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DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Description of Position
The Opportunity Agenda seeks a Director of Communications to direct the organization’s diverse communications and media activities. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Director of Communications will serve as a senior member of the organization’s management. She or he will oversee a department of approximately eight professionals, and be responsible for planning, implementing and overseeing core programmatic activities, including:
- Communications strategy development
- Opinion research and media content analyses
- Communications framing and messaging guidance
- Media and message training of staff and partners, including our Communications Institute
- Journalist outreach and media placement
- Online and social media strategies
- Engagement with a wide range of organizational, governmental, and other partners
- Design, publication, and dissemination of print and online publications
- Participation in organizational planning and decision-making
- Participation in fundraising and development
- Enhancing and promoting The Opportunity Agenda's public identity
In addition,the successful candidate will participate in management team meetings, engage with board members, and serve as one of the organization’s primary spokespeople before a range of audiences.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
- At least eight years experience as a communications professional, preferably in non-profit and newsroom settings
- Experience managing staff, consultants, projects, and budgets
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
- Commitment to The Opportunity Agenda’s core values and goals
- A strong working knowledge of social justice issues, organizations, and leaders
- Knowledge of strategic communications planning and implementation
- Familiarity with opinion research, framing and media analysis methods
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact with a wide and diverse population
- A sense of humor, modesty, and collaborative spirit
- Experience implementing social justice and/or political communications campaigns
- Fluency in social media
- Experience training and prepping media spokespeople
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite
- Bilingual skills highly valued
SALARY AND BENEFITS:
The salary range for this position will be determined based on experience and skills. Medical and dental insurance are provided as well as short-term disability, flexible spending, and 403(b) accounts. Generous vacation package.
LOCATION: New York, NY
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Applicants should send a letter of interest, resume, and writing sample to jobs@opportunityagenda.org. No phone calls please.
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY AGENDA:
The Opportunity Agenda was founded in 2004 with the mission of building the national will to expand opportunity in America. Focused on moving hearts, minds and policy over time, the organization works with social justice groups, leaders, and movements to advance solutions that expand opportunity for everyone. Through active partnerships, The Opportunity Agenda uses communications and media to understand and influence public opinion; translates complex research and analysis into clear and inspiring policy solutions that improve people’s lives; and connects artists and other cultural creatives to advocacy for greater opportunity. To learn more about The Opportunity Agenda, go to our website at www.opportunityagenda.org.
Currently, the organization’s main initiatives focus on Economic Opportunity, Immigrants and Opportunity, and Reproductive Justice, with important research projects on perceptions of African-American men and boys, and the intersection of race and LGBT equality. Because our work is responsive to evolving events and social activism, however, our initiatives are likely to evolve over time.
The Opportunity Agenda, a project of Tides Center, is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, medical condition (cancer-related) or conditions, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related conditions (ARC). Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.
There are no available positions at this time; please check this page soon for fall 2012 internship positions.
Pro Bono Legal Assistance
The Opportunity Agenda strives to bring our unique communications, research, and advocacy strategy to multiple issues. As part of The Opportunity Agenda’s goal to marshal the public will to demand equal access to the American Dream, we provide our local partners with legal and policy support that connects our research and communications efforts to specific policy solutions. Our work focuses on identifying the policies and practices that will address the diverse needs of the community, that embody the values of opportunity that we seek to promote in all public policies and that will, in turn, fuel further demand for expanding opportunity in other sectors. Our aim is to provide information and analysis regarding effective solutions to community leaders, advocates, and institutions seeking to implement promising practices.
We are also researching ways of integrating human rights standards into U.S. law. In collaboration with experts in the field and pro bono law firm partners, we will pursue other potential policy levers designed to build public dialogue and political will to address human rights as a cornerstone of opportunity.
We are grateful to our current and past law firm partners including: Schulte Roth & Zabel; Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP; DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary; Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. Our legal work is chaired by Bill Lann Lee, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton administration and shareholder at Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C. in Oakland, California, and by Juhu Thukral, Director of Law and Advocacy at The Opportunity Agenda.
If you are interested in learning more about pro bono opportunities for research on opportunity, human rights, and the law, please e-mail your resume to Annie Wang, Associate Counsel, at awang@opportunityagenda.org.
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