Children First has 5 open positions:

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

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.

Development Coordinator

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Position Summary

The Development Associate is a vital member of a three person fundraising team, dedicated to establishing, nurturing, and expanding relationships with Children First’s funders and donors. This person’s role is to serve as an integral member of the Development Department, working closely with staff, volunteers, and board members to achieve fundraising goals specifically related to our annual giving campaign, annual fundraiser, and foundation resources.

Key Duties: Fundraising Strategy and Execution

• Take ownership of individual donors and prospects under $1k including drafting solicitation letters, segmenting messaging and donor lists where appropriate, cultivation and stewardship ensuring a meaningful donor experience.
• Monitor fundraising trends and best practices and make suggestions for improvements.
• Build and maintain a pipeline to support moving donors toward higher levels of giving.
• Efficiently process donations and acknowledge donors, utilizing Every Action database to generate fundraising reports, support relationship-building efforts, and meticulously track opportunities for the major gifts team.
• Ensure data accuracy and integrity within the donor database and utilize Excel for data analysis and reporting.

Key Duties: Grant Support

• Research potential foundations, contributing to writing proposals and reports, and helping with grants management.
• Monitor trends in foundation giving and make suggestions for improvements.
• Assist with maintaining our activities tracking system ensuring staff have information entered in a timely manner.
• Process grants and acknowledgements, utilizing the Grants Tracker database to generate reports, support relationship-building efforts, and meticulously track grant opportunities.
• Ensure data accuracy and integrity within the grants tracker database and conduct data analysis and reporting.

Key Duties: Event Support

• Support the Administrative Director with the execution of our major fundraising event, including corresponding with corporate donors, researching new prospects and logistics support including on-site support.
• Support our Young Professionals Advisory Council (YPAC) with implementing small dollar fundraisers and friendraising events.
• Assist with the planning and execution of other smaller fundraising and stewardship events, as needed.
• Willingness to support co-workers at community tabling events outside of normal working hours (most falling on weekends in the summer and fall).

Qualifications, Education, Experience & Skills:

• Minimum 5 years of experience working in a non-profit/advocacy/development.
• Strong commitment to our work of improving the lives and life chances of children, youth and families in Pennsylvania but particularly in the SE.
• An outgoing personality with the ability to present information effectively and speak with individual, foundation and corporate donors of all levels for positive engagements.
• Some knowledge of donor tracking systems – ideally Every Action by Bonterra.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills and a deep working knowledge of data analysis software applications and tools, specifically Excel.
• Proficiency in all Microsoft Office 365 products.
• Team player, able to coordinate, negotiate, manage, and work with coworkers of all levels.
• Ability to work occasional weekend or evening events and provide on-site support – we reimburse travel expenses and you should have a reliable vehicle.
• Walk or stand occasionally, including for extensive periods of time at events and must be able to lift, move, push or pull objects of at least 25 pounds.

Location: Candidates should be local to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area or willing to relocate.  This is a full-time, hybrid position requiring two days in the office, possibly more on the lead up to big events.

Dual Reports To: Administrative Director, Major Gifts Officer, or Grants Director based upon the assigned task.

Salary & Benefits: $65,000 to $70,000 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.

Mental Health Campaign Director

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Overview

Children First is a leading child advocacy and policy organization dedicated to ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive. Headquartered in Philadelphia and working across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Children First champions policies and programs that expand access to quality health care, education, and family supports for children and youth in the Greater Philadelphia region. For more than four decades, Children First has been a trusted voice for children by turning data into action, mobilizing communities, and driving systemic change that advances racial and economic equity. Through rigorous research, coalition-building, and strategic advocacy, the organization has helped shape landmark policies in early childhood education, mental and physical health access, and support for vulnerable youth and families.

Position Summary

The Campaign Director will lead the groundbreaking Strong Minds Bright Futures Partnership for Child Mental Wellbeing. The Partnership is a broad-based statewide coalition seeking state level policy reforms that will guaranteed low-income children access to a full continuum of mental health services. We are looking for a visionary leader with strong organizational skills who can motivate policymakers to adopt changes by leading this newly formed coalition forward.  The ideal leader will have three key skill sets:

1. proven capacity to orchestrate partners to persuade elected officials to embrace new policies;

2. tested relationship management skills that guide stakeholders to focus on collaboratively to influence public policy, and

3. a track record of using communication tools to build public will for policy change.

The ideal candidate will be a leader who enjoys collaborating and helping coworkers and employees they supervise to do their best and contributes to a respectful workplace that values a commitment to racial diversity, having fun, and making an impact. You must also have the capacity to be a self-starter, work independently, and with others in a hybrid, dynamic work environment.

Skills and Knowledge, We Are Looking For:

• Advocacy Experience: A minimum of five years advocating for a significant policy change via legislation or administrative reforms. Inclusive in this experience must be a track record of leading a united effort of grassroots and grasstops organizations and passionate individuals and orchestrating their advocacy to achieve a policy win.
• Strategic and Critical Thinking: Ability to see the big picture and develop strategy and align tactics to achieve policy outcomes. Ability to critically assess a situation, and (re)calibrate strategy accordingly.
• Stakeholder Relationship Management Skills: Ability to cultivate, manage, and grow relationships with state agency decision makers, organizational leaders, parents/caregivers, and other networks, coalitions and policymakers.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate policy issues and priorities clearly and persuasively in writing as well as in meeting and in media appearances and to prepare reports, briefs and correspondence with key officials.
• Data and Analysis Skills: Strategic and detail-oriented ability to collect, interpret, and simplify large datasets, and analyze laws and regulations, in support of policy priorities and advocacy goals.
• Management/Supervision and Project Management Experience: Minimum 7 years of experience managing and supervising a team with a spirit of collaboration and empowerment to help achieve team goals. Attention to detail is a priority so that staff, partners, and policymakers can engage and help move the work forward. This effort requires a leader with strong project management and strategy development skills.
• Proficiency with Technology: Facility with Excel and Word, web-based research, social media platforms.
• Policy Knowledge: Knowledge of state Medicaid administrative powers, payment systems and regulatory requirements. Knowledge of the structure of the mental health system preferred a plus.

Key Duties:

• Spearhead the development of a new initiative aimed at improving children’s mental health by developing and implementing advocacy strategies to advance state and local level mental health policy priorities which include:
  • Manage relationships with coalition members and state policymakers and recruit more key stakeholders
  • Guide the implementation of carefully crafted communications, mobilization and government relations strategies to get the policy reforms adopted
  • Supervise campaign staff (three staff members and multiple consultants)
  • Developing messaging documents, official correspondence testimony or public speeches, and manage a process to publish, disseminate and draw attention to compelling reports
  • Draft grant applications to secure additional resources and ensure expenditures do not exceed available funds
• Be the public face of the Campaign successfully recruiting and informing community leaders, parents and youth and engaging them to build support and regularly communicate with key policymakers about mental health campaign priorities
• Monitor trends and collect and analyze data on Medicaid policy to consider their impact on the campaig

Other Duties as Assigned

• Attend and present information at Children First board and board subcommittee meetings as requested
• Be available to plan, orchestrate and assist with outreach events which occur in the evening and/or weekends
• Attend and participate in staff meetings and staff committees
• Actively support Children First fundraising efforts

Additional Information:

• This is a full-time hybrid position requiring approximately 60 days a year in Harrisburg; in addition, to approximately 45 days on the road engaging with leaders across the state and a weekly in-office staff meetings in Philadelphia. Must have a valid driver’s license and a reliable vehicle.

Reports To: Executive Director

Salary: Salary starts at $150,000 and will be commensurate with experience, plus benefits, including health care for you and your child(ren) and generous paid time off and paid family leave.

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