Program Associate, Policy Advocacy and Organizing — Chicago, IL
Organization: Illinois Public Health Institute
Job Title: Program Associate, Policy Advocacy and Organizing
Location: Chicago, IL
Hours and Compensation: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week — salary based on experience
Application Deadline: Nov. 29, 2012
Position Dates: immediate start
Posted On: Nov. 9, 2012
Organization Overview
The Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) is a partnership of public, private and voluntary organizations that seeks to maximize health, wellness and quality of life for the people of Illinois. IPHI administers a number of partnership-driven projects addressing specific program areas, including the Center for Community Capacity Development (CCCD), the Center for Health Information Technology (CHIT), and the Center for Policy and Partnership Initiatives (CPPI). This position is in the CPPI, which measures, manages and improves public health systems by leading planning, incubation and implementation of policy and program initiatives. The CPPI develops and activates high-level partnerships with a wide variety of organizations and institutions representative of multiple sectors in support of improving public health.
Description
In collaboration with the director of IPHI’s CPPI, the full-time Program Associate will provide day-to-day program execution and leadership on IPHI’s policy advocacy and organizing initiatives, focusing primarily on IPHI’s obesity prevention policy initiatives.
The key area of responsibility is to manage and support the strategy execution of the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity (IAPO) and IPHI’s obesity prevention policy initiatives. The Associate is charged with sustaining and expanding a statewide policy coalition of obesity prevention stakeholders, including supporting and developing coalition work groups, mobilization and education of grassroots stakeholders and communication of policy information to communities and policy-makers. The Associate will coordinate and strengthen IPHI’s Rethink Your Drink campaign to reduce consumption of sugar-loaded beverages.This includes promotion of institutional policy and environmental change strategies in hospitals and workplaces, deployment of education and communication strategies for the public and policy-makers, and engagement of health care professionals to support patient education on the harmful effects of sugar-loaded drinks. The Associate will also play a role in supporting and growing IPHI’s new efforts in the area of food systems and healthy food access and physical education in schools. Finally, the Associate will participate in developing and implementing other IPHI policy and partnership initiatives.
Responsibilities
Project management
- Coordinate the work of advisory committees, councils, task forces and teams, including establishment of meeting schedules, recruitment and participant communication, creation of meeting agendas, minutes and materials, and facilitation of meetings to accomplish project goals as necessary.
- Coordinate with key project partners and leaders to develop and implement program goals, strategies and tasks.
- Recruit and provide guidance and support to interns and volunteers to assist with program implementation.
- Maintain and nurture relationships with partners at state agencies, local health leaders, policy makers, stakeholder organizations, and funders.
- Supervise program support staff.
Program implementation
- Identify, research and report on relevant evidence-based state, local and national public policies, systems and environmental change interventions using both the scholarly literature and the experience and content provided through national and state policy organizations.
- Gather data, information and intelligence from key informants and experts through both formal and informal networking strategies.
- Lead communications with partners, stakeholders, the public and the media through production and dissemination of e-newsletters, white papers, fact sheets, speakers bureau presentations, press materials, web-site content and other strategies.
- Organize and execute events and meetings to inform policy-makers, engage new stakeholders, and develop collaborative action agendas.
- Recruit and engage new participants and supervise development and maintenance of participant, stakeholder, partner, media and policy-maker database.
- Respond to stakeholder inquires and communications.
- Represent IPHI at stakeholder and partner meetings.
- Participate in implementation of policy research projects.
Program maintenance and development
·Prepare and submit periodic, special and annual programmatic reports, and financial reports in collaboration with financial staff.
- Assist in grant writing and other philanthropic resource and business development work.
- Assist with programmatic budget development and monitoring.
Qualifications
- The ideal candidate will have a master’s degree in public health or public policy or related field with a minimum of three years work experience (five or more years is preferred) in policy development, policy research, and organizing and advocacy. Equivalent professional experience is also acceptable.
- Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills are required; must be thorough and detail-oriented within a big-picture, vision-oriented framework.
- Candidates should have the ability to work independently and as part of project teams; must be able to work with minimum supervision in the conceptualization, planning, management, and implementation of organizational and program activities.
- Excellent computer skills, including proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, electronic mail, and web page and social media development is required.
- The successful candidate will be able to manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, be comfortable in a fast-paced environment, and able to adapt to change and growth.
- IPHI has a collegial, team-oriented culture where a sense of humor and a passion for the work is highly valued.
How to Apply
Please submit a resume, cover letter and writing sample by Thursday, November 29, 2012 to be considered for this position.
The cover letter should compare your qualifications and experiences to the duties and responsibilities of the position.
Please send all materials to [email protected] or by mail to:
Illinois Public Health Institute
ATTN: Job Search
954 W. Washington Blvd, Suite 405
Chicago, IL 60601
