Position Overview:

The Policy Analyst will support advancing UNITE-LA’s cradle-through-career policy priorities that aim to strengthen opportunities for students and families with barriers to quality education and high-mobility careers in Los Angeles and across California. The Policy Analyst will work to support the larger policy team in monitoring cradle-through-career policies, proposals, and discussions at the local, state, and federal level and support team infrastructure with legislation tracking and communications coordination. The policy analyst will work with local and statewide education and workforce leaders and non-traditional partners working to improve economic mobility through policy and systems change.

The Policy Analyst will have an opportunity to support multiple policy portfolios that work to support increasing access to educational opportunities through a multi-generational approach that aims to improve economic mobility for populations from historically marginalized communities, including students from low-income families, Opportunity Youth, and immigrants. The Analyst will also work to strengthen UNITE-LA’s network of advocacy and business allies to increase the number and depth of non-traditional allies championing education and workforce development. The Analyst will focus on developing and strengthening internal and external communications channels to ensure effective coordination across policy team and cross-departmental team members, as well as supporting the team’s crafting of external communications in partnership with the Marketing and Communications Team to elevate our policy work and efforts.

The Policy Analyst position will report to the Director of Education and Workforce Strategy & Policy.

About UNITE-LA:

Over the past 25 years, UNITE-LA has established itself as a trusted education and business intermediary, dedicated to improving the economic mobility and well-being of the region’s diverse rising workforce. Leveraging strategic cross-sector partnerships at local, statewide, and national levels, we advance policies, practices and systems that strengthen anti-racism and equitable education and workforce outcomes from cradle-through-career.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Policy Analysis & Research:
  • Research cradle-through-career education topics to inform policy development. Such topics could include early care and education, student parents, Multilingual Learners, economic development and immigrant families, state and federal funding that support workforce development programs and career pathway opportunities.
  • Leverage research and analysis to help inform UNITE-LA’s policy priorities, strategies to meet policy goals, and elevate the through lines to help strengthen our public education system.
  • Draft summaries, blogs, and fact sheets that help elevate UNITE-LA’s work, make connection points to policy efforts and priorities, and help inform policymakers and non-traditional partners.
  • Collaborate with team members to prepare qualitative and quantitative research reports and presentations for internal and external dissemination.
• Legislative Coordination & Tracking:
  • Support the Policy Team with analysis and tracking relevant policy areas and legislation. The Analyst will help coordinate local, state, and federal legislation tracking, including bills, hearings, and regulatory activities.
  • Schedule and coordinate meetings with legislators, government officials, and other stakeholders with guidance and support of Policy Team members.
  • Prepare briefing materials, background documents, and talking points for legislative and advocacy meetings.
• Communication:
  • Research, draft, and edit newsletters on education and workforce policies and trends.
  • Strengthen UNITE-LA's brand as a policy leader by amplifying policy accomplishments, priorities, and opportunities in social media, newsletters, etc.
  • Create and deliver compelling presentations (in-person and virtually) that effectively communicates information, ideas and learning objectives.
  • Provide copyediting for grant reports, proposals, and communications.
• Project Management:
  • Use Asana and Salesforce to track tasks and projects across teams.
  • Support the implementation and tracking of grant-funded deliverables (e.g., programs, webinars, toolkits, reports, etc.) through project management system, Asana.
  • Monitor program effectiveness and make data-informed adjustments to maximize impact.
  • Coordinate and manage select team meetings including scheduling, agenda development, and summary of notes to advance action items with internal teams, partners and other stakeholders.
  • Support event logistics and follow-up activities.
• Fundraising & Development Support:
  • Work with the Policy and Development Teams to support grant requests, reporting, and funder cultivation.
  • Support curation of information for grant reports and proposals.
  • Develop interim communications for team members to share updates with current grant program officers and continued relationship cultivation.

Skills for Success:

This position requires the following skills or competencies:

• Strategic & Systems Thinking: Ability to identify challenges and potential obstacles; formulates and implements solutions drawing on the expertise and input of others.
• Multi-project management: Manages multiple projects with overlapping timelines and requirements to completion. Can create complex project plans for new projects.
• Written and verbal communication: Articulates thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively for the appropriate audiences (e.g. funders, business community, etc.).
• Collaboration: Proven track record of working effectively in cross-sector partnerships and team environments.
• Relationship-Oriented: Interacts with internal and external customers in a way that provides accurate, timely, professional, and effective information and service.
• Attention to detail: Effectively manages personal workload, and work of teams when relevant, ensuring delivery of high-quality work. Work products (e.g. reports, documents, files, etc.) are complete, accurate, timely and understandable.
• Adaptability: Changes work priorities to meet feedback and changing demands; proactively seeks opportunities to be supportive of change, new ideas and different perspectives
• Inclusion: Consistently seeks and engages diverse perspectives of various identities and experiences respectfully and effectively. Demonstrates self‐awareness in behaviors and actions in engaging all stakeholders.

Preferred Skills and Competencies:

• Issue area expertise is strongly preferred in the areas of Early Care & Education, TK-12, and Higher Education policy and systems.
• Knowledge of current trends and best practices in education and workforce development policies.
• Familiarity/understanding of California’s legislative and budgeting process, federal legislative and budgeting process, and/or Los Angeles City and County legislative and budgeting process.
• Familiarity with CRM and project management tools (e.g. Salesforce, Asana, etc.).

Compensation and Position Details:

The starting salary range for this position is $61,152 - $70,000; the full salary range for this position is $62,000 - $75,6000. Our competitive benefits package includes paid sick leave, vacation, and work-life harmony time, in addition to a robust paid holiday schedule; 401(k) participation with employer contribution; competitive health, vision and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, and more. UNITE-LA promotes a culture of work-life harmony with flexible schedules and offers employee growth development plans to support career pathway development. If you are offered a position at UNITE-LA, your final title and compensation will be based on factors such as relevant skills, experience and/or education. In addition to those factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider the internal equity of our current team members as a part of any final offer.

This position will be based out of UNITE-LA's Los Angeles office. While UNITE-LA maintains a primarily remote working environment, we expect regular in-person attendance for both internal and external meetings across Los Angeles County each month. Some travel to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. will be required for this position. Access to a personal vehicle and valid driver's license is preferred.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Please include “Policy Analyst – [Last Name]” in the subject line of the email.

UNITE-LA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to developing and sustaining a diverse workforce, because we believe that it makes our organization stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age. We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

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