State Policy Manager

About the Afterschool Alliance

The Afterschool Alliance is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit working to ensure that all children and youth have access to affordable, high-quality afterschool and summer programs. These programs keep kids safe, help them learn and grow, connect them with caring mentors, and give working families peace of mind. Our collaborative team has a strong track record of expanding funding for local programs and raising awareness of their value. But 3 in 4 kids are missing out on the afterschool opportunities their parents want for them. Our mission is to close that gap.

Position Summary

We seek a State Policy Manager with deep state policy expertise—ideally in youth development and afterschool—to help expand access to afterschool and summer learning in states across the country. Reporting to the Senior Director of State Policy, the State Policy Manager will provide hands-on technical assistance to statewide afterschool networks as they set legislative and appropriations priorities, build coalitions, and run advocacy campaigns that win results for kids and families.

This is a role for someone who has experience in supporting state-level policy campaigns. You'll provide advice and technical assistance to state afterschool networks, track policy movement across many states at once, help advocates seize new funding opportunities as they emerge, and use modern tools to keep the work organized, documented, and measurable. You'll also contribute to national field-building—turning lessons from research and state wins into practical strategies others can use. Join a fast-paced, well-functioning team driven by a mission to help young people and families thrive.

Position Details

Team: Policy

Reports To: Senior Director of State Policy

Classification: Full-time, exempt, regular employee

Schedule: 40 hrs/week

Location: Washington, D.C. area. Hybrid, with regular in-office attendance and travel

Travel: Regular travel to states and to state and national conferences

Major Roles and Responsibilities

State Afterschool Network Support + Technical Assistance

• Provide individualized, one-on-one support to statewide afterschool networks as they develop and advance policy goals.
• Help networks build state policy agendas, appropriations strategies, advocacy plans, and multi-stakeholder coalitions.
• Facilitate peer learning within and across state networks and their partners, spreading what works.
• Represent the Afterschool Alliance in meetings with state policymakers, agency leaders, and advocates.

Policy Strategy, Funding + Rapid Response

• Prepare advocates to respond quickly to new policy and funding opportunities, including social media litigation settlements and other emerging state revenue streams.
• Coordinate state strategies to leverage the federal scholarship tax credit opportunity in select states.
• Conduct targeted state and national policy research to inform strategy and field resources.
• Work with communications firms, legal counsel, and campaign consultants as needed.

Tracking, Data + Documentation

• Track bill filings, budget actions, and policy movement across states using legislative tracking platforms.
• Collect, organize, and maintain data on state afterschool and summer funding to show growth and progress over time.
• Use digital tools to document technical assistance, log state progress, and keep the team aligned.
• Contribute to clear trackers, dashboards, and status reports that help leadership, partners, and funders see results at a glance.

Field Building + Communications

• Provide training at state and national conferences to strengthen the advocacy capacity of program providers and leaders.
• Write blogs, briefs, presentations, talking points, and toolkits that highlight state policy wins and equip advocates.
• Other duties as assigned by the Senior Director of State Policy.

Qualifications

Required

• A minimum of 3-5 years of state-level legislative, policy, and advocacy experience, with demonstrated success advancing state policy or appropriations.
• Strong working knowledge of state legislative and budget processes.
• Experience working with a team to support state advocates, legislative champions, or community-based organizations in active advocacy campaigns.
• Experience building and sustaining multi-stakeholder statewide coalitions.
• Strong writing skills, including talking points, policy briefs, and advocacy tools.
• Excellent organization and the ability to manage multiple workstreams in a fast-moving environment.
• Proficiency with digital tools —e.g., legislative tracking services (in particular Bloomberg Government), project management platforms (such as Asana), CRMs (such as Salesforce), AI tools (especially Claude), and advanced Excel or Google Sheets.

Preferred

• Policy experience in youth development, education, or child and family well-being—ideally afterschool and summer learning.
• Familiarity with statewide afterschool networks and the afterschool and summer field.
• Experience working across multiple states simultaneously.
• Comfort building simple dashboards or data visualizations, and using AI and automation tools to work more efficiently.

The Afterschool Alliance reserves the right to update position description and responsibilities as needed.

The Afterschool Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Afterschool Alliance is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

The salary band for this role is $75,000-90,000; the exact level will be commensurate with experience. We offer excellent benefits, including health insurance, life and short- and long-term disability insurance, a 403(b) retirement program, flexible spending accounts, and generous vacation, sick leave, and holiday schedules. The Afterschool Alliance offers a well-balanced work environment with a supportive, growing team and opportunities for advancement.