Vice President of Policy and Advocacy

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The Vice President of Policy and Advocacy is the key strategist and lead for the Food Depository’s work building a movement to leverage policy change to end hunger in our community.

The Vice President will oversee the development and execution of the Food Depository’s public policy, legislative and advocacy strategies to empower communities and improve food security, including strengthening the grassroots network of community-based partners and neighbors who face hunger in our advocacy work. The Vice President will serve as an expert and spokesperson on local, state and federal policy related to food security, the public nutrition safety-net, healthcare and other anti-poverty issues that impact low-income families, individuals and communities. The Vice President will be a thought leader with the ability to collaborate, convene and mobilize. They will lead a team of advocacy, policy and government affairs professionals and will have responsibility for the annual development and execution of a policy and advocacy agenda approved by the CEO and Board of Directors.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Direct the Food Depository’s public policy, legislative and advocacy efforts toward the goal of eliminating food insecurity and its root causes in our community.

· Provide recommendations to the Food Depository’s CEO and leadership team on policy priorities and legislative strategies.

· Develop and implement a plan, in collaboration with the Community Impact team, to mobilize community voices in advocacy, including those of member agency partners and our neighbors with lived experience of hunger and poverty.

· Lead the execution of policy and advocacy strategies.

· Work closely with the Communications & Marketing team to develop strategic messaging and deploy communications tools to support policy and advocacy goals. Serve as a media spokesperson or resource on policy and advocacy related issues.

· Build and nurture effective multi-organizational coalitions and alliances on priority issues.

· Oversee the development and management of effective working relationships with key public officials and administrative staff at the federal, state and local levels.

· Ensure the tracking and analysis of relevant legislation before the city, state, and federal legislature that affect hunger and poverty related causes, and the development of Food Depository positions and responses.

· Collaborate with the team to develop and disseminate issue briefs, fact sheets, newsletters, webinars or other materials regarding various policy issues.

· Work in collaboration with the benefits outreach team, to develop new strategies for connecting clients with public benefits and support.

· Facilitate strong connections between the benefits outreach staff and advocacy staff to ensure a strong communication loop and information sharing.

· Represent the Food Depository at policy-related meetings, events and conferences.

· Some travel to Washington, DC and Springfield, IL will be required.

· Prepare and manage program budgets, including the management of monthly reporting and expenditure and narrative reporting for advocacy-related grants.

· Support fundraising efforts to secure restricted revenue to support the work of the Policy & Advocacy team and our partners, as required.

· Prepare and manage annual department work plans, and execute organization-wide and Senior Leadership Team briefings on policy and advocacy work.

· Collaborate with marketing, communication and development teams on media inquiries and outreach and donor requests as needed.

· Oversee and guide organizational efforts to exponentially grow our advocacy base to include more Greater Chicago Food Depository donors, volunteers, social media followers, and other members of the general public to join our Advocacy Action Center.

· Collaborate with the Research, Evaluation and Business Analytics team to develop and disseminate original research that will advance policy change and awareness campaigns on anti-hunger issues.

· A bachelor’s degree is required. Graduate degree preferred.

· A minimum of ten years of work experience with a proven track record in public policy legislative work, program management, community and/or government administration.

· Experience with public benefit programs, state-level advocacy, and/or healthcare legal/policy analysis is highly desirable.

· Experience working in a leadership role on issues of importance to low-income communities, communities of color, undocumented people and/or LGBTQIA+ communities.

· Significant supervisory experience and the ability to lead and direct work of individuals and teams in collaborative, fast-paced environment. A track-record of actualizing and embodying the values of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion within prior teams, organizations and projects, and a commitment to addressing structural racism and racial inequity in our work to end hunger.

· Robust analytical, planning and evaluation skills.

· Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and the ability to create and present information to a variety of audiences in a way that is dynamic,easy to understand and inspires action.

· A proven record of building relationships across stakeholder groups to advance policy and programmatic objectives.

· Strong people skills including ability to establish and maintain effective, collaborative relationships with diverse stakeholders and influence others toward a common goal.

· Strong knowledge of the advocacy and political landscape in Chicagoland, including trusted relationships at the federal, state and local levels, and a track-record of collaboration with other civic, advocacy, or community organizing groups or coalitions.

· Motivational leader who fosters team cooperation, support for ideas and problem solving.

· Strong collaborator.

· Must be detail-oriented and organized with the ability to effectively manage complex projects.

· Action-oriented, entrepreneurial leader with significant creative capacity and flexibility.

· Understands audience and power dynamics when communicating and tailors communication and engagement accordingly.

· Proficiency in MS Office- Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook.

EXPOSURE:

· Normal office environment; some warehouse environment.

· Hybrid work environment, with a minimum of three days per week on-site.

· Out of office meetings and events.

· Occasional travel, particularly to Springfield and Washington D.C. for lobbying.

· Interacts with Food Depository staff, political and community leaders, federal, state, and local government staff, volunteers, member agencies and the general public.