Assistant Director, Advocacy

Position Overview

The Assistant Director of Advocacy position is responsible for the following areas of focus: grassroots engagement, training, mobilization, and organization. This position is also responsible for continued development and nurturing of our faith leaders. This position is critical to the continued expansion of choice programs to increase the quality, quantity and competency of choice advocates. S/He will assist Policy Innovation and Empowerment by developing and maintaining relationships with parents/guardians, faith leaders, and school and system leaders. S/He will train and bring advocates to events to better unite and strengthen the education choice movement throughout Florida. The Assistant Director of Advocacy will also plan and implement events statewide.

S/He will take a leadership role to support the organization’s mission. S/He will also work cross-departmentally to ensure parent/guardian feedback is understood by all areas of the organization. The Assistant Director of Advocacy will develop quality choice advocates for grassroots awareness and support. The Assistant Director of Advocacy reports to the Director of Advocacy.

Essential Functions

• Ownership of the strategic creation and management of programming that increases parent and advocate engagement and involvement.
• Serve as the primary contact to create and lead advocacy events as needed.
• Locate advocates for internal and external advocacy requests.
• Plan and travel with advocates to meetings in legislative offices, schools, and committee meetings.
• Manage relationships with scholarship parents and advocates, faith leaders and other partner organizations.
• Leverage relationships and outreach to drive mobilization and advocacy.
• Provide training to advocates and grassroots organizers on advocacy mission and messages.
• Strategize and equip the External Affairs department with ways to engage advocates across the state.
• Sole developer of communication across internal departments to share feedback from advocates including but not limited to parents/guardians, faith leaders, and partner organizations.
• Lead and create process improvements for departments across the company to recruit, retain, and engage advocates.
• Lead CRM planning, training and execution.
• Collaborate with Director of Community Relations, Sr. Regional Managers but not limited to all other departments within Step Up for Students organization to strategically fulfill requests for advocates, events, legislative requests, UAT Testing.
• Assist various departments with communications strategy to ensure partners (schools, parents, coalitions) support for the company’s legislative goals.
• Serve as spokesperson when needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

The above is not an all-inclusive list of all duties performed by this job title, only a representative summary of the primary duties and responsibilities. Incumbent may be required to perform other additional duties as assigned. 

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Public Affairs, Education or closely related field and/or 3-5 years professional related experience. Must be able to work independently and prioritize tasks. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.  Excellent organizational and time management skills. Strong writing, communication and presentation skills. Must be willing to travel extensively and work non-traditional hours. Experience with database management, data extraction and reporting. Solid knowledge of and demonstrated commitment to parental choice mission. Strong computer skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook). 

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Ability to use existing technology to achieve desired results.
• Implementation/execution skills (time management, multi-tasking, organizing projects and people).
• Ability to manage time and diverse activities under deadlines while delivering quality results.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; ability to follow through.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Works well under pressure, professional demeanor, and strong communication skills (verbal and written).
• Judgment and decision-making skills; solution-driven problem solving.
• Interpersonal skills; negotiating, listening, diplomacy and tact.
• Ability to demonstrate appropriate Cognitive Emotional Management competencies.
• Ability to travel to events across the state with little notice.

Core Values

Step Up For Students believes strongly in two key core values, and it is the responsibility of all employees to demonstrate these values in their everyday work in order to maintain a positive and effective organizational culture.

Everyone is an asset.

Every event is an improvement opportunity.

Physical Demands

This position frequently requires the abilities of fingering or manual dexterity, grasping and repetitive motions.

This position regularly requires the abilities of standing, walking, sitting, talking, hearing and seeing. 

Work Environment

This position will require extensive travel in and around the state of Florida.  This is a non-traditional work week as meetings and appointments will be based around constituent’s schedules.