Associate Chief of Equity

About Achievement First

Achievement First (AF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization supporting 39 public charter schools across New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. For more than 25 years, AF has been recognized as one of the top tuition-free public charter school networks in the country. We are committed to creating schools of academic excellence within nurturing environments — schools that prepare students to be college-ready and to pursue and succeed in whatever paths they choose in life.

The majority of AF students are Black and Latinx children from low-income families, many of whom will be the first in their families to graduate from college. Across our network, we employ more than 2,200 staff members — 64% of whom identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color — who collectively educate nearly 15,000 students in Brooklyn and Queens, NY;
New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT; and Providence and Cranston, RI.

Our mission is to prepare every student to excel in college, career, and life; deepen their understanding of self and community; and lead lives of purpose. We believe in the limitless potential within our students and their power to shape a more just society. That belief drives our deep commitment to student achievement: we aim to set a high bar for learning and create warm, demanding classrooms where rigorous instruction is paired with the care, encouragement, and consistency every student deserves.

We are looking for a strategic and dynamic Associate Chief of Equity to join our Talent team.

Reporting to the Chief People Officer, this position will help build and drive the next chapter of AF's equity work both inside and outside our schools. The Associate Chief of Equity will develop programs, toolkits, standards, and systems that don't yet fully exist. The qualified candidate brings initiative and the ability to move from vision to action. They are equally comfortable shaping strategy and executing on it.

The two main priorities that will be managed by this position are:

• Employee Belonging:
  Ensuring that equity is embedded in AF's internal processes, practices, and culture so that every staff member feels seen, valued, and supported.
• Student-Facing Equity:
  Building the frameworks, toolkits, and standards our schools need to help students understand and navigate the world they live in including how to process and respond to injustice as young Black and Brown people.

• Lead the design and implementation of AF's internal equity strategy, with a focus on embedding belonging and inclusion into daily practices, processes, and organizational culture.
• Develop clear frameworks, standards, and toolkits that enable school and network leaders to apply an equity lens to people decisions, including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and development.
• Build and facilitate professional development and training opportunities for staff that promote equity awareness, culturally responsive practice, and a shared understanding of AF's equity commitments.

• Develop the resources, standards, and toolkits our schools need to support students, particularly Black and Brown students, in understanding and responding to racial injustice and real-world challenges they will face.
• Partner with school leaders and instructional teams to ensure culturally responsive and equity-centered approaches are embedded in the student experience.
• Identify gaps in existing equity programming and design solutions that are practical, school-ready, and grounded in the realities our students navigate.
• Serve as a thought partner to school leadership on how to address difficult moments, including community trauma, current events, and systemic injustice,…