Director – Policy and Community Engagement

Overview

Who We Are:

For 140 years, National Louis University has been driven by one core belief: education changes lives. Since our founding, we've stayed grounded in the values of innovation, access, excellence, and equity, and we've never wavered from the idea that education is the greatest lever for social and economic mobility. We are a student-focused community built on continuous improvement and a genuine commitment to serving those we teach. Through education, we empower change and build stronger, healthier communities. Our hard-working team runs on collaboration and mutual respect, for one another and for every student we serve.

What You Will Do:

The Director of Policy and Community Engagement drives the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s (MIEC’s) efforts to build strategic partnerships with community members, advocates, and policymakers, ensuring MIEC’s applied research agenda advances its mission to support, elevate, and transform the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) profession. This leadership role shapes and executes engagement strategies that amplify community voices, influence policy, and translate research into real-world impact—ultimately improving outcomes for children, families, communities and the ECEC professionals (including, and specifically, leaders in ECEC programs) that serve them.

Essential Responsibilities

Community Engagement

• Build, maintain, and deepen authentic relationships with diverse community stakeholders and partners.
• Facilitate community input and collaboration to shape research and programming agendas.
• Organize and lead community meetings, listening sessions, and other engagement events, including the Public Policy Forum at the Institute’s annual Leadership Connections conference.
• Develop strategies to elevate community voices within MIEC’s research and programming.
• Increase awareness and visibility of MIEC’s work among national, state, and local organizations, families, and ECEC professionals.

Policy and Advocacy Engagement

• Cultivate and strengthen relationships with local/state/national policymakers and ECEC advocates.
• Translate research findings into actionable policy briefs, testimony, and strategic communications.
• Monitor policy developments in the ECEC space and identify strategic opportunities for MIEC to engage.
• Collaborate with advocacy groups to amplify evidence-based messages and reform efforts.
• Represent MIEC at ECEC policy and advocacy meetings, forums, legislative hearings, and convenings – maintain active membership in policy committees or policy tables.

Applied Research Collaboration

• Work closely with MIEC’s Research Director to ensure that research priorities are grounded in the needs of community members and the current ECEC policy landscape.
• Support research projects with stakeholders, ensuring relevance, participation, and impact.
• Facilitate feedback loops so that findings are shared with and utilized by the communities and policymakers involved.
• Contribute to strategic planning and refinement of the MIEC research agenda.
• Support research grant seeking efforts and partnership development with potential funders.

Communication and Dissemination

• Oversee and contribute to the development of communication materials tailored to diverse audiences (e.g., briefs, infographics, fact sheets, presentations, etc.).
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to disseminate research findings and community-informed insights.
• Maintain a strong public presence for MIEC through meetings, conferences, and digital engagement.

Strategic Planning and Institutional Alignment

• Engage in ongoing collaboration with MIEC leadership to co-develop, review, and refine community and policy engagement strategies, ensuring alignment with and continuous improvement of MIEC’s strategic goals.
• Contribute to long-term visioning and sustainability planning for MIEC initiatives.
• Support and/or supervise junior staff, interns, or consultants as needed.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree Public Policy, Early Childhood Education, Community Development, Social Work, Child and/or Family Development, Educational Leadership, Family/Community Systems Development, or a related field. Doctorate preferred.
• Seven plus (7+) years experience working with diverse communities and/or historically marginalized populations in ECEC roles.
• Seven plus (7+) years experience working in roles that required ECEC community engagement, policy, and/or advocacy, embedded within the context of Illinois’ ECEC policy landscape and networks.
• Five plus (5+) years demonstrated experience translating applied research for use in policy, advocacy, and/or community engagement work.
• Five plus (5+) years demonstrated success in engaging stakeholders collaboratively, grounded in a strong understanding of systems and change frameworks.
• Three plus (3+) years experience utilizing a working knowledge of national ECEC policy landscape and networks in policy, advocacy, and/or community engagement work.
• Three plus (3+) experience with policy or government relations related to early childhood education.

Work environment/Physical Demands/Travel Requirements:

This is a highly dynamic, independent role that carries a requirement to travel regularly in order to: attend community meetings; maintain relationships with advocates and policy makers; connect with stakeholders; and present on MIEC research and priority areas at conferences and other events. As such, this is a remote position. The high degree of travel for this role may be local, statewide in Illinois, and, occasionally, nationally (approx. 25% annually). Some flexible time in the office, using a hoteling system, at any one of our three Chicago area campuses, is required (particularly during onboarding) but dependent upon schedule.      

NLU Inclusion Statement:

National Louis University is deeply committed to serving its community, advancing access and equity, and ensuring that all individuals are welcomed and valued.  We are dedicated to fostering a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion remain at the core of who we are. These are more than just words to us: they are truly a way of life for the NLU community. We recognize that differences in abilities, age, ethnicity, gender (identity and expression), race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and background bring richness to our work environment. We affirm diverse perspectives, innovative contributions, and authentic presentations of self from every member within the NLU community. We believe inclusion is grounded in the actions we intentionally take each day. Our goal is to inspire and empower NLU employees and community members to cultivate an environment where we collectively focus on uplifting and advancing our institutional culture.

Compensation and Benefits

At National Louis University, we offer our employees an innovative environment to work together and inspire the ideas that will make an impact. As our external environment changes, our employees are provided the opportunities and tools needed to grow both personally and professionally to remain successful. NLU employees and dependents are offered a wide range of benefits, including but not limited to, Health Insurance benefits, Retirement benefits, Paid Time Off and Educational Opportunities. Additional information regarding full-time staff benefits can be found here.

The salary range of the grade for this position is $66,653 to $96,647 annually.  Compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.  Offers are based on multiple factors permitted by law, including but not limited to: budgetary considerations, job-related knowledge/skills, experience, market considerations, tenure and standing with the university (applicable to current employees), and internal equity. 

Application Instructions

Please Include the following along with your application:

• Resume (Required)
• Cover Letter (Optional)
• Current NLU employees please also submit an Internal Posting Form