Policy and Engagement Director

Summary

The Policy and Engagement Director is responsible for managing and executing community health center engagement and grassroots advocacy strategies to further the Association’s public policy priorities. The Policy and Engagement Director leads programming to influence, organize, and train community health centers to effectively engage in advocacy at the state and federal levels. The Policy and Engagement Director develops programs to strengthen the advocacy capacity of community health centers and motivate individual health centers to prioritize investing in advocacy as part of their organizational culture. The Director also provides other support to the External Affairs Department, including but not limited to partner and stakeholder engagement, policy research and analysis, and materials development.

Essential Functions

Health Center Policy Engagement & Grassroots Advocacy: Organizing opportunities for community health centers to engage decision-makers in order to advance our shared public policy objectives.

• Manage planning and execution of program and logistics for NCCHCA’s cornerstone advocacy events, including Congressional Visits during the annual NACHC Policy & Issues Forum, Community Health Center Advocacy Day at the North Carolina General Assembly, and regionalized virtual briefings for state legislators, et al. 
• Develop and implement new initiatives beyond existing cornerstone advocacy events to strategically facilitate interactions between community health centers and policy decision-makers.
• Implement grassroots lobbying and digital engagement activities that equip member health centers and supporters to directly contact elected officials at strategic moments, including partnering with the Communications and External Affairs Manager to develop action alerts sent through NCCHCA’s advocacy management platform (Quorum), as well as through conducting personalized, direct outreach to targeted health centers.
• Support development of memos, presentations, talking points, meeting agendas and runs-of-show, and other materials to prepare community health centers to effectively engage with decision-makers on public policy topics.

Health Center Advocacy Capacity-Building: Training community health centers to build power using organizing principles, promoting a culture of advocacy across NCCHCA’s membership, and equipping health centers to be effective advocates.

• Design and implement year-round capacity-building programs to encourage health centers’ engagement in advocacy and to guide them in best practices. This includes the development and execution of a new program by which community health centers can achieve an advocacy certification from NCCHCA by participating in qualifying advocacy activities and capacity-building programs and trainings.
• Develop and curate resources to guide health centers in starting, growing, and cultivating an advocacy program. Topics of said resources may include advocacy and lobbying 101, allowable advocacy activities for FQHCs, overview of state legislative and regulatory processes, guide to the NC General Assembly, storytelling, and more, including those identified as needs by community health centers.

Other Responsibilities: Collaborate with NCCHCA colleagues to support other functions outside of chief responsibilities, including:

• Coordinating with VP of Government Relations and Communications Manager to develop and implement a plan to regularly amplify community health centers’ successes and policy-related needs to target audience of key decision-makers.
• Proactively share relevant developments and current events with NCCHCA leadership and with health centers.
• Representing NCCHCA through participation in external coalitions, stakeholder tables, and other meetings in order to cultivate relationships, gather information, and align activities in concert with partners.
• Evaluate individual and organizational health center advocacy development needs, and create and execute corresponding learning strategies and programs.
• Assisting Communications Manager in replying to media inquiries, including response drafting and coordination of interviews with members and other spokespersons.
• Providing support for other events and activities, such as National Health Center Week in August, VIP visits to health centers, and others.
• Monitoring, researching, analyzing, and writing summaries of legislative and regulatory policy developments.
• Contributing written content for NCCHCA’s weekly Focal Point newsletter, social media posts, website, and online member community (Connected Community), as well as public-facing materials and resources—such as one-pagers, fact sheets, briefs, FAQs, reports, infographics, slide decks, press releases, statements, etc.—to advance NCCHCA objectives and public policy goals.
• Participating in informational sessions, webinars, meetings, conferences, and learning opportunities to stay abreast of policy developments, opportunities, and threats.
• Conducting presentations, note-taking, and moderation for virtual and in-person meetings hosted by NCCHCA.
• Attending internal meetings within the department and the wider organization.
• Participating in various NCCHCA membership peer-to-peer workgroups to identify policy-related challenges and opportunities facing health center administrators and clinicians.
• Other internal duties as assigned and as need arises.

Minimum Qualifications

• Five to eight years of directly relevant experience, whether in health care policy, policy analysis, government affairs, public health, organizing, community engagement, or related role, preferably in the state of North Carolina. 
• Bachelor’s degree, or combination of relevant education and work experience, required.
• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated the following skills and qualities:

• Excellent project management skills: Highly organized and capable of simultaneously managing multiple large projects each with multiple component tasks and deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the abilities to work effectively with diverse groups of people, provide responsive customer service, and develop trusting relationships with staff and leaders at community health centers.
• Demonstrated ability to clearly and succinctly express ideas in writing.
• Strong verbal communication skills in order to clearly communicate over the phone and conduct presentations in person and via virtual modalities.

A candidate that will thrive in our department’s culture will be:

• Flexible: Must be nimble and willing to adjust and adapt priorities in response to new and emerging opportunities and challenges in dynamic policy and political environment, health care landscape, and needs of member community health centers.
• Collaborative: A team player who enjoys deliberating with colleagues and learning from one another.
• Adept at critical thinking and problem-solving.
• Highly motivated with a strong work ethic.
• Intellectually curious: Eager and willing to ask questions and learn, and comfortable with not always having the answers right away.
• Empathetic and kind.
• Mission-driven: committed to health equity and social justice.
• Civically and politically minded.

While not required, the Director may also have demonstrated the following knowledge, abilities, and/or experiences, which we would consider a PLUS:

• Prior experience with and knowledge of the Community Health Center program, including understanding of state and federal policies specific to Federally Qualified Health Centers.
• Understanding of state and federal policymaking, including budget and appropriations processes; rulemaking, administrative, and regulatory policy; Medicaid and Medicare policy; and legislative schedules and processes.
• Knowledge of effective learning and development methods
• Experience in meeting facilitation (both in-person and virtual).
• Background in adult learning and education principles.
• Experience in providing training and technical assistance.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneNote, among other programs in the Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experienced with utilizing (including hosting and organizing meetings via) online meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
• Familiarity with Higher Logic (Connected Community) platform.

Physical Demands

• Consistently working at desk in front of computer monitor, significant typing and data entry, majority of the day is spent indoors and sitting.

Work Environment

• This position will be temporarily remote while NCCHCA is in the process of relocating to a new Raleigh-based office location. At that time, the position is likely to operate in a hybrid office-based environment in which staff work in the office at least one day a week.
• Must have residence in or plans to relocate to North Carolina and commute to Raleigh-based office for in-office days. Must have high-speed, reliable internet service and dedicated work space for remote-based work.
• Occasional travel out-of-town, by air, and overnight for conferences, advocacy events, and health center site visits, among others.