democracy in the US (and globally to learn lessons for the US context), follow key developments and debates, keep abreast of the academic and popular literature, share key findings and lessons among colleagues and the field.

Qualifications

• Proven experience and substantive knowledge in the formal and informal structures, practices, and processes of government ranging from civic participation and community organizing to formal democracy reforms and approaches to co-governance.
• Exceptional communications skills: active listening, cogent and polished writing, constructive yet humble speaking, and comfort with public speaking and presentation.
• Demonstrated experience as a connector and convener across relevant sectors and parties, including grantees, practitioners, government officials, scholars, and civil society players
• A master’s degree in relevant field of study or BA and equivalent experience
• A strong sense of how to apply racial and gender justice analyses to strategy is required; an understanding of comparative perspectives on political systems is preferred.
• Written and oral fluency in English
• Demonstrated ability to be a productive member of a community of people at work, respecting differences while working toward shared goals, comfort with periods of ambiguity, constructive participation in ongoing organizational development.
• Experience building networks, communities of practice, and/or cultivating ecosystems needed for intersectional movement-building, both internally across funding areas and externally with the fields in which the CEG program engages (in particular at the state and local level).
• Familiarity and experience working with social justice concepts and frameworks such as racial equity, gender analyses, disability justice, economic justice, intersectionality, and implicit and structural bias.
• Exceptional leadership presence—internally and externally, but with a flexible, collaborative, team orientation.
• A minimum of 8 years leading social justice strategies and/or subject-matter expertise related to the ideas and approaches outlined above, including significant experience with demonstrable impact in communities of color and/or other historically disadvantaged communities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Written and oral fluency in Spanish
• Demonstrated understanding of comparative perspectives on political systems
• Experience working in government

Physical Requirements

This position is primarily a sedentary role. However, the person in this position may need to occasionally move about inside the office to liaise with internal staff, access files, office machinery and a copy machine/printer. Additionally, domestic/international travel will be expected when it is safe to travel, approximately 20% of working time. Some travel is directly related to grantmaking, but also required to attend team conferences, retreats and meetings.

The Ford Foundation is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its programs, and operations. As part of this commitment, the Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application process, please contact, [email protected].

SALARY: The Ford Foundation is committed to practicing salary transparency. The minimum salary for this position is $165,000 and the maximum is $185,000.

LOCATION: This position is based in the foundation’s New York office. We operate in a hybrid model and require staff to be in the office three days per week

Target Date: Fall 2023

Alignment to Culture and Values

• Personal qualities of humility, capacity for self-reflection, and a sense of humor
• Action-orientated and entrepreneurial self-starter who can work well independently and in teams
• Discretion and ability to handle confidential issues
• Commitment to the Foundation’s mission and core values of equity, openness, collaboration, trust, accountability and urgency

Benefits

• Generous parental leave (maternal and paternal) during new child’s first year (born into family or adopted)
• Office closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Three weeks’ paid vacation in first year of work; four weeks in subsequent years
• Professional development initiatives for growth
• Retirement savings account with matching company contributions of up to 13%
• Medical and dental benefits for employee and immediate family on first day of work
• Hybrid Workplace and Flexible Work Arrangement policies
• Tuition Reimbursement

Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at The Ford Foundation, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law. The Ford Foundation does not discriminate against formerly incarcerated individuals.