Hamkae Center’s Policy and Advocacy Manager will lead Hamkae Center’s grassroots policy and advocacy work by shaping and implementing the strategies to advance our mission and solutions to community identified needs. This position reports directly to the Executive Director.
Responsibilities
Advocacy program management (60%)
- Work with the executive and organizing teams as well as community leaders to develop public policy agendas and an annual advocacy plan that lays out goals, outcomes, and advocacy strategies, with the approval of the Executive Director, to advance the organization’s priorities and win policy changes, including legislation, at the local and state level. Issue areas for Hamkae Center include but are not limited to economic justice, immigrant justice, education equity, language access, healthcare access and reproductive justice.
- Educate local, state and federal legislators and members of their staff on Asian American communities in Virginia and the issues Hamkae Center’s base communities face, particularly those who are working-class, lower-income, middle-class, linguistically marginalized, and are immigrants.
- Work with the executive director to provide support for NAKASEC policy efforts involving federal officials and agencies.
- Develop and maintain positive working relationships with key local, state, and, when appropriate, national elected officials and their offices.
- Devise advocacy strategies aimed to engage Hamkae Center’s base and work collaboratively with the relevant staff to advance the organization’s policy agenda. These strategies include but are not limited to identifying opportunities to advance the organization’s advocacy priorities at the local, state & federal level; providing or coordinating relevant research, the development of talking points and policy or issue briefs and reports; and providing or coordinating relevant trainings for community and staff.
- Monitor, develop analysis, and inform the leadership staff and the Executive Director about legislation, regulations, budget actions, and other systemic movements that would impact Hamkae Center’s base. Facilitate the development of campaign plans and power analysis by providing analysis and research.
- Represent Hamkae Center during the annual state General Assembly session and any special sessions, work alongside our partners/coalitions, and develop or coordinate the development of relevant materials (ex. tracker, testimony, handouts and other educational materials).
- Develop and maintain positive working relationships with relevant coalitions and public convenings representing Hamkae Center in ways that consistently advance the organization’s priorities and interests.
- Evaluate advocacy activities and document outcomes and impact.
- Provide data and narrative for grant proposals and reports as needed.
Staff and Team Management (20%)
- Provide support, identify strengths and areas of growth, and be an accountability partner to team members with weekly one-on-one check-in sessions, work plan development, and performance evaluations.
- Facilitate team-wide meetings & processes to develop goals (for team and individual), evaluate services & organizing team’s implementation of strategic plan and collaborative work across Hamkae Center teams, and weigh in on organization-wide opportunities and challenges.
- Identify team needs and seek resources internally (within Hamkae Center) or externally with Executive Director.
- Plan and administer fiscal year budgets for the advocacy team within a collective budget-setting process internally at Hamkae Center.
- Intentionally build relationships with advocacy staff at other organizations, particularly those who are value-aligned.
- Identify opportunities for collaboration across teams within the organization.
Organizational responsibilities (20%)
- Serve on the Leadership Team, representing advocacy perspectives while working collaboratively with other teams, to advance the organization’s priorities and to foster a healthy organizational culture.
- Be a thought partner to Executive Director and other managers and take initiative to make recommendations on new programming, policy positions, campaigns, strategic plan implementation, and other organization-wide efforts. Contribute to developing messaging to maximize political and narrative impact.
- Help create and promote a welcoming, equitable, and inclusive organizational culture while embodying the core values, agreements, and expectations of HamkaeCenter.
- Participate in organization-wide shared duties and expectations for full-time employees as assigned. These can include (but are not limited to) participating in staff meetings, staff retreats, supervision meetings, outreach events, supporting election protection activities on Election Day, voter canvassing, promoting fundraising opportunities, and co-facilitating collaborative meetings.
- Other duties as assigned.
Required Key Competencies & Qualifications
- Prior work experience– 3-6 years of relevant professional experience in lobbying, advocacy, legislative analysis or creation at a state level, participating in public hearings, facilitating meetings with government officials and their constituents especially at a state level, with at least one year in a leadership or supervisory role.
- Cultural Competency or experience working with Asian American Communities
- Must be fluent in an Asian language or has intimate knowledge of the culture of a specific Asian American community and have some experience in working with members of the Asian American community especially in the realm of social, racial or economic justice work or advocacy.
- Technical skills, & resource management
- Experience contributing to and creating new programs or strategies, while identifying, managing, and mitigating potential risks in tasks and projects. Must be comfortable with developing spreadsheets and understanding and manipulating data for analysis.
- Strategic Proficiency
- Building up and maintaining existing strategic relationships and establishing new strategic relationships.
- Project & time management, problem solving
- Excellent independent time, task, deadline, and project management skills; while also managing workload, priority-setting, evaluation sessions, and supporting team in managing their workload and priorities.
- Adaptability & resilience
- Readily offering support and encouragement to other staff, tolerating ambiguity, setbacks and stress to not affect performance or motivation in the long term, while taking appropriate care of self, and seeking and engaging well with feedback. Embracing and seeking to understand change.
- Self-awareness & conflict management
- Understanding individual, team, and organizational strengths and limitations and using that understanding to consider what resources and time is needed to develop yourself and the growth of your team members in each situation, decision, or process.
- Communication skills (verbal and written)
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex ideas clearly in different situations and group settings (including with individuals whose primary language is not English) with basic public speaking and presentation skills to internal and external audiences to describe Hamkae Center’s impact, theory of change, goals, organizational model, communities served and their strengths and needs, position on relevant policies, and services & outreach programmatic details.
- Demonstrating good writing skills in English with the ability to create and copy-edit public facing communications with ease.
- Trust, empathy, & integrity
- Modeling the kind of behavior they want to see in others and demonstrating the capacity to support themselves and others in the workplace and community through active empathetic listening.
- Maintaining strong moral and ethical standards and following organizational guidelines around privacy, trust, and ethical conduct in alignment with our core values.
- Leadership, management/supervision, and teamwork
- Proven ability to lead a group and their own work with confidence, skill, and the ability to identify areas of support while also displaying a commitment to improving the skills, abilities, and knowledge of self and team. Confidently utilizes performance improvement plans and corrective action when needed, creating a learning experience to improve and avoid similar issues in the future
- Other Requirements
- Must have a valid driver’s license and vehicle.
- Must live in Virginia, preferably in or near Richmond, Virginia.
Additional Details
- Location: Hybrid (In-person work required in Northern and Central Virginia)
- Salary: $70,000-$75,000
- Reports to: Executive Director
- Full Time + benefits, FLSA exempt, regular employment
- Benefits:
- Full health, dental, and vision insurance.
- Simple IRA matching program after 2 years of employment.
- Paid time off, vacation, sick days (if you, a partner, or a family member are sick), and other leave time customized to your unique circumstances. We close week of July 4th and between December 25 – January 1 for reflection and rejuvenation.
To Apply
Send resume and three professional references, to admin@hamkaecenter.org with subject “Policy & Advocacy Manager- [First Name] [Last Name]”
Appropriate professional references are people who can speak about your character and work/volunteer experience. At least one of the references should come from someone who supervised you. We have found it helpful if applicants could let references know that someone with Hamkae Center will contact them if only to facilitate references responses. When sending reference information, please include the references:
- Full name
- Phone Number and/or Email address
- Short description of your professional relationship with the references
Review of applications will be on a rolling basis until position is filled.
About Hamkae Center
Hamkae Center organizes Asian Americans in Virginia to achieve social, economic, and racial justice. Through community organizing, public policy advocacy, civic engagement, and youth leadership development, Hamkae Center works to build a future in which low- and middle-income, immigrant, people of color, and marginalized communities can fully participate in U.S. society and work together as makers of lasting change. We are the Virginia affiliate of the NAKASEC Network.
Hamkae Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. People from a wide range of backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. We are committed to a diverse workplace and supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities.
