Policy and Communications Director

 

ABOUT CAUSE:

CAUSE is a base-building organization committed to social, economic, and environmental justice for working-class and immigrant communities in California’s Central Coast.  We build grassroots power through community organizing, leadership development, coalition building, civic engagement, policy research, and advocacy.  CAUSE envisions a thriving Central Coast that provides a sustainable and just economy created by and for workers, immigrants, and communities of color.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

CAUSE is currently seeking a Policy and Communications Director to lead our team of policy advocates who support our grassroots base of working-class immigrant families to envision systemic changes to their lived experiences and take on campaigns to achieve structural policy change for tenants’ rights, environmental justice, and immigrant worker power.  As a base-building organization, CAUSE’s Policy and Communications Team is accountable directly to our five city-based chapters of grassroots leaders, and supports our organizing campaigns with policy research and advocacy, coalition building, digital and earned media.  The Policy and Communications Director will report to one of CAUSE’s Co-Executive Directors and directly supervise CAUSE’s Associate Policy Director, two Senior Policy Advocates, and Communications Manager.  They will work to set the vision, systems, training, and culture of our Policy and Communications Team, which includes four junior Policy Advocates in addition to the Director’s immediate supervisees.  The Policy and Communications Director will be part of CAUSE’s Leadership Team, setting strategic direction for the organization alongside the Co-Executive Directors, Organizing Director, and Operations Director.  This position is regional and can be based in one of CAUSE’s offices in Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, or Santa Barbara. 

The Policy Director’s responsibilities include but are not limited to:

  • Lead regional strategy to weave together policy research, coalition-building, and mass communications in service of our grassroots base’s organizing campaigns and priority issue areas
  • Lead the hiring, onboarding, and ongoing professional development of our policy team, including developing their knowledge of policy areas such as housing, environment, and labor, and skills such as persuasive writing, coalition building, lobbying, research, graphic design, video production, and earned media
  • Directly supervise four staff, including one Associate Policy Director, two Senior Policy Advocates, and one Communications Manager, providing coaching, feedback and accountability to supervisees 
  • Facilitate weekly policy team meetings and annual retreats to create space for strategizing and coordination between the regional team of policy advocates
  • Provide guidance on campaign strategy in issue-based local organizing campaigns across the region
  • Represent CAUSE in some regional, statewide, and national coalitions and build relationships with key partners across the Central Coast region
  • Participate in and execute strategic direction from CAUSE’s grassroots governance and decision-making practices including CAUSE’s committees of grassroots leaders in each city and our regional steering committee of delegates from each CAUSE chapter
  • Create and implement systems for tracking and measuring results, coordinating and communicating within the policy team 
  • Act as the City Team Lead for one of CAUSE’s five city-based chapters, coordinating the team’s strategic vision, facilitating weekly city team meetings, serving as the senior staff member in the office, and maintaining CAUSE’s relationships and visibility within the community of that city
  • Help facilitate CAUSE’s Senior Staff Team to set organizational direction and policies and collaborate with other departments including Organizing Team and Operations Team 
  • Managing hiring, orientation, and training of supervisees and other human resources duties such as approving timesheets and paid time off
  • Participating in some grassroots fundraising, grant writing and reporting
  • Conduct regular employee and program evaluations

JOB REQUIREMENTS/QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred
  • Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent required
  • 3+ years of supervision experience
  • 6+ years of experience in policy analysis and advocacy, ideally in one or more of CAUSE’s priority issue areas of housing, labor, and environmental policy
  • Experience with and desire to work with diverse cultures and the ability to engage people from a variety of backgrounds
  • Ability to interact professionally with elected officials, donors, board members, leaders of ally organizations, and news reporters
  • Strategic and analytical approach to political issues
  • Able to work independently and as part of a team
  • Able to set own work priorities, manage responsibilities and time
  • Flexibility and willingness to sometimes work evening hours and weekends, and be able to travel throughout region, state and nation.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS 

The physical demands 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 essential functions.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Valid drivers’ license and dependable access to a car to drive for work required. 

WORK SCHEDULE

This position has flexible hours and may sometimes include evening and weekend work.  CAUSE provides flexible paid time off and holidays.

COMPENSATION

Starting pay for this salaried position is $95,680 per year. Benefits include 100% paid medical and dental coverage including dependents, paid sick and mental health days, holidays and flexible paid vacation days, paid family leave, paid sabbatical after 5 years of employment, monthly stipend for use of cellphone and travel, and annual professional development budget. CAUSE also typically provides two weeks of paid annual holiday shutdown and an annual retirement contribution.  

To ensure pay equity across our team, salaries at CAUSE follow a formula based on position and tenure and are non-negotiable for individual candidates.  However, we have a fixed salary scale providing additional pay for candidates with years of relevant job experience significantly beyond the minimum qualifications listed in this job description.

APPLYING

CAUSE will be accepting applications through Monday, September 30th.  Please e-mail resumes with cover letter to Lucas Zucker at [email protected]. 

CAUSE IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

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