Vice President of Advocacy

Organizational Description
The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law (Shriver Center) is a not-for-profit organization that provides national leadership in advancing laws and policies that secure justice and improve the lives and opportunities of people living in poverty.  We work directly to win positive change through our specific advocacy initiatives, and we provide a range of professional development resources that build and support the national network of advocates engaged in those efforts.  We engage in a broad range of interrelated policy areas and accomplish our mission through programs involving legislative and administrative advocacy and education, policy development, litigation, organizing, communications, and training. 

At the Shriver Center, we know that a richly diverse mix of professionals makes organizations more effective. As such, we make demographic and experiential diversity a hallmark and priority of all our work.

Position Description 
As the Shriver Center approaches its 50th Anniversary, we are seeking to engage an experienced advocacy leader with the vision, knowledge and skills to direct innovative programs that measurably improve the lives of people living in poverty, especially among racially and economically diverse communities. 

The VP of Advocacy is charged with leading the organization’s multi-issue state and national advocacy work in a way that most effectively identifies the broad range of issues facing people living in poverty and successfully promotes solutions that have lasting impact. The VP of Advocacy also supervises the Shriver Center’s leadership of multi-state advocacy networks, including the Legal Impact Network, a newly-formed and growing collaboration of 32 state-based law and policy organizations that act together on advocacy initiatives and share best practices. The VP of Advocacy also works closely with the Shriver Center’s Advocacy Resources and Training team to deliver programs that support the national community of legal services and public interest advocates, including the Racial Justice Training Institute and Network, Affirmative Litigation, Community Lawyering, and Leadership Academy programs. 

As a member of the Shriver Center’s senior management team, the Vice President of Advocacy will collaborate with marketing and communications, development, and operations staff and play a key role in helping achieve the Shriver Center's mission by providing strategic leadership and management oversight. As the current President begins planning for retirement, the Vice President of Advocacy will also be called upon to play a role in organizational succession planning, organizational knowledge management and continuity planning. 



Responsibilities
• Provides organizational leadership as part of the senior management team; contributes to the development and implementation of strategic plans, goals and objectives and reports on organizational advocacy outcomes to the President and Board of Directors.
• Partners with the President and Chief Operating Officer in strengthening critical organizational policies and procedures such as organizational knowledge management, document retention, timekeeping, and emergency and long-term succession planning for key staff.
• Provides overall direction to the advocacy program, including developing and directing an agenda nationally and in Illinois and other states, and managing staff in accomplishing the goals outlined in the organization’s strategic plan and work plans.
• Works with the Chief Operating Officer to prepare and manage the advocacy program’s annual budget.
• Directly supervises advocacy program directors, including providing program oversight and conducting annual performance reviews; approves selection of all advocacy staff, fellows, interns and volunteers and assists with recruitment, orientation and personnel management as appropriate.
• Assumes leadership of one or more advocacy projects, serves as a team member or backs up lawyers on their projects as appropriate.
• Reviews and updates as needed the advocacy program’s systems for case and docket management, conflicts checks, new attorney training and supervision, CLE, and ethics compliance.
• Serves as representative to outside law firms for pro bono participation.
• Represents the Shriver Center in coalitions, working groups, commissions and task forces.
• Interacts with the media on advocacy positions, including serving as a media spokesperson and authoring opinion pieces. 
• Writes for Shriver Center publications, including the online Clearinghouse Community and Shriver Center blog.
• Participates in decision making on organizational technology systems and website design and content as needed to support the advocacy work.
• Participates as faculty at Shriver Center training programs as appropriate.
• Interacts with national public interest law community; serves as a thought leader.
• Serves as a strategic partner to the development team in fundraising efforts, including assisting with grant proposals and reports and building and maintaining relationships with key funders.
• Other duties as assigned.