Chief Program Strategy And Impact Officer

Company Description

National CASA/GAL Association for Children is a national nonprofit that supports a network of 890 state organizations and local programs across 48 states and the District of Columbia. The organization promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy so children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect can be safe, have a permanent home, and the opportunity to thrive. National CASA/GAL drives the growth and development of programs that recruit, train, and support volunteers who advocate in court for the best interests of children in the child welfare and foster care systems.

Volunteers collaborate with legal and child welfare professionals, educators, and service providers to ensure judges receive complete, reliable information for each child’s case. For many children, a CASA or GAL volunteer becomes the one consistent adult in their lives, creating a positive impact that supports long-term well-being.

National CASA/GAL Association for Children seeks a highly accomplished research, evaluation, and learning executive to serve as Chief Program Strategy & Impact Officer. This leader will build the evidence, research, program-design, and learning systems needed to demonstrate—and continually strengthen—the impact of CASA/GAL advocacy on the safety, permanency, well-being, and opportunities of children and families.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Program Strategy & Impact Officer will lead National CASA/GAL’s transition from measuring activities and reach to producing credible evidence about outcomes and impact. The position will establish the organization’s research and evaluation agenda, develop its theory of change and outcomes framework, lead original child-welfare research and evaluation studies, and create the roadmap for National CASA/GAL to become an evidence-based and evidence-generating organization.

The role also provides executive oversight for CASA/GAL University, curriculum strategy, program innovation, and selected strategic initiatives. The successful candidate will ensure that training and curricula are evidence-informed, grounded in adult-learning science, and evaluated for their effect on volunteer competency, advocacy practice, and outcomes for children and families.

National CASA/GAL supports a nationwide network of state and local organizations that recruit, train, and support court-appointed volunteers who advocate for children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect. Through its Strong Families. Strong Futures. 2030 strategic direction, the Association is advancing permanency-focused, family-centered advocacy; strengthening and supporting families; reducing the number of children in foster care; and expanding access to high-quality CASA/GAL advocacy.

• Build the evidence base for CASA/GAL advocacy
• Develop and lead a multi-year research and evaluation agenda focused on the most consequential questions about CASA/GAL advocacy and outcomes for children and families.
• Create a rigorous roadmap for National CASA/GAL to become an evidence-based and evidence-generating organization, including appropriate standards of evidence, study designs, partnerships, and investment priorities.
• Design, lead, commission, and oversee quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, implementation, and outcomes studies involving children, families, volunteers, programs, courts, and child-welfare partners.
• Establish research partnerships with universities, evaluators, public agencies, funders, and national child-welfare organizations.
• Ensure ethical research involving vulnerable populations, including appropriate human-subject protections, informed consent, privacy, data security, and…