Children First has 4 open positions:

• Health Policy Senior Director
• Juvenile Justice-Child Welfare Policy Associate
• Youth Advocacy Coordinator
• Early Childhood Education Mobilization Coordinator

Health Policy Senior Director

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Position Summary 

Children First is looking for a Senior Health Policy Director to play a critical leadership role in setting and advancing local and state policy priorities to improve children’s physical and mental health. The Senior Policy Director is primarily responsible for setting and achieving strategic priorities and goals for our physical and mental health advocacy campaigns and expanding our coalitions and partnerships. A key component of the position will be spearheading the Strong Minds Bright Futures coalition, a multi-sector partnership transforming how we support children’s mental health in schools, communities and care systems. Additionally, you will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our advocacy efforts, evaluate outcomes, manage teams, and solve problems. The ideal candidate will have both the skills necessary to lead an advocacy campaign including coalition management, strategic planning, and persuasive communications, along with a strong working knowledge of health policy topics including CHIP, Medicaid, vaccines, environmental health hazards and mental health.

Key Duties 

Lead the development and implementation of advocacy strategies to advance state and local policy priorities that improve children’s health, children’s mental health, and access to insurance.

Responsibilities include:

• Oversee the development and implement advocacy, communications, mobilization, and government relations strategies to advance Children First’s children’s health policy priorities and secure adoption of priority policy reforms.
• Spearhead a major initiative focused on improving children’s mental health, including managing campaign strategy, coalition engagement, policymaker relationships, communications, public engagement, and campaign implementation.
• Oversee creation, expansion, and manage broad-based coalitions of community leaders, parents, caregivers, youth, advocates, providers, and other stakeholders to build support for children’s health and mental health policy priorities.
• Serve as a public-facing leader for Children First’s children’s health and mental health advocacy efforts, including regularly communicating with policymakers, coalition members, community leaders, parents, youth, and other key stakeholders.
• Oversee the development of compelling advocacy materials, including messaging documents, official correspondence, testimony, public remarks, policy briefs, reports, and other materials that advance Children First’s children’s health policy goals.
• Manage the development, publication, dissemination, and promotion of reports and other policy materials, including strategies to draw public, media, policymaker, and stakeholder attention to key findings and recommendations.
• Monitor trends in children’s health, children’s mental health, Medicaid, and related state and local policy areas; collect and analyze data to identify unmet needs, persistent challenges, emerging issues, and priority policy opportunities.
• Monitor news, social media, and other public communications channels to identify opportunities to elevate Children First’s children’s health policy priorities.
• Develop and execute multimedia strategies to amplify Children First’s children’s health and mental health advocacy efforts.
• Supervise the physical and mental health policy teams, including the Mental Health Policy Director, Children’s Health Policy Associate, Lead Free Promise Project Consultant, Health Policy Consultant, campaign staff, and other government relationships and technical consultants. Supervise staff responsible for mobilizing people with lived experience to advocate for Children First’s health policy priorities.
• Draft grant applications, contribute to funder relationship management, ensure grant objectives are met according to schedule, and monitor project expenditures to ensure they do not exceed available funds.

Competencies 

• Policy Knowledge: Knowledge of children’s health policy issues and experience developing and executing strategy & tactics to advance policy improvement and adoption.
• Advocacy Knowledge: Professional experience understanding and advancing legislative goals and leading coalitions, including the ability to develop strategies and tactics that persuade legislators and elected officials, and the ability to organize, mobilize, and facilitate widespread community participation.
• Stakeholder Relationship Management Skills: Ability to cultivate, manage, and grow relationships with diverse policymaker, parent/caregiver, and other networks and coalitions.
• Advanced Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate policy issues and priorities, relevant data, etc., clearly and persuasively.
• Strategic and Critical Thinking: Ability to see the big picture and develop strategy and aligned tactics to achieve policy outcomes. Ability to critically assess a situation, information, etc., and (re)calibrate strategy accordingly.
• Data and Trend Analysis Skills: Strategic and detail-oriented ability to collect, interpret, and simplify large datasets in support of policy priorities and advocacy goals.
• Media Savvy: Professional experience using social, news, and other media to amplify efforts towards a cause and policy improvement.
• Management/Supervision Experience: Minimum 3 years of experience managing and supervising a team with a spirit of collaboration and empowerment to help achieve team goals.
• Adaptability/Flexibility: Ability to work independently and with others in a hybrid, dynamic environment.
• Planning Skills: Strong project management and strategy development skills aligned with policy priorities and legislative calendar, etc.
• Organized: Ability to prioritize and manage multiple priorities.
• Proficiency with Technology: Facility with Excel and Word, web-based research, social media platforms.

Qualifications, Education, Experience & Skills: 

• Advance degree in public health, mental health or public administration preferred
• At least 12 years of combined policy and advocacy experience
• At least 7 years management experience with supervisory responsibilities

• Ability to travel to communities across the region – must have driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle

Location: This is a full-time hybrid position. Our health advocacy efforts are statewide, but concentrated in the Southeast, and the position requires 10-15 days of annual travel to Harrisburg, periodic travel throughout Pennsylvania, and frequent travel in the five-county area. Travel costs are reimbursable.

Reports To: Executive Director

Salary & Benefits: $150,000-$165,000 depending on experience, and a generous benefits package, including health care insurance coverage for the employee and their children and paid family leave.

Apply: Resume and cover letter to info@childrenfirstpa.org. 

Juvenile Justice-Child Welfare Policy Associate

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Position Summary 

The Juvenile Justice-Child Welfare Policy Associate provides operational support for the policy advocacy initiatives of the Vulnerable Youth team. The Associate will work closely with the Vulnerable Youth Policy Director to grow the base of stakeholders throughout the region supporting the work of our juvenile justice and child welfare reform efforts. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to initiatives that advance the team’s policy agenda, including research projects, engagement with key legislators, event coordination, and other strategic advocacy efforts. 

Key Duties 

• Support development of a coalition strategy to build and maintain ongoing relationships with system-impacted youth and parents and youth and parent organizers. Coordinate coalitions by scheduling meetings, sending meeting invites, monitoring RSVPs, and preparing meeting materials. 

• Coordinate events that envision for the future of juvenile justice in Pennsylvania, both from a statewide and regional lens. Oversee event logistics, including monitoring venue needs, transportation, equipment needs, catering, staffing, registration and communication. 

• Contribute to and disseminate communications materials, including marketing materials for convenings and broader advocacy materials for use by coalition members to advance policy goals. 

• Partner with stakeholders, including parents, to identify state- and local-level policy changes that will decrease child placements and promote child and family well-being. This includes a focus on foster care prevention, support for children and families impacted by foster care, reduction of congregate care placements, and promoting the safety and well-being of children in residential facilities. 

• Conduct outreach to and meet with stakeholders, lawmakers, and government officials. 

• Attend community events to represent Children First, collect signatures. 

• Collect survey data for research projects, and additional tracking campaign activities.  

Competencies 

• Action Oriented – Full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.  

• Adaptability – Ability to work independently and with others in a hybrid, dynamic environment. 

• Cultural Humility – Engages in continuous exploration of cultural identities and beliefs, is aware of one’s own biases and background; treats others with respect, openness, and empathy. 

• Creativity – Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.  

• Interpersonal Savvy – Relates well to all kinds of people – up, down and sideways inside and outside of the organization; uses diplomacy and tact; builds constructive and effective relationships; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.  

• Organizing – Can marshal resources to get things done; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; uses resources effectively and efficiently; arranges information in a useful manner.  

• Problem Solving – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.  

• Technological Proficiency – Facility with Excel and Word, web-based research, social media platforms.  

Qualifications, Education, Experience & Skills: 

• Strong commitment to racial justice and desire to create safe inclusive conversations on how to close racial equity gaps in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. 

• A track record of successful and positive engagements with community members. 

• Excellent communication and writing skills. 

• Team player, able to coordinate, negotiate, manage, and work with coworkers of all levels. 

• Project management skills including process management, data tracking and reporting. 

• Minimum 1-2 years of experience working in a non-profit/advocacy/community service field, can be an unpaid internship experience. 

• Degree preferred in human services, social work, public policy, or related field required. 

• Ability to work occasional weekend or evening events. 

• Willingness to travel throughout Southeast Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, must own a car. 

Location: Candidates should be local to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area or willing to relocate and travel for work-related events including but not limited to trips to Harrisburg and the collar counties around Philadelphia. We reimburse for mileage.

Reports To: Vulnerable Youth Policy Director 

Salary & Benefits: $48,000 with a generous benefits package including health coverage with vision and dental, 403B contributions, generous vacation and paid time off holidays, and paid family leave. 

Apply: Resume and cover letter to info@childrenfirstpa.org. 

Youth Advocacy Coordinator

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Position Summary

The Youth Advocacy Coordinator functions as the main internal point person on the K-12 team for organizing youth to advocate for improved public education in Pennsylvania. The Youth Advocacy Coordinator will work closely with our Suburban Outreach Manager and K-12 Policy Director to grow the base of education stakeholders throughout the region who support our public education funding campaign and educational equity initiatives. This role offers the opportunity to advance the organization’s racial equity agenda, including research projects, engagement with key legislators, event coordination and other strategic advocacy efforts. In addition to the K-12 work, the Youth Advocacy Coordinator will also help coordinate and support the implementation of the Pennsylvania Youth Policy Lab, a one-day structured convening, to bring together youth leaders from across the state—along with state-level leaders, researchers, community partners, and funders—to identify shared priorities and co-create policy and funding solutions grounded in the lived experience of youth, research, and an understanding of adolescent development. 

Key Duties: Event Support

• Provide training to and build personal relationships with youth to facilitate their engagement in advocacy, policymaking, leadership development, and systems change initiatives. 

• Develop and maintain relationships with youth-serving organizations, elected officials, policymakers, researchers, and community stakeholders across Pennsylvania to support youth advocacy initiatives and the Pennsylvania Youth Policy Lab; organize meetings, coordinate communications, monitor RSVPs, and prepare meeting materials. 

• Coordinate logistics for youth advocacy events, trainings, convenings, rallies, press conferences, forums, and Youth Policy Lab activities, including venue coordination, transportation, staffing, registration, catering, equipment, and communications. 

• Work with the K-12 team to develop presentations, curriculum, training materials, and related content for youth engagement and advocacy activities. 

• Increase visibility of our work by engaging youth on social media to elevate their experiences, perspectives, and hopes for public education. 

• Support the planning and implementation of the Pennsylvania Youth Policy Lab, including coordinating timelines, meetings, benchmarks, curriculum development, guest speakers, project deliverables, and youth engagement activities. 

• Assist in writing reports for funders and advocacy efforts by fact-checking, preparing footnotes, conducting stakeholder interviews, tracking grant deliverables, documenting project outcomes, and supporting development of public-facing materials and summary reports. 

• Collect survey data for research projects and track campaign and youth engagement activities. 

Competencies 

• Action Oriented – Full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.  

• Adaptability – Ability to work independently and with others in a hybrid, dynamic environment. 

• Cultural Humility – Engages in continuous exploration of cultural identities and beliefs, is aware of one’s own biases and background; treats others with respect, openness, and empathy. 

• Creativity – Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.  

• Interpersonal Savvy – Relates well to all kinds of people – up, down and sideways inside and outside of the organization; uses diplomacy and tact; builds constructive and effective relationships; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.  

• Organizing – Can marshal resources to get things done; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; uses resources effectively and efficiently; arranges information in a useful manner.  

• Problem Solving – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.  

• Technological Proficiency – Facility with Excel and Word, web-based research, social media platforms.  

Qualifications, Education, Experience & Skills  

• A track record, of and passion for, working with youth and building relationships with youth serving leaders. Experience working with youth in underfunded schools preferred. 

• Strong commitment to racial justice and desire to create safe inclusive conversations on how to close racial equity gaps in K-12 education.  

• A track record of successful and positive engagements with community members.  

• Excellent communication and writing skills, able to summarize discussions/meetings clearly and concisely and capture/report out the most critical information to stakeholders.  

• Team player, able to coordinate, negotiate, manage, and work with coworkers of all levels. 

• Project management skills including process management, data tracking and reporting.  

• Event coordination and management skills, including events with youth, preferred. 

• Minimum 2-3 years of experience working in a non-profit/advocacy/community service field, can be an unpaid internship experience.  

• Degree preferred in human services, social work, public policy, or related field required.  

• Ability to work occasional weekend or evening events.  

• Willingness to travel throughout Southeast Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, must own a car.  We do reimburse for mileage.

Location: Candidates should be local to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area or willing to relocate and travel for work-related events, including but not limited to trips to Harrisburg and collar counties around Philadelphia.  Children First does reimburse for travel.  This is a full-time, hybrid position requiring two days in the office, possibly more on the lead up to big events.

Time Period: This is a one year grant funded position. 

Reports To: Chief of Strategy.

Salary & Benefits: $60,000 with a generous benefits package including health coverage with vision and dental, 403B contributions, generous vacation and paid time off holidays, and paid family leave.    

Apply: Resume and cover letter to info@childrenfirstpa.org.

Early Childhood Education Mobilization Coordinator

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Position Summary

The Early Childhood Education Mobilization Coordinator functions as the main internal point person on the ECE team for grassroots mobilization of parents and providers in support of organization and coalition policy goals. Working closely with the ECE Policy Director and team, the Coordinator supports advocacy efforts to expand access to and strengthen the quality of early childhood education programs across Pennsylvania. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to initiatives that advance the team’s racial equity agenda, including research projects, engagement with key legislators, event coordination, and other strategic advocacy efforts.

Key Duties

• Activate our parent and provider networks by facilitating communications in a timely and accurate manner, conveying information necessary for mobilization with precision and enthusiasm.
• Amplify parent and provider voices through special projects, such as recruiting parents and providers to sign-on to letters to legislators, share their stories on social media, sign and deliver postcards, and more.
• Recruit new early childhood providers, parents, and community stakeholders and support their engagement in meetings with key legislators, public rallies, legislative hearings, briefings, and press conferences.
• Organize the logistics of early childhood-provider driven events that mobilize parents and providers, including but not limited to STAR move up and expansion ceremonies, kindergarten graduations, and other provider events. Monitor venue needs, transportation, equipment needs, catering, staffing, registration and communication.
• Support the logistics of advocacy campaigns and research projects related to the ECE policy agenda by scheduling meetings, sending meeting invites, monitoring RSVPs, and preparing meeting materials.
• Collect survey data for research projects, and additional tracking campaign activities.
• Track parent and provider engagement activities to ensure accurate record keeping for organization tracking and reporting on grant deliverables.
• Support engagement of existing networks of parents and providers through regular, clear, accurate, and effective email and telephone communications. Numeric targets for the number of parents and providers communicated with will be set every six months.
• Attend community events to represent Children First, collect signatures.
• Attend bi-weekly ECE team meetings with the ECE policy director and work as a collaborative team member. Make meaningful contributions to the decisions and discussions at the team meetings.

Competencies

• Action Oriented – Full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.
• Adaptability – Ability to work independently and with others in a hybrid, dynamic environment.
• Creativity – Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Interpersonal Savvy – Relates well to all kinds of people – up, down and sideways inside and outside of the organization; uses diplomacy and tact; builds constructive and effective relationships; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Organizing – Can marshal resources to get things done; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; uses resources effectively and efficiently; arranges information in a useful manner.
• Problem Solving – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.
• Technological Proficiency – Facility with Excel and Word, web-based research, social media platforms.

Qualifications, Education, Experience & Skills:

• Strong commitment to racial justice and desire to create safe inclusive conversations on how to close racial equity gaps in early childhood education.
• A track record of successful and positive engagements with community members.
• Excellent communication and writing skills.
• Team player, able to coordinate, negotiate, manage, and work with coworkers of all levels.
• Program management skills including process management, data tracking and reporting.
• Minimum 2-3 years of experience working in a non-profit/advocacy/community service field, can be an unpaid internship experience.
• Degree preferred in human services, social work, public policy, or related field required.
• Ability to work occasional weekend or evening events.
• Willingness to travel throughout Southeast Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, must own a car. 

Location: Candidates should be local to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area or willing to relocate and travel for work-related events including but not limited to trips to Harrisburg and the collar counties around Philadelphia.

Reports To: Early Childhood Education Policy Director

Salary & Benefits: $55,000 with a generous benefits package including health coverage with vision and dental, 403B contributions, generous vacation and paid time off holidays, and paid family leave.    

Apply: Resume and cover letter to info@childrenfirstpa.org.