Position: Director of Immigration Policy & Advocacy
Reports to: Texas Executive Director
Supervision: Interns/consultants/volunteers

Organization Overview

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. CDF’s Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

We serve and advocate for the largest, most diverse generation in America: the 74 million children and youth under the age of 18 and 30 million young adults under the age of 25, with particular attention to those living in poverty and communities of color. CDF partners with policymakers, aligned organizations and funders in this service. The Children’s Defense Fund is the only national, multi-issue advocacy organization working at the intersection of child well-being and racial justice by wielding the moral authority of programmatic proximity and community organizing to inform public policy. For more information visit www.childrensdefense.org.

Position Summary

The Director of Immigration Policy and Advocacy works with the Policy Team, under the supervision of the Executive Director. This position is responsible for managing and advancing CDF-TX’s immigration portfolio of work, including commitments to national and state level coalitions that CDF-TX is a part of. The Director works with the CDF-TX leadership team and with other CDF offices to make sure CDF-TX’s efforts are crafted with an emphasis on social justice, civil rights, and a child-focused approach.

CDF-TX’s immigration work focuses on three main concept areas:

1. Public charge and benefits accessibility for mixed immigration status families. As part of this work, CDF-TX occupies leadership positions in the national Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign, co-chaired by NILC and CLASP.
2. Defending and supporting children in immigrant families across a host of issues. As part of this work, CDF-TX occupies leadership positions in the Children Thrive Action Network CTAN), a national coalition co-chaired by CLASP and UnidosUS.
3. Advocating for an end to the abuse of children in the immigration process, and the implementation of policies that put the child’s needs foremost in immigration. The policies we focus on most particularly include Family Detention, Family Separation, and the Migrant Protection Protocols. As part of this work, CDF-TX co-chairs the Family Detention Coalition, and participates in other national calls and coalitions that work on policy and advocacy efforts related to these issues.

The Director also works within state-based coalitions promote the goals outlined above at the local level and is responsible for managing partnership relationships with organizations with whom we partner on policy, community education, and outreach. The Director is also responsible for disseminating information on public benefits access and education to CDF-TX outreach and enrollment staff, and for taking that staff’s meaningful feedback and passing it along to national coalitions. 

Responsibilities

• Participate as an active member of the CDF-Texas Policy Team.
• Work with the Deputy Director and Executive Director to identify policy issues requiring action.
• Work with the Communications Team to uplift the work of coalition partners and promote our own work.
• Be available for community education, policy trainings, and relationship-building to advance our goals locally.
• Translate our Outreach Team’s community-based feedback to national policy groups to ensure that resources and policies are crafted with cultural competency.
• Work with partners at the Texas Legislature to advance policy goals at the state level.
• Constantly look for new partnerships and opportunities to promote our objectives.
• Participate and exercise leadership in national, state, and local coalitions to which CDF-TX belongs.
• Produce written reports to identify key policies that could use a child-focused analysis to push the conversation forward.
• Support grant writing and reporting related to this policy portfolio.
• Coordinate with national CDF policy staff on issues related to the support and protection of immigrant children and their families.

Education and/or Experience

• Advanced Degree (e.g Masters) or a Bachelor’s Degree and at least five years’ experience in a relevant field.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working directly with immigrant and mixed-status families.
• Experience working at the intersection of child welfare and immigration policy

Competencies

• Knowledge of immigration issues with at least five years of experience in researching and communicating complex policy and administrative topics effectively.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, as well as interpersonal skills.
• Ability to organize workflow, meet frequent deadlines and manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously.
• Ability to communicate with and work effectively with a wide range of CDF colleagues/staff as well as community and coalition partners.

Personal Characteristics

• Commitment to CDF’s vision, including demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of children and/or low-income individuals and families.
• Strong self-management skills and ability to take initiative.
• A commitment to collegiality and a good sense of humor.

Type of work environment

• Office setting, community events, some travel

Additional Comments

The Children’s Defense Fund is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Note: This job description does not restrict management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee.

Consideration will be given to qualified candidates on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

All inquiries will remain confidential until establishment of mutual, serious interest and provision of references for review.

To apply please submit a cover letter and resume.