National Policy Manager

The Opportunity

As the Policy Manager, you will have the unique opportunity to help shape and support the future direction of Reach Out and Read’s public policy and advocacy. 

As a member of Reach Out and Read’s External Affairs team and reporting to the National Senior Director of Policy, the Policy Manager will provide advocacy training for and partner with state Affiliates, develop a variety of advocacy tools and resources; and support federal, state, and local advocacy efforts. They will also manage a variety of administrative tasks, including tracking legislative engagement, scheduling meetings, and more. 

The Policy Manager needs a deep understanding of public policy, strong advocacy expertise, and the ability to support the development of advocacy skills across a variety of experience levels. They also need strong analytical and writing skills, experience working on health care policy issues, and specific experience with Medicaid, CHIP, and other public health financing issues. 

Your key responsibilities will include:

Affiliate Policy and Advocacy Support (40%):   

Collaborate with the National Senior Director of Policy to support Affiliates in:

• Advancing state legislation and policies.
• Strengthening relationships with state policymakers, public health agencies, and early education offices. 

• Identifying and pursuing state and local funding opportunities, including through Medicaid, CHIP, managed care contracts, and commercial insurance coding/billing options. 

Build Affiliates’ capacity in public policy by: 

• Creating policy resources, toolkits, templates, and advocacy training materials. 

• Planning and delivering training sessions, webinars, and technical assistance. 

• Conducting network briefings on Medicaid and other health care and policy issues. 

• Identifying new tools to support Affiliate advocacy. 
• Facilitating the development of advocacy strategies and the implementation of advocacy activities.

• Maintain a working knowledge of significant developments and trends in public policy and advocacy, particularly those related to state and local advocacy, advocacy training, health policy, Medicaid, CHIP, and other public funding for health care, health policy, and advocacy training. healthcare. 

Federal and State Advocacy (40%) 

• Collaborate with the National Senior Director of Policy and state Affiliates to implement state and local advocacy strategies. 

• Support Reach Out and Read’s federal efforts to advance the national policy agenda with Congress, administrative agencies, and other policymakers through legislative fly-ins, Congressional meetings, coordinating with federal lobbyists, policy briefings, federal appropriations requests, and related advocacy activities. 

• Conduct policy research and draft fact sheets, action alerts, policy templates, legislative testimony, and related advocacy materials.  

• Represent Reach Out and Read in state- and health-focused coalitions, and facilitate coalition engagement, sign-on opportunities, and related coalition activities. 

• Utilize Reach Out and Read’s web-based advocacy platform to track and analyze federal and state legislation, public funding, and policy issues across states; and to build grassroots lists and activate stakeholders through policy action alerts. 

• Identify opportunities for health care stakeholder engagement through cross-departmental, Affiliate, and coalition interactions.  

Other Policy and Advocacy Functions (20%) 

• Collaborate with External Affairs; Development, Programs, Network and Learning; Market Expansion; Finance and Administration; and other teams to ensure effective cross-departmental communication and planning regarding policy activities and Affiliate engagement. 

• Provide administrative support for Reach Out and Read’s Policy Working Group, Peer Learning Sessions, Medicaid Taskforce, Policy Honor Roll, Affiliate Investment Archive, policy surveys, conferences, and other special initiatives, including scheduling, circulating meeting notes and action items, etc.  

• Post advocacy materials and items of interest in the online Affiliate resource library and in the state and federal policy Slack channels. 

• Assist in tracking advocacy metrics and drafting reports. 
• Support additional projects and activities as requested.

Qualifications and Experience

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. We’ll honor your lived and professional experience as key aspects of your candidacy for the role and prioritize applicants with experience dismantling the structural inequities that disproportionately impact children and families with traditionally marginalized identities. We are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate the majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below and are committed to doing this work from an equity lens:

• Commitment to increasing equity in opportunity and outcomes for children and to recognizing factors known to significantly impact differential outcomes for children, including race, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status. 
• Five to six years of relevant work experience in a legislative, executive branch, nonprofit, or other public policy setting is required; experience with nonprofit affiliate membership organizations strongly preferred. 

• Demonstrated experience working with Medicaid, CHIP, and health policy issues is required, and specific experience securing or administering public funding to support health care programs at state and/or federal levels is strongly preferred. 

• Experience designing and delivering virtual advocacy training, developing advocacy toolkits, and facilitating technical assistance on policy and advocacy topics. 

• Strong analytical, written, and communication skills with demonstrated experience conducting policy research, drafting fact sheets and action alerts, tracking legislation, and writing for legislative and policy audiences. 

• Working knowledge of federal lobbying rules. 

• Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks, meet deadlines, and adapt flexibly within a growing organization. 

• Curious and adaptive, with strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail. 

• Exceptional interpersonal skills/emotional intelligence, with the ability to manage relationships with a diverse set of colleagues. 

• Comfortable working in a fully-remote setting and skilled in using Zoom; Slack; legislative tracking and advocacy platforms; SharePoint; Canva or PowerPoint; Survey Monkey; and Microsoft Office. 

Position Specifications

This is a full-time, exempt position. This remote role will work from a home-based office and will require national travel for meetings, projects, and advocacy activities four to six times each year. 

Compensation and Benefits

Salary will be competitive with similar roles at non-profit organizations of a comparable size, and you will also receive a robust benefits package. The salary range for this position is $70,000-$75,000 commensurate with experience. We offer medical and dental insurance, 401(k) retirement plan with match, paid vacation, professional development stipend, and more.

Commitment to Diversity

Reach Out and Read is committed to building an organization that embraces diversity, pursues equity, and fosters an environment of inclusion. Reach Out and Read sits at the intersection of health and education, uniquely positioned to play a critical role in addressing systemic disparities and inequities in the public health framework. Reach Out and Read strives to be an antiracist organization, using its influence to fight against social injustice by supporting a culture of learning, empowerment, equity, and a deep appreciation for the unique experiences that we each bring to our communities. And, we believe that changing the world begins with holding ourselves and our workplace to that same standard. 

About Reach Out and Read 

Reach Out and Read gives young children a foundation for success and reaches 4.8 million children across the country – half of whom identify as BIPOC and two thirds of whom come from low-income families. 

In deep partnership with a network of clinicians, Reach Out and Read leverages the near-universal reach of the pediatric well-child visit. It uses children’s books and shared reading to support parents and caregivers in strengthening healthy relationships with their infants and young children from birth through 5 years old.  

Reach Out and Read works directly with pediatric care providers to share the lifelong benefits of parents reading aloud with their children daily. Nurturing, language-rich interactions like shared reading give young children a foundation for success — building early language and literacy skills; teaching curiosity, patience, and empathy; and creating deep bonds between parents and their children. By integrating our evidence-based model into pediatric care and providing the tools and encouragement families need to read aloud together, we can transform pediatric care practices, foster healthy families and communities, and give children of all backgrounds and means a better start to life. 

The Impact

Reach Out and Read program sites are located in 6,800 clinics, safety net hospitals, medical systems, and other healthcare settings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

• Reach Out and Read serves 4.8 million children and their families annually. 
• More than 9 million new, developmentally appropriate books are integrated into well-child visits with families annually. 
• 41,000 clinicians currently participate in Reach Out and Read 
• Our peer-reviewed body of evidence demonstrates that Reach Out and Read parents are two-and-a-half times more likely to read regularly to their children, and that children experiencing Reach Out and Read show enhanced language development.

To learn more about Reach Out and Read, visit www.reachoutandread.org

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Reach Out and Read is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, cultural heritage, ancestry, political belief, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability or veteran status. Reach Out and Read is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and we are committed to making special accommodations for your interview or work as a member of our team. If specific accommodations are needed, please email HR @ reachoutandread.org and our HR team will work to accommodate your needs.