Director of Policy and Public Affairs – Washington DC

WHO WE ARE

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to promoting high quality child care by strengthening the profession of family child care for home-based early learning programs. These programs serve almost 40% of the 6.7 million children who receive care from a nonrelative on a regular basis. We envision a world where all families, especially those from historically under-resourced communities, have access to high-quality home-based early learning programs that meet their child and family needs, and all FCC educators have access to the opportunities, support and resources they need to thrive.

NAFCC’s mission is to support and leverage a nationwide network of educational professionals in expanding and promoting the power of family child care. We do this by: engaging and developing a diverse group of FCC educators, increasing the number of FCC educators meeting hgh quality standards including national accredition, and being a national leader elevating the role of home-base child care. Learn more about us.

POSITION SUMMARY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The Director of Policy will play a key role in building and strengthening our Policy Team and the development of NAFCC Agenda via the Emerging Policy Priorities. This position will support implement and manage:

• NAFCC Policy Agenda
• Legislative Analysis
• Stakeholder Engagement & FCC Capacity Building
• Policy Development

Lead NAFCC Policy Agenda: Set the strategic direction and priorities for the NAFCC

• Provide policy advice and guidance to NAFCC Leadership Team, NAFCC state representatives, Affiliate Leaders and Leaders Shaping Leaders Fellowship alumni
• Align with NAFCC departments to leverage state specific policy priorities to drive legislative actions and impact at the state level
• Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration to ensure policy initiatives are integrated into broader organizational plans and practices
• Advocate for family child care interests at multiple levels of government & external relations

Legislative Analysis in Written and Spoken Form

• Analyze trends, forecast potential impacts, develop comprehensive policy strategies and track legislation that affects home-based family child care
• Create a process for tracking FCC educators’ involvement, actions and impact of in their state’s legislature
• Develop and deliver external communications and written materials such as including, but not limited to:
  • Policy briefs
  • Fact sheets
  • Policy talking points
  • Website content
  • Action Alerts
  • Social media posts
  • Blogs
  • Op-Ed
• Provide training and public education on policy issues to diverse audiences
• Collaborate with research and data projects to provide insight from a policy perspective
• Draft organization’s response on Notice for Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), Request for Information (RFI) and/or Request for Proposal (RFP)

Stakeholder Engagement & FCC Capacity Building

• Connect and collaborate with state-level legislators to help them understand ongoing research and strategies to support and sustain the FCC workforce
• Build and maintain relationships with key policy actors and influencers; and represent the organization in policy forums, events, and webinars
• Attend legislative hearings as appropriate; and provide written and/or oral testimony in legislative hearings
• Represent the organization in public forums, conferences, and media appearances to advocate for policy positions
• Maintain Action Center in collaboration with advocacy efforts
• Manage NAFCC annual Policy Fellowship program
• Lead NAFCC quarterly webinar including regular state of affairs updates to our FCC educators
• Develop and deliver quarterly policy newsletters with policy analysis and ways FCC educators can get involve
• Support with advocacy campaigns

WHO WE NEED:

The ideal candidate will personally connect with NAFCC’s mission and our commitment to supporting and leveraging a nationwide network of educational professionals to expand and promote the power of family child care. This person has deep commitment and experience in centering an equity, inclusion and justice framework in ongoing work and team development. A successful candidate will have experience operating autonomously with the ability to take initiative, recognize opportunities, and develop and implement focused plans with input from staff and other key stakeholders. Specifically, we are searching for candidates who possess the following:

• Deep commitment to NAFCC’s mission and belief in the value and power of Family Child Care as a vital part of the early care and education profession.
• Exceptional analytical skills and foresight to anticipate how policies affect a diverse group of family child are educators. Be able to delve into complex policy issues, analyze data, and identify key trends.
• Possess strong research skills needed to ensure evidence-based policy development.
• Possesses a high emotional intelligence needed to manage and motivate family child care educators and leaders with different backgrounds, perspectives, and styles.
• Familiarity with legislative processes and government relations: Strong understanding of national and state-level child care regulations, degree in public policy, education, or related field.
• Clear and effective, writer and communicator with the ability to articulate complex and multi-layered ideas and policies into easy-to-understand language needed for presentations, and stakeholder engagement. Strong writing skills to craft clear, concise, and persuasive written documents like proposals, reports, and policy briefs are essential.
• Project management and problem solving: Superior project management skills; effective at organizing, planning, managing the work across yourself and stakeholders; able to adapt strategies to meet evolving needs and ensure successful outcomes.
• Set and manage expectations: Desire to work in a highly collaborative and collegial environment. Able to effectively set and manage all processes and expectations around revenue generation; able to effectively tag in others and set individuals up for success.
• Ability to travel 30% of the time representing NAFCC in conferences and legislative/ policy engagements
• Education and Experience: A minimum of a Bachelor’s (BA) degree in a relevant field and at least 5 years of policy experience. Applicants should have a demonstrated history of successfully leading policy agendas strategies. Familiarity with family child care setting preferred.
• Ability to work some weekends throughout the year
• Ability to speak languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic preferred

This position is eligible to participate in benefits made generally available to employees on the same terms and under the same conditions of eligibility, including but not limited to generous paid time off, 100% medical, dental, and vision insurance, retirement, and professional learning development opportunities.

The National Association for Family Child Care is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.