Legal & Policy Director

Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice (gaappleseed.org) is hiring a new Legal and Policy Director (LPD). Georgia Appleseed’s LPD leads systemic change in Georgia in the areas of child welfare and housing policy. Supported by a highly trained staff, dedicated pro bono partners, and strong relationships with policy-makers, the LPD leads our efforts to increase justice for Georgia’s children, including (1) dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline to keep kids in school and out of the criminal justice system; (2) promoting supports for students with behavior and learning challenges to ensure that they succeed in school, and (3) ensuring children and their families have safe, healthy housing.

Georgia Appleseed is a non-profit, public interest law center that advances justice through law and policy reform and community engagement. We are particularly focused on supporting Black and Brown children, children experiencing poverty, LGBTQ+ children, children with disabilities, and children in foster care.

The Legal and Policy Director reports to the Executive Director and serves as lead attorney on all programming and other law-related projects. The LPD directs and reviews all project work and supervises all program staff – whether loaned, summer, contract, fellowship or full/part time employees of Georgia Appleseed ensuring that all activities are evaluated for progress and impact. This is a highly visible management position that leads community activities to increase awareness of Georgia Appleseed and its pro bono projects. The LPD is an excellent facilitator who brings together Georgians from a wide variety of backgrounds to discuss complex justice challenges and coordinate solutions. Additionally, the LPD maintains relationships with our pro bono partners, recruits new volunteers, and coordinates with state and national law firms. The LPD provides legal expertise to all program work, pro bono projects, and other legal work of the organization. To support sustainability, the LPD recruits and coordinates resources for complex issues, assists with the drafting of grant narratives for new project proposals, and prepares regular progress reports on funded activities.

You will be a part of a dynamic and highly collaborative team devoted to advancing justice for children across Georgia. Georgia Appleseed succeeds because every team member contributes to our collaborative spirit and enthusiasm for our mission. Our Legal and Policy Director exemplifies that spirit and enthusiasm.

Salary is $95,000 – $105,000 commensurate with experience.

CORE COMPETENCIES FOR THE POSITION
 Effective planning based on available resources and management of multiple on-going projects and pro bono teams.
 Strong management and supervisory skills to lead, develop, and mentor program staff and interns.
 Strong ability to leverage an existing network and collaborate with diverse groups of individuals, including directly impacted persons, lawyers, other professionals, state and community leaders, foster care caregivers, and public interest advocates.
 Strong individual initiative, ability proactively to multi-task and prioritize among numerous responsibilities.
 Effective time management and ability to prioritize and organize activities to achieve deliverables and outcomes based on program planning, strategic plan, theory of change, current conditions, etc.
 Exceptional writing that is strategic and relevant and that relates to the intended audience (whether a lay audience for a major project report or a professional audience for comments upon proposed legislation).
 Understanding and ability to develop and manage project budgets.
 Legal skills to review, analyze, interpret, and synthesize in timely fashion state and federal law, regulations, policies, research, and numerical data.
 Excellent interpersonal skills, including effective oral communication in front of a variety of audiences (e.g., individual and group presentations to legislators, board directors, community stakeholders).
 Proficient with office technology, including internet, Microsoft Office suite (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), case management software, and related technologies and curiosity about and ability and willingness to learn other tools, such as Office365, Survey Monkey, and Asana.

ESSENTIAL POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
 Develop strategic vision and goals for Georgia Appleseed programming in partnership with Executive Director. Assist in strategic planning and analysis. Provide programmatic input to the Executive Director in strategic planning.
 Plan all programming and manage the progress of projects according to available resources and internally developed planning documents/logic models/road maps and SMART/MOCHA protocols (or be willing to learn and implement).
 Manage, develop, and supervise staff attorneys, program managers, interns, and volunteers.
 Initiate, lead, and manage Georgia Appleseed relationships and programming around the state of Georgia, including managing the Georgia Education Climate Coalition, the Georgia Healthy Housing Coalition, the Homelessness Intervention Project, other collaborations, and relationships with state agencies, especially GA Department of Education and Division of Children and Family Services.
 Develop and implement program performance measures and evaluation tools to determine impact and improve quality of programming. Identify and implement best practices.
 Develop and manage program budget and project budgets in collaboration with Finance Manager and Executive Director.
 Be the primary author on major Georgia Appleseed program publications and reports as well as lead and edit reports prepared by pro bono counsel.
 Manage relationships with our pro bono partners, recruit new volunteers, and coordinate with state and national law firms.
 Manage lobbying of state agencies, legislators, and other officials.
 Serve as in-house counsel/advisor to the Executive Director as needed.
 Participate in writing narratives for grant applications and prepare grant narrative reports for funded projects.
 Serve as the liaison to the national Appleseed network on collaborative project initiatives.
 Prepare regular reports regarding programming, including reports to the Executive Director, Board of Directors, funding entities, and outside parties.
 Provide primary staff support to the Governance Committee of the Georgia Appleseed Board of Directors.
 Be a team player with an optimistic, positive approach, including contributing to building a positive team spirit; putting success of the team above own interest; and supporting everyone’s efforts to succeed.

SALARY AND BENEFITS
 The salary is $95,000 - $105,000 per year, depending on experience.
 Group health, vision, and dental insurance premiums for employee, currently paid at 100%. § 401k match, currently paid at 2%.
 Free office parking.
 Generous vacation and sick leave.
 Flexible opportunities to work virtually.
This is a full-time position located at 1600 Parkwood Circle SE, Atlanta 30339 in Cobb County. This job currently involves working primarily from home but we hope and expect a return to the office in summer or fall of 2021.