Healing to Advocacy Program Manager

The Opportunity

Essie Justice Group (Essie) is building grassroots power to dismantle the US incarceration system, the most egregious creator of racial and gender injustice of our time. We are a loving and powerful community of women with incarcerated loved ones. Our community includes cisgender women, transgender women, formerly incarcerated women, gender expansive people, elders, and young people.

After twelve years of building an active membership across California and beyond, Essie is deepening its base-building and leadership development strategies with the 1 in 4 women with incarcerated loved ones to propel bold decarceration agendas across the nation. We seek to transform the criminal legal system and create a Black feminist future rooted in care, equity, community safety, and liberation.

The ideal candidate understands and believes passionately in people power and is deeply interested in the leadership development of the people most impacted by the systems we seek to change. The Healing to Advocacy Program Manager is a crucial leader within our organization, charged with managing staff and the day-to-day operations of Essie’s signature organizing program. The ideal candidate is a master project manager and executor who thoroughly enjoys implementing large and growing programs.

The ideal candidate will also have an important role in recommending changes to the Healing to Advocacy Program and leading in implementing those changes. What the person in this role loves to do is make sure things happen and happen well. The ideal candidate can thoughtfully create work plans; delegate and support others in program implementation; bring out the best in staff, contractors, and members through strong management and people skills;

and drive themselves and the staff they supervise towards goals.

Manage Essie’s Healing to Advocacy Organizing Program:

• Management:
  Directly Manage 1-2 staff members and run the day-to-day operations of the Healing to Advocacy Program. Key functions include:
• Logistics:
  Create a top-notch logistics plan to reduce barriers to participation. Solve complex logistical problems related to the different parts of the program and in response to the needs of members.
• Childcare Program:
  Manage and co-design the Essie Kids! Program, ensuring childcare needs are reasonably met within the Healing to Advocacy Program.
• Contractor & Relationship Management:
  Manage contractors, including childcare providers, guest trainers, and other specialists. Hold external relationships necessary to run the overall program successfully.
• Member Recruitment & Cohort Filling:
  Coordinate and oversee the implementation of a member recruitment strategy. Member recruitment involves thousands of nomination letters from incarcerated people, coordinating a nominations committee to make phone calls to the nominees, and filling dozens of member cohorts statewide.
• Recruit and Manage Member Facilitators:
  Identify, onboard, and support member facilitators who co-lead program sessions and activities, ensuring they are trained and prepared to engage cohorts effectively.
• Cohort Launch:
  Launch cohorts in 15-20 different locations across the state.
• Cohort Graduations:
  Coordinate a team of staff and members to ensure that 2-4 Healing to Advocacy Graduation events occur per year that graduate multiple cohorts each and officially welcome cohort participants into Essie’s advocacy body and membership.
• Evaluation:
  Manage data and administration goals during all parts of the program.

• Coordinate the multi-day agenda and facilitate the Essie Facilitator Training Retreats to prepare Essie members to run cohorts in their areas.
• Respond in a culture and values-aligned manner to needs,…