We’re looking for a Director of Training and Curriculum who can vision, co-create, and lead the development of our curriculum and our robust training on legislative advocacy across multiple regions, issues, and sectors in New York.

This position requires extensive expertise in three distinct and overlapping arenas: leading legislative advocacy campaigns, navigating dynamics of privilege and oppression, and demonstrating embodied facilitation skills. You’ll be part of a team that is rapidly gaining recognition for its ability to deliver high-quality curriculum, build trusting cohorts, and develop the leadership of participants. The Director of Training and Curriculum will report directly to co-directors, Maggie Williams and James Schaffer, and supervise 1-3 members of the team.

Legislative Experience
Applicants must have knowledge of the legislative process and direct experience with legislative advocacy campaigns at either the local or state level, whether as a long-time advocate or a government insider—or (even better) as both! Experience in New York is preferable but not required. Applicants need to understand the significance of legislative timelines, how to navigate interpersonal dynamics with elected officials and their staff, how to advise individual organizations and coalitions in their campaign strategies across a variety of issues, and how to move a bill through the legislative process.

Social Justice Experience
When social justice organizations engage in legislative advocacy they are directly confronting the oppressive forces that created the need for the legislative change in the first place. This position requires experience navigating dynamics of privilege and oppression and a willingness to assist our member organizations in confronting oppression while strengthening their own sense of dignity and belonging. We believe that this work requires an on-going commitment to doing one’s own personal work around identity and being a part of group discussions regarding how our own race, class, gender, orientation, and ability (and other identities) show up in our team internally and in our external relationships.

Embodied Facilitation & Instruction
At the Advocacy Institute, we don’t just want to talk about justice and dignity—we want to embody justice and dignity. As we help organizations become more efficient and effective with their legislative advocacy, we inherently help them to develop new practices—new ways of approaching timelines, new strategies for working with elected officials and their staff, and new methods of engaging their internal team and building institutional memory. Shifting how individuals and organizations practice legislative advocacy is at the core of our work; that they take on these new practices with an embodied sense of dignity is critical to our success.

At AI, we are a part of a community of social justice organizations that study and practice somatics as developed by Richard Strozzi-Heckler at the The Strozzi Institute and Staci K. Haines at generative somatics.

generative somatics defines embodied transformation as: foundational change that shows in our actions, ways of being, relating, and perceiving. It is transformation that sustains over time. We use somatics to inform, improve, and shape how as leaders, facilitators, and instructors in AI spaces.

Applicants for this position need not have background in somatics. What we ask is that applicants can demonstrate a commitment to embodiment practices (yoga, meditation, dance, etc.) and be open to learning about somatics and using it in the workplace. We’re excited to hear how you practice aligning your actions with your values!

Responsibilities

• Implement AI’s training program. Oversee the curriculum, logistics, and relationships with partner organizations associated with trainings that scan span up to 3 consecutive days or one day a week for multiple weeks. We train grassroots, direct service, and policy organizations in regions across the state— including but not limited to New York City, Western New York, Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

• Facilitate AI curriculum, meetings, and teams. The Director will serve as the lead facilitator and instructor for the AI curriculum. This will require learning how to embody and teach our existing curriculum, developing new curriculum, and facilitating numerous small groups and teams (5-15 people) and large AI courses (20-100 people).

• Supervise 1-3 staff, interns, or consultants. The Director will develop work plans for and engage in collaborative and creative supervision of the AI team members who develop, plan, and execute AI trainings.

• Develop new curriculum and methods for curriculum delivery. The Director will work closely with other staff and our co-founders to develop new curriculum pertaining to legislative and budget advocacy, campaign strategy, and dynamics of privilege and oppression.

• Engage in strategic campaign consultation with AI members. This includes brainstorming campaign targets, helping organizations navigate nuanced relationships with elected officials and staff, problem-solving coalition politics, and assisting with bill drafting or research.

• Oversee and expand the AI consulting bench. AI has created an innovative program for supporting organizations by matching them with a deep bench of government insiders and seasoned advocates from the AI community. The Director will oversee the management of the existing bench as well as recruitment of new members.

• Communicate with our members and partners. The Director, with support from other staff, will oversee our communications with partner and member organizations—including creating a long-term communications plan to maximize engagement.

• Develop a train-the-trainers program. The Director will engage in a creative process to help plan, manage, and lead AI’s first train-the-trainers program, slated to start in 2018. The program will engage leaders in the AI network from regions across the state in deep learning around legislative advocacy, dynamics of privilege and oppression, and embodied facilitation.

Location

The role is based in Brooklyn, New York. Partial remote working supported.

Time & Compensation

Time: Full-time; 4 weeks vacation.
Compensation: Competitive for the nonprofit social justice sector and commensurate with experience.

Apply

To apply, please visit http://advocacy-institute.org/careers/web/apply

The deadline for applications is February 24, 2017.

No telephone calls please. Because of the high volume of anticipated applicants, we regret that we will be unable to respond to all submissions. Thank you for your interest in the Advocacy Institute.

The Advocacy Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

About The Advocacy Institute

The Advocacy Institute is committed to supporting the legislative advocacy of social justice and movement-building organizations in New York . Through powerful trainings, creative visual aids and cutting-edge, interactive resources, the Advocacy Institute supports organizations in navigating New York’s legislative landscape. In the last 5 years, we’ve helped hundreds of organizers and advocates engage in more efficient and effective legislative advocacy.

We are a Brooklyn-based nonprofit with a staff team of five, a growing network of expert facilitators and consultants, and a dedicated Advisory Committee. The Advocacy Institute is a high impact work-environment. We create and sustain this environment by engaging proactively in intentional and transparent discussions about identity, power, oppression, trust, capacity building, team-work, and performance.