As Senior Managing Director, DACA Initiative, you will be responsible to support corps members and alumni in the Teach For America DACAmented community, develop Teach For America staff and corps member’s capacity to serve diverse undocumented communities, and counsel and help execute Teach For America’s focused public advocacy of DACA-related issues for a diverse set of constituents and stakeholders.
As leader of the DACA Initiative, you will set the vision and direction for Teach For America’s work in partnership with Government Affairs, National Community Alliances, and the DACA Advisory board, which represents our broad and diverse DACAmented community. The role requires dynamic innovation, strong judgement skills, and design thinking, in order to creatively and effectively build solutions for the DACAmented and broader immigrant community that Teach For America is honored to serve.
The ideal candidate exhibits strong evidence of building coalitions and standing in solidarity with marginalized communities, will act with an enterprise-wide view, and exhibit strong judgment in complex and politically dynamic circumstances, while keeping students at the center.
Set vision and direction to support and elevate more than 240 DACAmented community members, including 100 1st and 2nd year corps members and alumni teachers [30%]
- Build support capacity for DACAmented community in partnership with DACA Board and regional DACA point persons
- Remain in proximity to DACA renewal legal process for corps members renewing during their two year commitment
- Work with regional executive directors and their leadership teams to create and implement regional DACA support strategies
- Collaborate with the alumni team to ensure long term pathways to employment post corps experience
- Create the vision and manage execution for annual DACA convening
Engage in critical cross-functional partnerships to uphold strong DACA public advocacy and development efforts [25%]
- Advise on and co-execute legislative advocacy strategies with the VP, Government Affairs, SVP, Public Partnerships, and others
- Train relevant staff, alumni and corps members in advocacy
- Advise and co-execute digital and traditional communications strategies with members of the Marketing and Communications team
- Co-create development pitches and field relationships that help fund DACA work across the organization
- Advise the CEO on relevant updates to be shared with national board members and other constituents
- Report on progress and contributions to the organization to senior leaders
- Strategize on organization wide challenges, such as widespread institute and staff trainings, advocacy efforts and more.
- Laterally manage execution across multiple internal partners
Develop and strengthen partnerships [25%] with external immigrant campus, local and national organizations such as:
- National Immigration Law Center
- TheDream.US
- Define American
- United We Dream
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice
- FWD.us
- UndocuBlack
- Educators For Fair Consideration (E4FC)
Collaborate closely in strong solidarity with colleagues, corps members and alumni to support education in marginalized communities [20%]
- Engage in thoughtful partnership with Indigenous communities, communities of color, and LGBTQIA communities served by Teach For America through membership on the National Community Alliances team
- Attend all public partnerships and NCA team step-backs and planning collaborations
- Design and manage team execution to conduct 19 regional and national Summer institutes for new corps members and staff to support diverse undocumented students
- Prepare the SVP, Public Partnerships to keep the Executive Leadership Team abreast of and active in the DACA Initiative
- At least 6 years (preferred) of experience working with the undocumented and immigrant community and/or equivalent lived experiences
- Existing access to strong relationships with various immigrant-focused organizations (preferred)
- Deep understanding of the complexities of immigration laws and policies
- Expert relationship builder with diverse groups of individuals and the demonstrated ability to influence others in grasstops and grassroots settings
- Demonstrated ability to solve abstract and complex enterprise-wide challenges
- Demonstrated strength in building trustworthy relationships with marginalized communities
- Excellent judgment in highly charged situations
- Demonstrated solidarity across multiple marginalized communities
- Exceptional project management skills
- A demonstrated orientation to detail, customer service, and collaboration
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Proficiency in MS Word and Outlook required, MS Excel preferred
- Proficiency in Google Suite
Work Demands
- Willing to work occasional weekend and/or evening work hours
- Ability to travel domestically 1-2 times per month, with seasonal frequency