Chief Policy Officer

Safe & Sound is a children’s advocacy organization working to prevent child abuse and reduce its devastating impact on the child, their family, and our entire community.

We have been a pioneer in the field of child abuse prevention, working within San Francisco for nearly 50 years. Recently, the organization has begun to expand its impact by working throughout the state of California. Child maltreatment is a complex problem, but a preventable one. Our data-informed approach leverages three primary strategies: we empower children with knowledge and confidence; we support families by providing resources and skills;

we activate the community and the changemakers within it to create a thriving social safety net for children and their families.

The organization has an annual operating budget of approximately $12.3 million and is supported by approximately 70 staff, interns, and more than 80 volunteers. Safe & Sound’s headquarters is located in a historic firehouse in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, with a second office in the Bayview neighborhood. Safe & Sound recently merged with The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), a national leader in the effort to advance pediatric medicine, raise public awareness, and transform the way society responds to children exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Founded by California’s first Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, CYW has created a national call to screen, treat, and heal ACEs and toxic stress.

The Chief Policy Officer is a member of our Leadership Team and has a significant and critical position in the development of our strategic direction and vision. The primary roles of the Chief Policy Officer include, but are not limited to:

• Implementing current and future Strategic Plan and Theory of Change in conjunction with the Leadership Team.
• Overseeing the Strategic Partnerships & Policy (SPP) and Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) teams, including related programmatic responsibilities, identified outcomes and outputs, budget, and staffing as well as strategic direction.
• Creating, facilitating, advancing, and participating in partnerships, including city-wide multidisciplinary teams and community coalitions, within San Francisco, the Greater Bay Area, California, and across the country, to advance collective impact efforts to prevent child abuse, neglect, and trauma; provide coordinated and responsive support to families living in vulnerable circumstances; and, improve the prevention and response system to child abuse, neglect, and trauma.
• Leading Safe & Sound’s policy and other advocacy efforts.
• Helping to drive and support efforts to transform the child protection system into a child and family well-being system.

• Collaboratively responsible for the health, growth, and direction of Safe & Sound and its internal teams and partnerships.
• Help recruit and hire staff, supervise several staff members and provide coaching and leadership across the organization
• Develop and implement annual and future program plans, program metrics, assessments, and evaluations in line with the organizational Strategic Plan, Theory of Change, and overall strategic direction.
• Budget oversight for the Strategic Partnerships & Policy (SPP) team as well as the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW).
• Ensure all required reports are accurate and submitted on time.
• As a member of the Leadership Team located at our Third Street location, responsible for supporting the on-site programs of the site and providing connection and integration across the organization’s two sites and strategy areas along with other leaders of the program, operations, and administrative teams.
• Responsible for Safe & Sound clients who include individuals, families, communities, and partners.
• Maintaining cutting-edge knowledge of fields of child abuse prevention and response, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, and trauma.
• Provide direct and indirect supervision for team members across the Strategic Partnership and Policy and Center for Youth Wellness teams.
• Handles a high level of confidential and sensitive information.