Education Equity Advocate, CPLAN

Brief Overview:

We are seeking an Education Equity Advocate to brainstorm, plan, and manage activities to help the Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network (CPLAN) execute events (including programming) to meet the goals and objectives of the organization.

Position Description:

Formed in 2016, the Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network (CPLAN) is a diverse group of passionate community advocates from the district, charter, parochial, and METCO schools in the city of Boston and gateway cities of Massachusetts working across all sectors to revive educational activism initiated and led by parents. CPLAN’s parent engagement uses a dual-capacity model to address educational inequities and ensure a high quality, whole child educational experience for all learners. CPLAN parent leaders are provided with personal and professional coaching to build the skills needed to successfully engage with schools, policy-makers, and other stakeholders. Together with the power of lived experience, CPLAN parent leaders inform, influence and advocate for practices and policies to improve educational outcomes for today’s most vulnerable students.At the school level, CPLAN parent leaders work with personnel in each sector to equip schools with the skills needed to move away from family involvement which only refers to activities that occur primarily in the home and move toward a model of family engagement true, meaningful educational partnerships that provide every child with a well-rounded, culturally responsive education. At the state level, CPLAN engages policy-makers and DESE officials on systemic change.

CPLAN’s core values include:

  • Parents and students are leaders: CPLAN provides opportunities, guidance, and the support that parents and students need to use their voices and power as leaders in their communities.
  • Relationships are essential: CPLAN facilitates authentic, powerful, and mutually-beneficial relationships between CPLAN parents and students and state and local education decision-makers. CPLAN members leverage those relationships to advance important education and community issues.
  • Empowered voices make change: CPLAN encourages, supports, and empowers parents and students to tell their own stories and speak truth to power to advance a shared, specific set of goals and objectives. CPLAN’s success is dependent upon empowering parents and students to be the voices of change and then working together around a shared agenda.

Duties and Responsibilities:

With the direction of the Director and their direct supervisor, the Education Equity Advocate will support the goals of the organization through community organizing, raising community awareness of inequities in education, and build their capacity on how to advocate for equity. The Education Equity Advocate will develop strong relationships with education stakeholders (families, community leaders, partnered organizations, legislators, and media) to ensure the organization produces meaningful impact and maintains a positive image to increase family engagement and parent leadership in education advocacy.

The Education Equity Advocate should have interpersonal skills, the ability to process information with ease and provide solutions, the ability to identify the needs of the community to generate ideas, seek out leaders, build relationships and trust amongst members of the community.
Responsibilities:
• Establishing a core group and networks to initiate the community organizing activities
• Organize, recruit, and develop leaders in education advocacy
• Assist in the development, and implementation of community-based programs (i.e., workshop series and other events)
• Develop or assist in the development of marketing materials and outreach strategies
• Educate and equip community member’s capacity through workshops that will help support the mission of achieving racial equity in education
• Build and maintain public relationships with families, partners, policymakers
• Translate materials and offer live interpretation to meet the needs of the community we serve
• Use the meetings and events to collect data (i.e., community needs, track number of active participants, prospective members, or leaders, etc.)
• Encourage members of the community to be aware of their school environment and the inequities within it
• Conduct community outreach with a team to educate marginalized populations on resources available to them.
• Help members to realize their collective responsibility and the power they must advocate for themselves and their children to improve the educational experience in a sustainable manner
• Create a platform for the community to form alliances that help with advocacy
• Establishing of permanent and sustainable structures to manage the community’s resources
• Remain up to date in community needs and best practices in achieving equity in education, restorative justice practices, social and emotional learning, trauma sensitive classroom, anti-racist, inclusive curriculum, learning centered school
• Must speak more than one language fluently (preferably Spanish, Haitian Kreyol/French, Cape Verdean Kriolu/Portuguese) with the ability to translate and interpret into that language

Candidate Qualifications:

Profile of the Ideal Candidate:
A passionate education advocate seeking to achieve equity in education for all students.
 
The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following capacities:
• Bachelor’s Degree in human services and/or sociology, or three+ years of equivalent experience in community organizing and mobilizing
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong organizational and event planning skills
• Critical and analytical thinking skills
• Knowledgeable
• Community Building Skills
• Strong time management, problem solving, and critical thinking skills
• Ability to work independently with strong discipline
• Self-motivated and takes initiative
• Ability to use Google and Microsoft Suites (local and web-based tools)
• Ability to use technology to create efficient workflows
Preferred Qualifications (not required)
• Lived experience successfully navigating the education system to gain equity for their child/ren.
• Experience working in grassroots organization
• Social awareness
• A deep understanding of racial equity, developing diverse decision-making councils, and creating equitable and inclusive policies and practices
• Bi-lingual or multi-lingual
• Public speaking skills
• Budgeting skills
• Social Media outreach and marketing experience
• Good analytical skills
• Ability to make viable connections with funding opportunities.

How to Apply:

Schedule: As needed basis predominantly during the academic K-12 school year
Location: MA, Hybrid (remote and in person) Must be a MA resident with ability to travel within the state on occasion.
Salary Range: $19 – $32 – Hourly (Compensation will be based on experience, accreditations, and performance)

HRiA is actively seeking to build a diverse and experienced staff. The organization encourages multiple perspectives and experiences, supports a multicultural environment, and strives to hire and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the populations we work with and the communities where we work. Diversity is a core value of HRiA resulting in culturally specific services, materials, resources, and programs. Our hiring and business practices appreciate the strengths offered through different backgrounds.

HRiA is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

To apply, submit your resume and cover letter.



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