Advocacy and Policy Strategist

Position Title: Advocacy and Policy Strategist

Reports To:  OHEA Co-Director (Policy and Advocacy)

Duration: Full-time

Compensation: Salaried $60,000- $65,000

Benefits: 100% employer-paid medical and dental insurance; health and wellness stipend; COVID leave; 401K plan with employer match after 3 months of employment; professional development stipend; cell phone and internet reimbursement; home office stipend; paid time off (PTO), paid summer and winter break & 10 paid holidays annually. Flexible work hours and remote work til further notice. Must be based in the state of Oregon. 

About OHEA

OHEA is a people of color-led collaborative, organized to center and uplift the wisdom of our communities of color through racial justice informed health equity policies and practices, as part of the movement to dismantle white supremacy and shift the imbalance of power. We envision a world where all people of color are able to lead fulfilling and healthy lives, however, they choose. OHEA is guided by six culturally specific organizations, the Oregon Community Health Workers Association, Native American Youth and Family Center, Oregon Latino Health Coalition, Micronesian Islander Community Organization, African Family Holistic Health Organization, IRCO Africa House. Learn more about us at oregonhealthequity.org.

OHEA is also one of four Regional Health Equity Coalitions (RHECs) in the state of Oregon. Our RHEC focuses on Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah counties. As a RHEC we are fiscally sponsored by a local community-based organization. Currently, that organization is the Oregon Community Health Workers Association (ORCHWA). OHEA staff members are staff of our fiscal sponsor, though our work is independent of the fiscal sponsor.

We focus our work on three areas, listed below:

Advocacy: We provide political education opportunities and work with our community partners to identify the most effective policy changes needed to advance health equity in Oregon.

Convener: We identify opportunities to convene partners around a specific shared equity goal.

Knowledge Center: Informed by community wisdom, we partner with institutions to improve their practices and policies around engaging with community partners and members.

OHEA is excited to announce a new position, a Policy and Advocacy Strategist that will strengthen and sustain our policy and advocacy work. This position reports to the Co-Director of Advocacy and Policy. The Policy and Advocacy Strategist will primarily be responsible for leading OHEA’s policy work, helping to ensure OHEA’s policy work and policy agenda are accessible and grounded in the community wisdom of our partner organizations and their communities. This position will also receive capacity-building and training to lead OHEA’s policy work through its involvement in Oregon Consumer Justice’s policy development cohort. 

Job Description and Qualifications

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

This position would work closely with OHEA’s team to advance OHEA's three core work areas, including advocacy and political education, convening partners across communities and systems, and uplifting community wisdom through our knowledge center.  Specifically, this position would focus work in the following areas:

• Lead OHEA’s policy work with a focus on accessibility including agenda building, member and community engagement, and policy communications
• Track and lobby on behalf of OHEA's legislative priorities as needed including coordinating testimony support
• Convene and coordinate OHEA’s policy committee, helping to ensure OHEA creates a policy agenda that is grounded in the community wisdom of our partner organization’s communities
• Coordinate community engagement initiatives around OHEA’s policy work that foster meaningful and responsible engagement
• Support the provision of advocacy capacity-building events for our membership, community leadership team, and the general public
• Attend regular external policy capacity-building trainings from the funder of this position, Oregon Consumer Justice (dates to be determined)
• Serve as a liaison to partner coalition spaces, providing health equity analysis as needed
• Support the revision and provision of existing training and curriculum for member organizations centered on anti-racist practices
• Support team with convening membership and membership and general public through regular political education events to broaden our communities' understanding of health equity and racial justice as needed
• Support with related positions' grant and contract terms, invoicing, budget planning, and reporting as needed
• Participate on the OHEA facilitation team for our external trainings as needed

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of 2 years experience in social, racial, gender justice and/or health equity work and coalition building
• Lived experience and a deep understanding of health inequities, racial injustice and the impacts of the social determinants of health.
• Experience or strong desire to engage in policy and/or advocacy work such as community organizing, leading legislative campaigns, lobbying, and/or political field work
• Understanding of Oregon’s current and historical political and policy-making landscape and process
• Experience in coordinating community engagement events
• Experience building and rebuilding relationships grounded in trust and mutuality with partner organizations and community members.
• Grounding in anti-racism practices and/or decolonized practices, or desire to learn more.
• Track record of working collaboratively with community organizations and partners, particularly in developing strategies and making decisions
• Excellent organizational and record-keeping skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong written and interpersonal communication skills
• Comfort working independently, as well as part of a team
• Facilitation and convening experience and/or desire to learn and grow as a facilitator and convenor lead.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Deep commitment to centering communities most impacted in all levels of decision making and solution creation.
• Experience with policy communications and communicating complex information to a variety of audiences
• An understanding of Oregon’s racist and exclusionary history
• Anti-oppression and anti-racism work experience and/or training.
• Experience working on issues affecting communities most impacted by health inequities; including but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, LGBTQIA2+ communities, immigrant and refugee communities, individuals living in rural and frontier communities and disabilities communities 

OHEA is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Folks who are queer, trans, non-binary, Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, parents, are/have been system-impacted, are immigrants, and anyone who has experienced systemic oppression and/or gender-based violence are encouraged to apply.

Application Steps

Please send a resume or CV AND a short cover letter or video no longer than 10 min that addresses your racial justice framework and practices, why you are interested in joining the team, and your experience and relationship with policy and advocacy work. Additionally, if you have identified areas within the scope of work here that you want to learn more about, please note those as well, as you feel comfortable. 

• Submit materials to info@oregonhealthequity.org with the subject line “OHEA Advocacy and Policy Strategist” by 8/19/22

We plan to begin interviewing applicants in early September so if you are interested, please submit your application or reach out to us if you have questions or time constraints you’d like to talk through with us. 

• You can email info@oregonhealthequity.org with the subject line “Questions about OHEA Advocacy and Policy Strategist application process”. We are a very small team, so please be patient as we work to reply to all emails in a timely manner.

COVID Response

OHEA is dedicated to ensuring the health and safety of its staff. Per our county contract, all OHEA staff must be vaccinated for COVID-19. Regardless of your current vaccination status, our team can advise you on how to fulfill this important requirement so that you can start the position in a timely way. Please reach out if this is a concern. We’re here to help.