Director, Policy and Community Engagement

National Louis University•Lisle, IL

3d•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Policy and Community Engagement drives the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s (MIEC’s) efforts to build strategic partnerships with community members, advocates, and policymakers, ensuring MIEC’s applied research agenda advances its mission to support, elevate, and transform the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) profession. This leadership role shapes and executes engagement strategies that amplify community voices, influence policy, and translate research into real-world impact—ultimately improving outcomes for children, families, communities and the ECEC professionals (including, and specifically, leaders in ECEC programs) that serve them.

Requirements

Master's Degree Public Policy, Early Childhood Education, Community Development, Social Work, Child and/or Family Development, Educational Leadership, Family/Community Systems Development, or a related field.
Seven plus (7+) years experience working with diverse communities and/or historically marginalized populations in ECEC roles.
Seven plus (7+) years experience working in roles that required ECEC community engagement, policy, and/or advocacy, embedded within the context of Illinois’ ECEC policy landscape and networks.
Five plus (5+) years demonstrated experience translating applied research for use in policy, advocacy, and/or community engagement work.
Five plus (5+) years demonstrated success in engaging stakeholders collaboratively, grounded in a strong understanding of systems and change frameworks.
Three plus (3+) years experience utilizing a working knowledge of national ECEC policy landscape and networks in policy, advocacy, and/or community engagement work.
Three plus (3+) experience with policy or government relations related to early childhood education.

Nice To Haves

Doctorate preferred.

Responsibilities

Build, maintain, and deepen authentic relationships with diverse community stakeholders and partners.
Facilitate community input and collaboration to shape research and programming agendas.
Organize and lead community meetings, listening sessions, and other engagement events, including the Public Policy Forum at the Institute’s annual Leadership Connections conference.
Develop strategies to elevate community voices within MIEC’s research and programming.
Increase awareness and visibility of MIEC’s work among national, state, and local organizations, families, and ECEC professionals.
Cultivate and strengthen relationships with local/state/national policymakers and ECEC advocates.
Translate research findings into actionable policy briefs, testimony, and strategic communications.
Monitor policy developments in the ECEC space and identify strategic opportunities for MIEC to engage.
Collaborate with advocacy groups to amplify evidence-based messages and reform efforts.
Represent MIEC at ECEC policy and advocacy meetings, forums, legislative hearings, and convenings – maintain active membership in policy committees or policy tables.
Work closely with MIEC’s Research Director to ensure that research priorities are grounded in the needs of community members and the current ECEC policy landscape.
Support research projects with stakeholders, ensuring relevance, participation, and impact.
Facilitate feedback loops so that findings are shared with and utilized by the communities and policymakers involved.
Contribute to strategic planning and refinement of the MIEC research agenda.
Support research grant seeking efforts and partnership development with potential funders.
Oversee and contribute to the development of communication materials tailored to diverse audiences (e.g., briefs, infographics, fact sheets, presentations, etc.).
Collaborate with internal and external partners to disseminate research findings and community-informed insights.
Maintain a strong public presence for MIEC through meetings, conferences, and digital engagement.
Engage in ongoing collaboration with MIEC leadership to co-develop, review, and refine community and policy engagement strategies, ensuring alignment with and continuous improvement of MIEC’s strategic goals.
Contribute to long-term visioning and sustainability planning for MIEC initiatives.
Support and/or supervise junior staff, interns, or consultants as needed.