Program Manager - CIRCLE, Tisch College

Overview

This position can be based in Medford, MA or Washington, DC.

The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University is a national leader in civic education and engagement that sets the standard for higher education’s role in advancing the greater good. The only university wide college of its kind, the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life studies and promotes the civic and political engagement of young people at Tufts University, in our communities, and in our democracy.

CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, is a non-partisan, independent research organization focused on youth civic engagement in the United States. CIRCLE conducts extensive research on youth participation and leverages that research to improve opportunities for all young people to acquire and use the skills and knowledge they need to meaningfully participate in civic life. CIRCLE is especially concerned with understanding, addressing, and ultimately eliminating the systemic barriers that keep some young people marginalized from and underrepresented in civic life.

CIRCLE is interested in the academic, social, professional, and economic benefits to young people and to their communities when they engage in civic life. The Center seeks to understand and improve the contexts and conditions that shape youth civic and political engagement, which are too often inequitable, with special emphasis on civic education's role in preparing youth to participate in democracy. Based in a university and committed to rigor, CIRCLE generates research to inform policy and practice in order to drive substantive change–whether in the classroom, on a college campus, at the county clerk's office, or within a community organization–that promotes stronger youth development and a more inclusive society. An advisory board for CIRCLE provides strategic input.

What You'll Do

This role is geared towards someone with outreach, organizing, training and/or partnership experience and does not require technical skills for data analysis. The major responsibilities of the Program Manager are to:

• Use organizing and/or partnership development skills to facilitate partnerships and use of CIRCLE’s research, with a focus on voting/elections.
• Build field-responsive opportunities for youth, civic, and community organizations to learn about and learn to use CIRCLE’s research.
• Support the CIRCLE team’s broader outreach and research impact work by being a liaison to groups that work with youth (and other fields) - responding to inquiries, doing individualized outreach and support to various stakeholders and coalitions, especially when CIRCLE has new data and analysis.
• Provide leadership on outreach and partnerships for a voter registration study as well as a college student civic engagement and learning study, which includes customized partner support, and contribution to the creation of partner facing-materials.
• Support fundraising especially in relation to election studies and propose potential partnerships and revenue opportunities to CIRCLE’s leadership.
• Support CIRCLE’s overall research impact work by participating in aspects of research and communications such as advising on partnership development, developing content based on research, supporting the translation of research into facilitated discussions and other accessible forms.

Basic Requirements:

• Knowledge and skills as typically acquired through completion of a Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 5-7 years of experience in a lead role related to outreach, partnerships, or a training/education role.
• Demonstrated competency in project management, coordinating with a team, and being a part of a large multi-part project.
• Experience working substantively within or leading diverse coalitions and stakeholders in varied roles/positions.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a range of stakeholders and audiences, including those working directly with youth/young adults, reporters, scholars, and young people through various modes of communication.
• Ability to discuss youth civic/political development as a concept or in practice and to create inclusive space for discussion.
• Practical knowledge about how data and research (e.g., voter files) are used by organizations working to support voters.
• Ability to write and communicate using statistical data, knowledge of the basics in how data can be analyzed and how to frame requests of data analysts.
• Experience or ability to approach questions and conversations with other organizations in a responsive way: with humility, as a listener, and with the goal of relationship-building.
• Understanding of conceptual elements of or experience with deep collaboration or reciprocal partnerships.
• Commitment to and demonstrated experience communicating effectively with those different from themselves and creating strategies that seek to increase inclusive democratic participation.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Comfort with multiple projects, delegating and receiving tasks and making decisions with minimal guidance.
• Demonstrable ability to take initiative and work with tight and sometimes shifting timelines as part of a team.
• Ability to work collaboratively with CIRCLE colleagues from varied backgrounds and to interact with practitioners of diverse backgrounds, views, and positions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of voter registration practices, laws and trends in the United States.
• Experience with community/youth organizing (including but not limited to issue advocacy and movement efforts), youth voice in policymaking and/or electoral engagement.
• Experience as a youth leader or as a professional leading, coordinating or building civic engagement opportunities.
• Experience in settings where the experiences and voices of marginalized communities are centered.
• Experience in working in coalition or cross-sector initiatives.
• Existing relationships with practitioners and groups that create civic engagement activities, especially focused on communities historically marginalized in civic and political life.
• Experience with or demonstrable interest in the role of research and data in civic engagement and social change efforts.

Special Work Schedule Requirements: This is a hybrid position and the individual will be asked to be in an office in Medford, MA or Washington, DC 3 days per week.