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State Strategies Manager - Food Assistance Team

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that advances federal and state policies to help build a nation where everyone — regardless of income, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ZIP code, immigration status, or disability status — has the resources they need to thrive and share in the nation’s prosperity.

CBPP combines rigorous research and analysis, strategic communications, and effective advocacy to shape debates, affect policy, and inform effective implementation both nationally and in states. It works closely with a broad set of national, state, and community organizations to design and advance policies that promote economic justice; improve health; broaden opportunity in areas like housing, health care, employment, and education; and lower structural barriers for people of color and others in communities that continue to face systemic barriers to opportunity. CBPP promotes policies that will build a more equitable nation and fair tax policies that can support these gains over the long term. CBPP also shows the harmful impacts of policies and proposals that would deepen poverty, widen disparities, and worsen health outcomes.

CBPP’s Food Assistance team focuses on improving access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the school meals programs to reduce hunger and food insecurity (the lack of consistent access to nutritious food) and promote equity. The team also seeks to streamline interactions between food assistance programs and other benefit programs supporting people with low incomes (such as Medicaid, rental assistance and other housing programs, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program) and make the experience more respectful and human-centered.

The Center seeks an experienced issue campaign professional to lead our support of state-level partners around the country to advance policies and campaigns to reduce hunger in their states. Through public education, issue campaigns, and dissemination of data, the Center’s state partner organizations play an important role in shaping these high stakes debates and building a broader base of support for SNAP. The State Strategies Manager will drive our work to deepen the capacity of our state partners to develop and execute savvy issue campaigns, work with state legislatures, build and support coalitions and partnerships, and share best practices and learnings related to policy debates impacting the lives of low- and moderate-income families and communities.

Responsibilities:

The Manager, under the direction of the Director of SNAP State Strategies, will:

  • Lead and expand CBPP’s efforts to support state groups that work on SNAP policy and administration;
  • Coach state partners on soup-to-nuts issue strategy, such as facilitating campaign planning sessions, advising on rapid-response approaches and best stakeholder engagement practices, and synthesizing learnings from winning strategies in states;
  • Collaborate with the team’s policy experts to provide guidance and hands-on technical assistance to state partners and allies on strategies to build support for SNAP;
  • Work closely with CBPP’s Government Affairs and State Fiscal Policy teams to shape field strategy, provide regular updates on field impact, and support state partners with up-to-date information;
  • Help develop tailored materials that state groups can readily use in their public education efforts, ensuring that state organizations can access critical data and messaging strategies;
  • Build expertise in areas of SNAP policy of strategic importance in our state network;
  • Develop creative strategies to help state network organizations and coalitions deepen and expand their partnerships including with impacted communities and individuals with lived expertise;
  • Lead opportunities to share best practices and expertise across state partners through peer-to-peer communications and training opportunities among state-level anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates; and
  • Keep stakeholders effectively up to date on key state developments and synthesize trends, opportunities, and challenges; and
  • Guide the team’s development of activities and products that would be most responsive to our state partners’ needs, such as network peer learning spaces, our annual SNAP policy conference, and smaller convenings.

Qualifications:

  • Minimum of five years of relevant experience, including prior work with anti-hunger organizations or networks or other health and human services organizations. A graduate degree in a highly relevant area may be substituted for two years of work experience;
  • Advocacy experience, an understanding of and familiarity with state legislative context and processes, a demonstrated ability to plan and execute effective and strategic advocacy;
  • Strong ability to translate and synthesize complex information for various audiences into easy-to-understand written and verbal communications;
  • Familiarity building partnerships with diverse constituencies, working in coalition to advance a shared policy strategy, and a track record of coaching and training others; and
  • Excellent communication skills, including strong interpersonal skills and experience managing project deliverables to keep stakeholders regularly informed.

The Center is operating on a hybrid work schedule that includes at least two days per week in-person at our Washington, D.C. office. We are open to remote candidates for this position if they are open to regular travel to our D.C. office.

This position reports to the Director of SNAP State Strategies.
Term of Employment: full-time, exempt
Bargaining Unit Status: this is a bargaining unit position.

Compensation: Salary for the role starts at $69,827 with exact salary to be determined based on total relevant experience; excellent benefits (including health insurance, vision and dental coverage, life and long-term disability insurance, retirement, MERP, and DCAP), and generous vacation, sick leave, and holiday schedules.

Please upload a cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please include a discussion of what draws you to the mission of the Center.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter here.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values and welcomes diversity in the workplace and strongly encourages all qualified persons to apply regardless of race, color, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, credit information, pregnancy or parental status, family responsibilities, personal appearance, creed, military or veteran status, religion, ancestry or national origin, union activities, disability, or other status protected by applicable law.