Director of Training & Curriculum

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 6 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.

We’re looking for a Director of Training and Curriculum to lead and manage our robust training on legislative advocacy across multiple regions, issues, and sectors in New York, manage our existing curriculum, and co-create new curricula. 

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 Executive Director, Marissa Martin.

Responsibilities

• Manage and Coordinate AI’s training program. Oversee the curriculum, logistics, and relationships with partner organizations associated with trainings that can 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.
  • Working with Engagement Manager to coordinate with regional partner organizations to identity specific training outcomes and needs
  • Updating the maps, the master decks, and the facilitator's guides according to particular training’s needs, shifting realities,  and feedback/debriefs
  • Coordinating and processing evaluation/debrief info into actionable curriculum changes
  • Assembling and updating agendas, decks, and timing documents specific to each training's needs 
  • Consulting with local experts to develop or adapt locally-specific content for trainings
  • Developing a running archive of case studies and examples to pull into curricula 
• Facilitate AI curriculum, meetings, and teams. The Director of Training and Curriculum will serve as a lead facilitator and instructor for the AI curriculum. This will require learning how to embody and teach our existing curriculum, and facilitating numerous small groups and teams (5-15 people) and large AI courses (20-100 people).  
• Support development of new curriculum and methods for curriculum delivery. The Director of Training and Curriculum will work closely with other staff, consultants, and partners to develop new curriculum pertaining to legislative and budget advocacy, campaign strategy, dynamics of privilege and oppression, and other timely subjects or issues. The Director may co-develop new modules, webinars, digital tools, and more in collaboration with the Curriculum Developer and ED.  
• Support the Educator Pipeline Fellows (facilitators). The Director will support the AI Educator Pipeline Fellows (facilitators)  by providing curriculum and facilitation support as they teach AI content in communities as well as coordinate with AI Educators who will be teaching in AI rooms and on webinars. 

Other Duties & Responsibilities

• Writing & Editing
• Using digital engagement strategies to deliver programmatic value
• Leveraging data to support advocacy campaigns.

Education and/or Experience

• Experience with social justice movement work
• Experience managing a team and fostering high team performance. 
• Experience teaching curriculum
• Experience with marketing and/or customer service delivery

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• 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!
• Knowledge of 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. 
• 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. 
• On-going commitment to doing one’s own personal work around power, privilege, and oppression and being a part of group discussions regarding how our own race, class, gender, orientation, immigration status, and ability (and other identities) show up in our team internally and in our external relationships. 
• Ability to develop and manage a wide range of stakeholder relationships, including members, clients, partners and funders
• Ability to manage multiple bodies of work, both short and long term effectively, simultaneously
• Ability to manage a team of highly skilled facilitators.
• Ability to motivate team members, understand obstacles to high performance and remove them
• Knowledge about the social justice landscape in New York 
• Knowledge of how legislative advocacy campaigns work, the roles and responsibilities involved, common pain points and what organizations need in order to achieve wins 
• Skills: Project and event planning with an emphasis on logistical details
• Skills: Meeting facilitation and time management
• Skills: Use of digital platforms to effectively communicate and deliver value to members
• Skills: Basic online research about individuals, policies, campaigns, etc.
• Skills: Creating online surveys from educational specifications
• Skills: Strong writing and proofreading skills 
• Skills: Basic graphic design 
• Skills: Digital file organization
• Skills: Account management proficiency for online tools and services (aka getting the most out of customer support!)

Physical Demands

• This position requires the ability to be in front of a room and facilitate trainings
• Must have the physical ability to move boxes weighing 20 to 30 pounds each.
• Must be able to move around the office. 

Work Environment

• This position is based in a shared office space in Brooklyn, NY 
• This position requires  travel between 3-5 times a year 
• The assigned workspace is a desk in a small open office within a larger shared work area. It has a moderate level of noise and interruptions.

Location

• The role is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Time & Compensation

• This is a full time position of approximately 40 hours per week starting as soon as the position is filled
• Competitive benefits package includes full medical, dental and vision coverage as well a 403b retirement account 
• 12 days vacation as well as two week winter holiday
• Salary range is $80,000 to $85,000, correlated to alignment with experience and skills 

Apply

Thank you for your interest in the Advocacy Institute!

• To apply, please submit an application package that includes the following:
  • Resume
  • Cover letter
  • Written response to these prompts:
    • If AI could introduce a new curriculum module, what do you think it should be and why?
    • Walk me through a moment when you broke down a complex issue for others in a training environment and what steps you took.
    • Why is it important for you to work at a social justice organization?

Also, please note:

• No telephone calls please.  
• Because of the high volume of anticipated applicants, we regret that we will be unable to respond to all submissions.
• The Advocacy Institute is a project of the Tides Center, an Equal Opportunity Employer.  Women, people of color, transgender and gender non-conforming people are encouraged to apply.