Location: Full Time
Education Level: Experienced
Local Progress and Local Progress Impact Lab are seeking a Program Manager to lead our work with school board members.
About Local Progress and Local Progress Impact Lab
Local Progress (501(c)4) and the Local Progress Impact Lab (501(c)3) - together known as Local Progress and the Impact Lab - work collectively to advance a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of government. Local Progress (LP) is a movement of about 1,400 local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government. The Local Progress Impact Lab (the Impact Lab) brings together local leaders, partners, and experts to build the knowledge, skills, and leadership needed to advance racial and economic justice at the local level.
Full description and application are available here.
About the Position:
The Program Manager will lead our work to create a community of school board members who champion fully funded and equitable public education as the bedrock of a just, multiracial democracy.
Elected school boards represent the community’s voice in public education and school board members are the policymakers who can ensure students, their families, and our broader communities have everything they need to thrive. Yet our public schools are center stage of a reactionary backlash in America. From restrictions on teaching accurately about history to attacks on identity to privatization efforts, public education is under attack and the need for values-driven, progressive school board leadership has never been more clear.
Working as part of a national policy & program team, the Program Manager will act with a high level of independence and self-direction to lead our cohort of school board members by fostering member leadership and engagement, collaboratively establishing a policy agenda, and advancing campaign strategies that bring school board members into collective action with each other. The Program Manager will build durable partnerships with key allies across the education justice movement in order to develop a range of programs and resources needed to support school board members committed to racial and economic justice in an era of intense backlash to those values in many school districts. The Program Manager will need to bring a deep commitment to relational organizing and leadership development, as well as experience navigating the stakeholders and issues in public education organizing.
The Program Manager will report to the Managing Director, Policy & Program.
Location: This is a remote, U.S.-based position with no in-office requirement.
Travel requirement: This position is required to travel to in-person events up to six days a month.
Primary Responsibilities
Organizing and leadership development
- Build and maintain strong, authentic relationships with Local Progress school board members across a wide range of areas and local contexts.
- Lead and grow a cohort of school board members in consultation with its steering committee, in accordance with its statement of values, and a shared identity rooted within the larger Local Progress network.
- Recruit new school board members into the Local Progress network and advance them along ladders of engagement to become member leaders.
Policy, program, and campaigns
- Conceptualize and facilitate ongoing programs, trainings, and meetings of a school board cohort.
- Facilitate a collaborative process with school board members and allied partner organizations to develop and launch an issue agenda of what it means to govern as a progressive in line with LP’s theory of change.
- Design and execute campaign strategies that put school board members into collective online and offline actions with each other on a state, national, and translocal level in partnership with the LP campaigns and organizing teams.
- Lead other Local Progress staff and external partners in developing policy and program materials, such as strategy memos, scoping briefs, comparative analysis, and messaging guidance.
Develop partnerships and collaborative projects
- Working with external partners and the Progressive Governance Academy, manage the development of a training curriculum for progressive school board governance rooted in racial justice and collaborative governance.
- Build and maintain relationships with national and local partners in education and coalition spaces with a high degree of independence.
- Represent Local Progress in various partner and coalition meetings, conferences, and public settings in order to grow our work.
- Produce content for funder reports and proposals, and participate in calls, meetings, and cultivate relationships with education funders as directed.
- Collaborate across LP teams to support organizational activities and infrastructure including member programming, caucus activities, state chapter activities, reports, convenings, web products, etc.
Required Qualifications:
- 6-8 years of relevant experience with at least 3 years working to advance education justice, such as advocacy, community organizing, labor organizing, or policy work for education as an equitable, public good;
- Experience in relational organizing and an ability to move into action a diverse group of people from a variety of local contexts and backgrounds, including in a virtual setting;
- Experience leading issue campaigns, policy development, and base building organizing with a high degree of independence.
- A track record of demonstrating the strategic judgment required to advance inside/outside strategy and movement governance that features deep partnership between “outside” organizing and “inside” elected officials.
- Ability to keep multiple projects on track, anticipate obstacles and identify ways to navigate challenges, and communicate expectations and progress regularly with a remote team.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to build strong relationships with Local Progress members, organizational partners, funders, and staff.
- A demonstrated commitment to social, racial, and economic justice and an interest in local policy, politics, and government.
The Ideal Candidate Will Have:
- Experience with and knowledge of school board governance and policymaking;
- Previous experience working with elected officials;
- Experience in cultivating relationships with funders;
- Strong facilitation skills and experience in designing meeting and training agendas.
Salary and Benefits:
This position is expected to start at step 22 of our salary scale and other factors such as years of experience and advanced degrees will be taken into account for an expected salary range of $87,900-$99,900. This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific terms and conditions of employment are subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. With a collectively bargained salary scale, we are not able to negotiate once a salary offer is calculated based on the factors that determine placement on the scale.
We operate on a four day workweek with a default schedule of Monday through Thursday. We have a generous benefits package, including health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, five weeks of vacation per year, 20 sick days per year, paid holidays, and contributions to individuals’ 403(b) plans. Local Progress and the Impact Lab are closed between December 24 and January 1 annually.