Senior Policy Analyst | Education, Labor, & Worker Justice Team

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Description

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) seeks a senior policy analyst?to work on its Education, Labor & Worker Justice (ELWJ) team. The team is seeking an analyst with experience working in workforce development policy or job quality policy with a focus on paid family and medical leave and paid sick days policy.

About CLASP

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a national, nonpartisan, anti-poverty organization advancing policy solutions that work for people with low incomes and people of color. We advocate for public policies and programs at the federal, state, and local levels that reduce poverty, improve the lives of people with low incomes, and advance racial and economic justice. Our solutions directly address the barriers individuals and families face because of race, ethnicity, low income, and immigration status.

For more than 50 years, we have kept our vision alive through trusted expertise on policy and strategy, knowledgeable and committed staff, partnerships with directly impacted people and grassroots leaders, and approaches to economic and racial justice that are bold, innovative, and inclusive.

Within our broad anti-poverty mission, CLASP is organized around five policy teams: Child Care and Early Education; Education, Labor & Worker Justice; Income and Work Supports; Immigration and Immigrant Families; and Youth Policy. We also support cross-cutting bodies of work focused on the justice system and mental health.

CLASP Values for Racial Equity

We understand that inclusion is only the first step toward fostering sustainable racial equity, in our society and within our organizational culture. At CLASP, we value the importance of including multiple perspectives in how we shape our organizational culture and engage in our policy and advocacy efforts. However, we also know that to move beyond inclusion and achieve true racial equity we must be intentional in centering and prioritizing the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of people of color. At CLASP, racial equity is our core value and informs all aspects of our organizational culture and the way we think about and approach our policy, issue, and advocacy areas. For true and sustainable change to happen in our country, historically white-founded and white-led policy and advocacy organizations must commit to full and immersive racial equity.

About the Education, Labor, & Worker Justice Team

The Education, Labor & Worker Justice team advocates for bold, worker-centered policies to address the inequitable and unjust nature of work paying low wages, including its root causes and disproportionate impact on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous workers and other workers of color. Supporting this North Star goal are the twin strategies of creating pathways to better jobs for workers earning low wages, with a specific focus on workers of color, and improving the jobs workers currently have. To create pathways to better jobs, we advocate for accessible and equitable workforce development opportunities, including subsidized jobs, Registered Apprenticeship programs, and postsecondary education. To improve existing jobs in low-wage sectors, we work to increase worker power-including the right to organize-and advocate for specific policies that improve job quality, such as access to paid leave and sick days, fair scheduling, and more robust enforcement of current labor law.

This position is based in the Washington, D.C., office. CLASP is currently working under a hybrid office model, with the expectation that staff work in-person at least four days a month. The Education, Labor & Worker Justice team will prioritize in-person workdays that align around the team’s shared schedules and offer meaningful opportunities to engage and collaborate with co-workers.

We have a mandatory vaccine policy as a condition of employment (applicable accommodations apply).

Responsibilities:

The Senior Policy Analyst will lead advocacy and implementation strategies in one of two core ELWJ policy areas: workforce development, with a focus on equity and access to quality jobs, including those created with recent federal investments; or job quality, with a focus on paid family and medical leave and paid sick day policy and implementation.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

  • Lead federal and state advocacy strategies aligned with the goals of the Education, Labor & Worker justice team.
  • Provide policy analysis and technical assistance to a variety of audiences through legislation and policy recommendations, presentations, on-site assistance, publications, commentaries, e-mails, and teleconferences.
  • Center anti-poverty and racial equity goals in all national, state, and local policy work; research and written products; technical assistance; advocacy strategies; and partnerships with key stakeholders.
  • Build relationships with staff from Capitol Hill and federal agencies to help advance our policy agenda.
  • Build relationships with and represent CLASP and the ELWJ team to external partners and allies and within national and state-level coalitions.
  • Speak to a wide variety of audiences, including national, state, and local policymakers and practitioners on substantive areas of work.
  • Lead and support policy convenings, roundtables, meetings, and webinars with key stakeholders, including state leaders and agency officials, policy experts, advocacy partners, labor and community-based organizations, education providers, and higher education leaders.
  • Write high-quality reports, issue briefs, and commentaries in substantive areas of work.
  • Assist on occasion in responding to media inquiries on relevant issues.
  • Play a role in managing funder relationships, including writing grant reports and proposals.
  • Play a leadership role on the Education, Labor & Worker Justice team, including possible supervision of
  • ELWJ team members, as well as with CLASP-wide activities (e.g., racial equity team, state technical assistance team).

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of seven years’ related experience or a master’s degree or other advanced degree and five years’ related experience. Policy and advocacy experience as well as lived experience in the labor movement or with workforce development may count toward relevant experience.
  • Demonstrated commitment to CLASP’s mission of eliminating poverty and improving the lives of people with low incomes and to understanding the structural implications of income, racial, and ethnic inequities on communities, families, and individual lives.
  • Substantive expertise in one of the following two areas is required:
  • Workforce development, including experience with Registered Apprenticeship Programs, subsidized employment, or other worker-centered training programs that lead to high-quality jobs. Experience with workforce issues related to the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act is a plus.
  • Job quality, including paid family and medical leave and paid sick days policy.
  • Strong skills in research, analysis, and written and oral communications.
  • Ability to synthesize ideas and communicate them persuasively and/or creatively to influence diverse audiences.
  • Demonstrated capacity to build and maintain relationships and work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external partners and stakeholders.
  • Strong policy analysis skills, including the capacity to understand complex legislative and regulatory provisions, assess the political and budgetary context, and use data to determine strengths and weaknesses of policy options.
  • Demonstrated capacity to set priorities and work on multiple detail-oriented tasks, often on a time-sensitive basis.
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively both individually and as part of a diverse team, including in a hybrid setting.
  • Experience leading, managing, supervising, or mentoring colleagues is required.
  • Experience in responding to media inquiries is also a plus.
  • Ability and willingness to travel occasionally.
  • Candidate must be based in Washington, D.C. metro area or willing to relocate

Compensation:

  • Candidates with seven years of relevant experience are typically offered between $81,000 – $96,000.
  • Candidates with nine years of relevant experience are typically offered between $96,000 – $111,000.
  • Candidates with 11 or more years of relevant experience are typically offered between $111,000 – $125,000.
  • A related advanced degree may be substituted for two years of experience.

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CLASP offers exceptional benefits, including several health insurance options (most that currently require no employee-paid premiums). In addition, we provide the following benefits that currently require no employee-paid premiums: dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, and long-term care insurance. Additionally, we offer a 403(b)-retirement program with employer contributions, flexible spending accounts, and a no-cost gym onsite at our D.C. office. Finally, we provide generous vacation (four weeks in the first year), paid sick leave (three weeks annually), two personal days a year, paid family and medical leave, and paid holiday schedule.

CLASP is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and strongly encourages women and people of color to apply. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age.