Policy and Advocacy Specialist

Summary of Position : The Policy and Advocacy Specialist is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the organization’s government relations and advocacy efforts. The Policy & Advocacy Specialist will support special projects, facilitate advocacy events (including tours and program visits for elected officials), and serve as a content expert for the organization on key policy issues including relevant legislation, lobbying rules, and more, collaborating directly with key internal partners and external stakeholders for all processes. In collaboration with the Director of Policy & Advocacy, this role will support development and prioritization of the organization’s policy agenda, integrating both teen voice and current youth development research. This role will supervise the Research & Policy team’s graduate fellows.

Major Duties and Responsibilities :

Advocacy & Government Relations

• Coordinate organization’s government relations strategy at the city, state, and federal levels, building and maintaining strong relationships with legislators and their offices, engaging ASM staff when most impactful, and representing ASM externally to position the organization well.
• Support the design of ongoing advocacy and government relations activities, create and track progress on organizational engagement goals, lead communications with internal and external audiences, including elected official offices and external partners.
• Implement strategic advocacy initiatives and projects – collaborating with multiple ASM departments, programs, and teens – assist with managing project milestones and identify new processes to strengthen outputs and outcomes.
• Represent After School Matters as a member of local and national out-of-school time coalitions, present at coalition meetings and similar events on behalf of After School Matters, and support development of an expanded youth development network.

Policy

• Continually monitor and track legislation at the city, state, and federal levels. When needed, elevate bills that could impact the organization and support education on the legislation, organizational compliance, and potential impacts.
• Organize the research, development, writing, and analysis of legislative memos, policy briefs, and the organization’s annual situation analysis. Seek opportunities to collaborate with internal and external partners to strengthen materials and advance After School Matters policy agenda.
• Coordinate public grant applications by facilitating letters of support, contribute to writing a narrative, and strategizing supplemental materials in collaboration with team leadership.

Project Management

• Facilitate the implementation of advocacy internship programs including elected official partner recruitment and onboarding; teen intern enrollment; planning and facilitating field trips and program experiences; creating and disseminating a targeted program survey.
• Support an organizational effort to provide expanded access to affordable public transit during summer programs for thousands of teens by leading customer relations on the project.
• Manage annual ASM lobbyist registration and ensure timely reporting throughout the year to the City of Chicago and State of Illinois for organizational compliance.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications :

• 2+ years’ experience facilitating advocacy, government relations, community organizing, or public affairs work required, with a minimum of 1 year in project management. Experience in youth development or out-of-schooltime preferred.
• Candidate must meet one of these criteria:
  1. 1.) Master’s Degree in a related field (e.g. Public Policy, Political Science, Communications, Public Service/Administration, Education, Social Work); or
  2. ​​​​​2.) Bachelor’s degree and 3 additional years of relevant experience
• Committed to the organizational mission to provide Chicago public high school teens opportunities to explore and develop their talents, while gaining critical skills for work, college and beyond.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Committed to a workplace that values different backgrounds and life experiences and allows everyone to bring their authentic self to work. Builds equity into structure, systems, and processes for our employees and the teens we serve.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities :

• Proficient knowledge of local, state, and federal legislative and policy-making processes.
• Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills with experience building and managing relationships internally and externally.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write clearly, respond effectively to inquiries from external stakeholders, staff, and colleagues including high-ranking officials and board members, and work in political environments requiring a high degree of tact and discretion.
• Knowledge of policy solutions and evidence-based practices in youth development, youth employment, education, afterschool programs, and/or related issues of child development or social justice preferred.
• Ability to effectively manage complex projects, efficiently prioritize, and work with minimal supervision.
• Exceptional attention to detail, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Professional working proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
• Strong skills in seeking solutions to challenges, developing new procedures, and learning and applying new technologies as needed.
• Ability to maintain an independent perspective while collaborating closely with a wide variety of personnel.
• Capacity to work collaboratively and proactively within a team environment, as well as independently.
• Experience in using Cityspan database a plus.
• Experience in statistical concepts, analytical software (SPSS, STATA, R, Tableau, and/or SAS) and database systems a plus.

Salary: $60,800 - $65,000

About Us: After School Matters is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that annually offers after-school and summer programs to nearly 19,000 Chicago high school teens to explore and develop their talents while gaining critical skills that will set them up for success in college and beyond.

Thirty-five years later, now known as After School Matters, our program has engaged more than 450,000 Chicago teens and is the nation’s largest and most successful provider of after-school and summer programs for high school teens. No other organization offers programs to high school students at the scale and quality that we do.

We offer paid apprenticeships led by professionals in the fields of arts, communications and leadership, sports, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Our nationally respected youth development model has been replicated in cities across the country and earned us the City Livability Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Programs take place at community locations throughout the city, including three ASM buildings: downtown at Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, the Michael and Karyn Lutz Center in Belmont Cragin, and the Pullman community at Gately Park. Currently, After School Matters' annual operating budget is approximately $48M and employs approximately 500 staff across the organization. For more information, visit

EEO: After School Matters is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, military discharge status, age, marital status, parental status, or source of income.