Advocacy Manager

Compensation: $68,640/year salary

Benefits: Generous Paid Time Off, Health Reimbursement Arrangement, Self-Care Fund

Schedule

Full Time (40 Hours/Week)

Monday-Friday 9am-5pm

Agency Summary:
Aurora Commons is a welcoming space for our unhoused neighbors to rest, prepare a meal, connect to resources and collectively create a healthy and vibrant community. We seek to be a space for authenticity and conversation, to bring the wider community to the table to learn from one another, to be transformed by one another, and to share life.

Position Summary:
Reporting to the Program Director, the Advocacy Manager will be responsible for the operational success of the Advocacy Program at Aurora Commons and provide seamless team management and development, program delivery, and quality control and evaluation. The Advocacy Manager will manage a growing staff of Community Advocates who provide daily soft-case management for our unhoused neighbors, will help manage partnerships with social service partners and clinics, and support this team as they engage in direct service to our unhoused neighbors.

The Advocacy Manager will work with the leadership team to develop and respond to Aurora Commons advocacy priorities and help meet organizational goals. The Advocacy Manager will work collaboratively with the Program Director, and oversee the budgets relating to advocacy programming, and measure advocacy programming with evaluation.

The successful candidate will:

• Have a self-motivated work ethic and an interest in contributing to program growth and development, including processes, policies, procedures, and training.
• Have excellent organizational, administrative, and project management skills, and strong attention to detail.
• Have excellent written and oral communication skills including the ability to communicate effectively with people from all backgrounds and convey complex thoughts and ideas.
• Have experience with staff supervision in social services or related field
• Be firmly committed to and consistently prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Demonstrate a high level of professionalism in dealing with confidential and sensitive issues including those related to human resources and guests.
• Model self-care, inclusiveness, and compassion for neighbors, staff, and other stakeholders.
• Have experience working with and deep compassion for people experiencing homelessness.
• Have an understanding of Gender Based Violence and Commercial Sexual Exploitation and how to support this population

Responsibilities for the Advocacy Manager:

Leadership & Staff Management

• Hire, train, and support Advocacy Team members.
• Support Advocacy Team in self-care needs that arise from serving vulnerable populations.
• Conduct regular check-ins with Advocacy Team
• Manage and coach Advocacy Team development including tracking training requirements.
• Create and implement policies with the Program Director and Leadership Team to meet needs and requirements of staff, and neighbors, and stakeholders.
• Help the advocacy team navigate the challenges of doing direct service with our vulnerable population.

Quality of Service Delivery

• Work with the Advocacy team to uphold a core tenant of the Commons: unhoused neighbors must be treated with kindness, dignity, respect, and love.
• Work with the Program Director to regularly survey our unhoused neighbors who are engaging in advocacy services annually and implement feedback.
• Ensure a welcoming and responsive space for our neighbors ensuring that all Advocacy Team members are trained in the Commons Way of advocacy and are offering person-centered, trauma-informed, relationship-driven support for our neighbors.
• With the Program Director, create and implement strategies to ensure program access is equitable and inclusive based on guest and community feedback.

Oversight of Aurora Commons Advocacy and Partnership Programming and Resources

• Working in concert with the Leadership Team, develop and oversee advocacy program schedules including the establishment of scope, priorities, deadlines, milestones, systemic operations, resource allocation, documentation, reporting, and evaluation.
• Work collaboratively to coordinate goals and communication between program teams so they align and function smoothly together.
• Directly supervise and support the Advocacy Team and ensure compliance with our policies and guidelines.
• Oversee and act as main point of contact for Advocacy resources and partnerships that relate to the population served by Aurora Commons, and work collaboratively to support Gender-Based Violence programming (including the Safe. Healthy. Empowered. [SHE] Clinic) and the Aurora Clinic.
• Ensure safety within space by following state and federal guidelines and Commons created guidelines.
• Support the Program Director in development and implementation of our internal training programs that covers base area knowledge of homelessness, anti-racism, bias, commercial sexual exploitation, de-escalation, client relations, and skills required to manage the processes of drop-in and other programs that are aligned with mission and values of Aurora Commons.

Grant Management

• Work with the Program Director to ensure we are capturing the needed information for our grant reporting requirements.
• Support grant opportunities for advocacy and resource program initiatives and outcomes.
• Oversee and manage all advocacy program budgets including ensuring all receipts from Advocacy Team are coded correctly and are in compliance with grant and contract requirements as well as internal Commons finance requirements.

Partnerships

• Help build and maintain relationships and partnerships related to Aurora Commons resources and advocacy efforts such as medical care, community and economic development, social services, housing, and others.
• Develop and grow a working knowledge of the social service ecosystem of Seattle, and support the Advocacy Team as they work to connect our neighbors to needed resources.
• Network with local service providers and attend program specific stakeholder meetings.
• Assist with major fundraising events as needed. These include the following annual events: Aurora Means Dawn fundraiser, Give Big and end of year campaigns.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in public health, human resources, social services, social work, or nonprofit management.
• At least 2 years of experience in nonprofit management or similar role.
• At least 2 years of experience directly supervising staff in a direct service or related non-profit field.
• Must possess working knowledge and experience in public health, homelessness, commercial sexual exploitation, drug-user health or related fields and have worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Knowledge of the barriers faced by people experiencing homelessness and the ability to guide a team of advocates working with guests to overcome those barriers.

Preferred Qualifications

• A deep knowledge of public health and medical systems and the barrier faced by our unhoused neighbors regarding these issues.
• A deep knowledge of Gender Based Violence and Exploitation and how those relate to our neighbors experiencing homelessness.

People with Lived Experience are Encouraged to Apply.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Aurora Commons is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification.