Senior Program Officer

Location

New York State | United States

Job description

The Redlich Horwitz Foundation (RHF) seeks an experienced nonprofit strategist and leader to serve as Senior Program Officer (SPO). The Foundation, based in New York City but serving children and families throughout New York State, works to see that families in NY are together, happy and healthy, and free from over-surveillance, regulation and policing by the child welfare system. 

THE ROLE 

The Redlich Horwitz Foundation (RHF) seeks an individual with a commitment to strengthening communities impacted by the child welfare system to join its team as Senior Program Officer. This position will be focused on executing grantmaking strategies that advance across all three priority areas, with a geographic focus on building our grantmaking efforts in the rest of state region (outside of NYC) in New York State. Reporting to the executive director, the senior program officer will work collaboratively with the entire RHF team including the program officer, advocacy officer, program associate, senior advisor and foundation trustees to develop and implement grantmaking strategies in New York. 

The Senior Program Officer will: 

• Increase the Foundation’s knowledge of and connections with grassroots organizations statewide that are working to alleviate poverty, end harmful system involvement, heal communities affected by racial injustice, and support youth and families to be well- resourced;  
• Collaborate with the RHF team to design and operationalize new funding priorities to build out a comprehensive strategy to seed and build the technical capacity for statewide grassroots movement building and advocacy; 
• Steer new collaboratives and partnerships with community and government leaders, impacted families, and foundations to meet program objectives; 
• Source new grant prospects and shepherd proposals through the Foundation’s grantmaking process with our Board of Trustees: central to the role, the SPO will prepare and present written grant proposal summaries and provide recommendations to senior staff, review panels, and the Board; 
• Build and maintain strong relationships with grantees, including facilitating meetings, conducting site visits, tracking grantee performance and evaluation activities, and providing input on strategic direction; 
• Work with grantees to identify opportunities to enhance projects, respond to challenges, disseminate lessons learned, leverage the Foundation’s resources, and partner with other public and private sector funders; 
• Convene grantees, stakeholders, and policymakers to educate and share about local needs, grant-supported initiatives, and advocacy messages; 
• Develop and maintain productive working relationships with stakeholders including policymakers, government partners, LEX and community advocates, community-based organizations, other private and public funders, and researchers to advance program strategies and coordinate around shared goals. 
• Manage the provision of technical assistance to grantees and other partners as necessary, whether directly or through hired consultants; and 
• Track the latest trends, research, best practices, legislative and policy developments and data affecting child welfare in New York and across the country. 

QUALITIES & QUALIFICATIONS 

The successful candidate will have: 

• A minimum of 10 years’ work experience in community organizing, coalition building, poverty alleviation programming or advocacy, or philanthropy with a track record of successfully achieving objectives and impact. 
• Deep knowledge about the child welfare system or other carceral systems and its impact on children and families. Lived experience with public systems is a plus.  
• Relationships with nonprofit and community-based organizations in rest-of-state counties. 
• Drive, persistence and determination to do what’s necessary to engage community and neighborhood leaders, as well as everyday people, to build local commitment to action.  
• The skills and motivation to interact effectively with people from varied professional and cultural backgrounds. 
• An optimistic but pragmatic problem-solving perspective; the ability to envision transformation and to design strategies to achieve change.   
• Excellent collaboration skills to find synergies and maximize impact with fellow team members, system-impacted youth and parents, grassroots and advocacy organizations, foundations, and government agencies and policymakers.  
• Strong research and analysis skills; the ability to make data-driven decisions and explain them convincingly and compellingly to stakeholders. 
• Ability to work independently, assess priorities and take initiative to excel without significant supervision. 
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to be a highly engaged listener and learner. 
• Willingness to travel monthly across the state as needed. 

The salary range for this position is $120,000 - $140,000 based on experience. RHF offers a benefits package that includes dental, health and vision insurance, and a 401K retirement plan with employer matching after one year of service. Applicants must be willing to travel across NYS as the job requires and must reside within the state.  Residence outside of NYC is a plus. 

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