Director of Policy

Director Of Policy

First 5 LA is in its second year of implementing the First 5 LA Strategic Plan 2024-2029, marking a new era of impact-focused, equity-based, partnership-driven, and integrity-centered efforts to create a future where every child is born healthy and thrives in a nurturing, safe, and loving community. First 5 LA's strategic plan reflects a profound commitment to ensuring that all children prenatal to age 5 and their families have their basic needs met, have nurturing relationships and environments, and a solid foundation for well-being, lifelong learning, and success. It also recognizes both the community's tremendous assets and the structural inequities that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. The shift towards an equity-based approach focused on race, poverty and geography underscores the importance of community empowerment and cross-sector partnerships that grow social movements, catalyze public policies, and promote systemic reforms that prioritize high need children prenatal to 5 and their families.

Guided by our values of impact, equity, partnership, and integrity, First 5 LA works to address structural inequities and drive systemic change that prioritizes marginalized families. First 5 LA's strategic plan reflects a profound commitment to ensuring that all children prenatal to age 5 and their families have their basic needs met, have nurturing relationships and environments, and a solid foundation for well-being, lifelong learning, and success.

The Director of Policy is a member of the First 5 LA Leadership Team and holds organization-wide leadership responsibilities. This role serves as a direct report and thought partner to the Vice President of Community Engagement and Policy (VPCEP), contributing to strategic decision-making and cross-functional alignment across the organization. The position requires strong management capabilities and a deep commitment to multi-racial and multi-cultural work and strategies, ensuring that equity is embedded across all aspects of leadership, strategy and decision-making.

The Director of Policy, in partnership with the Vice President, is responsible for developing and tracking First 5 LA's policy agenda, provides strategic direction and oversight for the Public Policy & Early Care and Education Department (PPECE), and advances First 5 LA's vision through the design, implementation, and continuous refinement of policy advocacy priorities and systems change strategies. While First 5 LA has historically relied on external advocacy and lobbying consultants, the Director of Policy will collaborate with the VPCEP to build our internal capacity, shifting toward a model that prioritizes in-house expertise with the integration of program staff across the organization and centers the experiences and voices of parents with children under the age of 5. The Director will also contribute thought partnership on how to structure and grow the agency's internal and advocacy and lobbying capabilities. This includes developing strategies, infrastructure, and talent to support sustainable, internally driven policy work. As a key leader in the Los Angeles County policy landscape, the Director will represent the organization in high-level policy arenas, contributing to shaping the advocacy agenda, and act on opportunities to align and integrate policy advocacy and systems change strategies with other investment portfolios to maximize impact.

First 5 LA's strategic direction centers equity; therefore, as a member of the Leadership Team, the Director of Policy is expected to lead with a deep equity lens and maintain a broad, organizational perspective while modeling strategic and inclusive leadership across all levels of the organization. As head of the Policy Department, the Director is responsible for leading through change, coaching and mentoring direct reports, leveraging team strengths, addressing areas of growth, and driving high team performance. This role requires a high level of emotional intelligence to build, nurture and sustain trusting relationships with both internal colleagues and external stakeholders and partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Direction and Integration
• The Director of Policy is supervised by the Vice President of the Center for Community Engagement and Policy (VPCEP) and is expected to work under the guidance of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to ensure alignment and coherence across the organization.
• Serves as a thought partner to the VPCEP, identifying and supporting points of integration between the various components of the Department to other strategic priorities outlined in the 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.
• Works with other members of the Leadership Team to inform the vision, cohesive direction and alignment, and collaboration across areas to maximize impact and organizational effectiveness.
• Collaborates with the Communities Department to ensure community voice in the policy agenda and systems change priorities.
• Partners with the Impact & Accountability Department (I&A) to develop and implement population level and performance measures, evaluation frameworks, and data plans grounded in Results Based Accountability (RBA). This includes using the Equity Index and data to inform decision making, track progress, and assess the impact across initiatives.
• Provides deep content knowledge in the PPECE Department, applies critical and creative thinking, effectively articulates and advances a strategic vision and theory of change in alignment with the Strategic Plan.
• Provides content knowledge to advance First 5 LA's policy agenda, and systems change goals and priorities.
• Leads workforce planning by recommending strategic assignments and approaches to effectively execute work plans. Ensures the department is structured and resourced to meet organizational goals while fostering accountability and performance.
• Works to align budget priorities across the Center of Community Engagement & Policy (CCEP) to further integration, realize cost savings, and maximize impact.
• Ensures sound financial management of programs and grants portfolio consistent with First 5 LA fiscal and contract monitoring policies.

Initiative Design and Contract Procurement

Strategy and Portfolio Management, Grant Monitoring and Learning

Leadership and Collaboration