National Policy Manager

Reach Out and Read

1d•$70,000 - $75,000•Remote

About The Position

As the Policy Manager, you will have the unique opportunity to help shape and support the future direction of Reach Out and Read’s public policy and advocacy. As a member of Reach Out and Read’s External Affairs team and reporting to the National Senior Director of Policy, the Policy Manager will provide advocacy training for and partner with state Affiliates, develop a variety of advocacy tools and resources; and support federal, state, and local advocacy efforts. They will also manage a variety of administrative tasks, including tracking legislative engagement, scheduling meetings, and more. The Policy Manager needs a deep understanding of public policy, strong advocacy expertise, and the ability to support the development of advocacy skills across a variety of experience levels. They also need strong analytical and writing skills, experience working on health care policy issues, and specific experience with Medicaid, CHIP, and other public health financing issues.

Requirements

Commitment to increasing equity in opportunity and outcomes for children and to recognizing factors known to significantly impact differential outcomes for children, including race, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status.
Five to six years of relevant work experience in a legislative, executive branch, nonprofit, or other public policy setting is required; experience with nonprofit affiliate membership organizations strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience working with Medicaid, CHIP, and health policy issues is required, and specific experience securing or administering public funding to support health care programs at state and/or federal levels is strongly preferred.
Experience designing and delivering virtual advocacy training, developing advocacy toolkits, and facilitating technical assistance on policy and advocacy topics.
Strong analytical, written, and communication skills with demonstrated experience conducting policy research, drafting fact sheets and action alerts, tracking legislation, and writing for legislative and policy audiences.
Working knowledge of federal lobbying rules.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks, meet deadlines, and adapt flexibly within a growing organization.
Curious and adaptive, with strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
Exceptional interpersonal skills/emotional intelligence, with the ability to manage relationships with a diverse set of colleagues.
Comfortable working in a fully-remote setting and skilled in using Zoom; Slack; legislative tracking and advocacy platforms; SharePoint; Canva or PowerPoint; Survey Monkey; and Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

experience with nonprofit affiliate membership organizations
specific experience securing or administering public funding to support health care programs at state and/or federal levels

Responsibilities

Collaborate with the National Senior Director of Policy to support Affiliates in advancing state legislation and policies.
Strengthen relationships with state policymakers, public health agencies, and early education offices.
Identify and pursue state and local funding opportunities, including through Medicaid, CHIP, managed care contracts, and commercial insurance coding/billing options.
Build Affiliates’ capacity in public policy by creating policy resources, toolkits, templates, and advocacy training materials.
Plan and deliver training sessions, webinars, and technical assistance.
Conduct network briefings on Medicaid and other health care and policy issues.
Identify new tools to support Affiliate advocacy.
Facilitate the development of advocacy strategies and the implementation of advocacy activities.
Maintain a working knowledge of significant developments and trends in public policy and advocacy, particularly those related to state and local advocacy, advocacy training, health policy, Medicaid, CHIP, and other public funding for health care, health policy, and advocacy training.
Collaborate with the National Senior Director of Policy and state Affiliates to implement state and local advocacy strategies.
Support Reach Out and Read’s federal efforts to advance the national policy agenda with Congress, administrative agencies, and other policymakers through legislative fly-ins, Congressional meetings, coordinating with federal lobbyists, policy briefings, federal appropriations requests, and related advocacy activities.
Conduct policy research and draft fact sheets, action alerts, policy templates, legislative testimony, and related advocacy materials.
Represent Reach Out and Read in state- and health-focused coalitions, and facilitate coalition engagement, sign-on opportunities, and related coalition activities.
Utilize Reach Out and Read’s web-based advocacy platform to track and analyze federal and state legislation, public funding, and policy issues across states; and to build grassroots lists and activate stakeholders through policy action alerts.
Identify opportunities for health care stakeholder engagement through cross-departmental, Affiliate, and coalition interactions.
Collaborate with External Affairs; Development, Programs, Network and Learning; Market Expansion; Finance and Administration; and other teams to ensure effective cross-departmental communication and planning regarding policy activities and Affiliate engagement.
Provide administrative support for Reach Out and Read’s Policy Working Group, Peer Learning Sessions, Medicaid Taskforce, Policy Honor Roll, Affiliate Investment Archive, policy surveys, conferences, and other special initiatives, including scheduling, circulating meeting notes and action items, etc.
Post advocacy materials and items of interest in the online Affiliate resource library and in the state and federal policy Slack channels.
Assist in tracking advocacy metrics and drafting reports.
Support additional projects and activities as requested.