Program Assistant, Office Of The Chief Strategy Officer

Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer

Location: Oakland, CA; Washington D.C.; or Remote

Salary Range: $65-75k, based on Oakland/D.C. market; range is adjusted for remote locations based on cost-of-living.

Agency Overview

Dream.Org closes prison doors and opens doors of opportunity. We bring people together across racial, social, and partisan lines to create a future with freedom and dignity for all. We are working to build a future wherein "we the people" means all of us.

Department Overview

The Chief Strategy Officer oversees Dream.Org’s high-level program strategy and goal-setting, annual planning, impact and evaluation, and organizational effectiveness. They are the impact driver responsible for helping grow and scale our impact in the world, while strengthening the internal organizational systems that support teams’ effectiveness.

Purpose

The Program Assistant reporting to the CSO will be responsible for providing executive assistant support to the CSO and ensuring the smooth operation of the Program Division. A successful candidate will be proactive, tech-saavy, detail-oriented, highly organized, and have a ‘no job is too big or too small’ attitude. From assisting with scheduling and Salesforce data entry, to preparing talking points for external events, the Programs Associate will play a key supporting role to the CSO. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to learn more about our program issue areas and nonprofit management at a growing organization, and is looking for an early career job with potential to grow.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Program Operations & Administrative Support (35%)

• Provide dedicated support to the Chief Strategy Officer(CSO) and occasionally to program national directors to manage calendars and schedules for both internal and external meetings. Included: review incoming scheduling and booking requests, conduct preliminary research to evaluate opportunities, ensure timely response and coordination for scheduling, and that calendar appointments have all necessary information.
• Draft professional correspondance for the CSO as needed, including emails, powerpoint/Google Slide presentations, decision memos, announcements, etc. to be shared with key internal or external stakeholders.
• Assist with other administrative procedures such as travel booking, expense reimbursements, securing tech & communications support needs from our IT consultant or communications departments, etc.
• Schedule departmental and special project meetings, ensure the agenda is set, take notes and track important decisions and next steps.
• Assist with meeting design and facilitation as requested, including running technical support as needed (i.e. managing virtual waiting rooms, breakout sessions, and welcome music).
• Assist with special project coordination, assigning tasks in Asana and following up with team members as needed to ensure task completion.

• Support program teams with using systems and tools (i.e. Salesforce, Asana, Quorum), by partnering with the People Operations team to identify needs and implement solutions.
• Produce regular reports of project progress, major milestones, and any emerging issues/challenges to keep CSO informed.
• Other program operations and administrative duties as assigned.

Event Partnerships & External Affairs Support (40%)

• Track and identify external event and thought leadership opportunities to elevate the profile of the Chief Strategy Officer and National Directors as thought leaders/issue experts.
• Provide administrative and logistical support and coordination for event engagements the CSO participates in. May include: preparing briefing materials, coordinating travel, drafting talking points, conducting post-event impact wrap-up reports, etc.
• Help CSO maintain excellent relationships with all high-level partners for our work. Examples: Review attendee lists prior to event attendance to flag noteworthy prospects, maintain relationship records and meeting notes in Salesforce, assist with follow up action items and task management, etc.
• Assist with the research and development of background materials and prep for partnership meetings and external events, including talking points and presentation materials.
• Provide auxiliary support to program teams at on-site events as needed.
• Develop and manage social media content calendar for CSO’s LinkedIn and Instagram to elevate thought leadership.
• Assist with podcast booking for CSO to elevate thought leadership and Dream.Org’s work.
• Help with clipping podcast interviews and repurposing them (and other media clips) for social media distribution.
• Coordinate support from communications and marketing departments as needed to maximize CSO participation in events, media, and other external opportunities.
• Act as a surrogate for the CSO as needed when the CSO is unable to attend a meeting (i.e. event prep calls, etc). Take notes, report back and ensure that all event registrations, fees, etc. are complete for the CSO.

Program Innovation, Research and Evaluation (25%)

Assist CSO with keeping a culture of innovation, evaluation and learning.

Specifically:

• Provide special project assistance and task management support for our efforts to identify, develop and implement better systems for tracking key data, at the direction of the CSO.
• Assist teams with implementation of new systems/tools/processes to enhance data tracking for program impact and evaluation.
• Maintain a central repository of program impact & evaluation templates and resources to deepen our culture of evaluation.
• Occasionally assist with landscape/field research and ecosystem analysis to identify what’s already out there and what works/what doesn’t based on the learnings of others, to inform new and existing program innovation and iteration, as directed by CSO.
• Support annual planning and impact evaluation processes, as needed.

Skills and Attributes:

• Possession of the following attributes will help you be successful on our team: flexibility, honesty, confidentiality, humor, inclusivity, and open-mindedness.
• Eagerness to learn new things, and get outside of your comfort zone in order to grow. Beginner’s mindset with drive to hit ambitious goals.
• No-job-too-small, roll-up-your-sleeves, can-do attitude. Good at learning on the job, resourceful at finding solutions and learning new skills, knows when to ask for clarification or help.
• Proactive, sees what needs to be done and makes it happen. Always looking for new projects and ways to contribute.
• Ability to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and life experience, including people from both sides of the political aisle and different sectors, is essential.

Qualifications:

• Deep personal commitment to social justice
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent administrative and organizational skills
• Ability to translate complex information into succinct talking points or visual graphics to communicate is highly desired
• Ability to manage time effectively, manage multiple priorities in a remote work environment and remain highly communicative and accountable is a must
• Receptive to feedback and committed to personal growth
• Tech savvy (proficiency with Google applications, video conferencing platforms, calendaring systems, etc.) is a must. Experience using Salesforce, Slack and Asana is a plus!
• Basic video/audio clipping from podcasts and other recorded material as well as basic social media graphic design is a plus!
• Meeting design and/or facilitation skills is a plus!

Employee Benefits

This full-time salaried position will work remotely or from the Oakland, CA or Washington D.C. office. Reliable access to an internet connection and willingness to spend significant time working from a computer will be necessary to perform this job.

All full-time employees receive Medical, Dental & Vision coverage. Dream Corps pays 100% of premiums for employee, spouse and dependents. Part-time employees receive 50% coverage. After a 6 month waiting period, employees can contribute to our retirement plan. Currently, Dream Corps offers up to a 5% match. We also offer a flexible spending, pre-tax program for medical expenses, dependent care expenses, transit expenses and parking expenses. All full-time Dream Corps employees accrue 4 weeks of vacation time off and 12 days of sick time off over the first year of employment. Part-time employees accrue time off on a prorated basis. In addition to 10 paid holidays, Dream Corps also provides paid time off from December 24th through January 1st each year.

Dream Corps is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages applications from all qualified applicants regardless of race, sex, gender identity, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or record of arrest or conviction. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and strive for a workforce that reflects the populations that we serve.

To apply for this position:

In your cover letter, please tell us 1) Why you want to work for Dream.Org specifically or be in this role specifically and 2) How your background, values, perspective, skills, or experience would make you an asset to the Chief Strategy.