Director of Jewish Advocacy & Community Partnerships

Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven

Full-Time | Greater New Haven, Connecticut

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

The Opportunity

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven is seeking a dynamic and experienced Director of Jewish Advocacy & Community Partnerships to strengthen our community's ability to confront antisemitism, advocate on issues important to Jewish life, build relationships across our region, and engage community members as informed and effective advocates.

This is a role for someone who understands the Jewish community and knows how to bring people together, build relationships, navigate difficult situations, and strengthen our collective voice. We are looking for a relationship builder with the instincts of an organizer: someone who can build trust across differences, mobilize people around issues, develop strong partnerships with lay leaders, and remain thoughtful and effective when situations become difficult or emotionally charged.

Just as important, we are looking for a collaborative colleague and team player who understands that the strongest work happens in partnership. This person will work closely with the CEO, colleagues across Federation and the JCC, lay leaders, Jewish institutions, and community partners and must be comfortable sharing information, seeking input, receiving feedback, and aligning their work with broader organizational priorities.The right person might come from a Jewish advocacy organization, Federation, ADL regional office, grassroots or political organizing, government affairs, public policy, or an elected official's office. We are less interested in the precise path you took than in what you know how to do.

Send your resume and cover letter to Sandy Horvath at [email protected].

What You'll Do

• Confront antisemitism and advocate for the Jewish community.
• Serve as a key Federation resource when antisemitism affects our community, including in K–12 schools, on college campuses, in workplaces, and in civic life. Assess incidents, gather information, build trust with those involved, engage appropriate partners, and develop thoughtfulresponse strategies. Bring a calm, credible presence to emotionally charged situations while advocating effectively for the Jewish community.
• Build a grassroots advocacy network. Recruit, organize, train, and engage community members around issues important to Jewish life. Develop volunteers into effective advocates and emerging civic leaders. Organize advocacy initiatives, legislative outreach, meetings with policymakers, testimony, calls to action, and other opportunities for meaningful civic engagement. We don't simply want a bigger email list.
• We want to build relationships with people who will show up.
• Build relationships before we need them.
• Develop substantive relationships with elected officials, policymakers, educators, school and university leaders, clergy, civic organizations, and other community leaders. Build coalitions and partnerships across communities while navigating disagreement with diplomacy and sound judgment.
• Help ensure that the concerns of the Jewish community are understood and that Federation is viewed as a credible and constructive partner.
• Create programs that educate, connect, and engage. Develop and execute programs that deepen understanding, strengthen civic engagement, build relationships, and develop community leaders. Programs may include legislative briefings, advocacy trainings, civic leadership programs, community conversations, antisemitism education, speaker programs, and other initiatives responsive to the issues facing our community. Success is not simply a full room. Programs should lead to greater understanding, stronger relationships, leadership development, or deeper engagement.
• Partner with lay leaders. This is central to the role. Build trusted relationships with Federation's volunteer leadership and engage lay leaders as genuine partners in the work.
• Recruit and cultivate new leaders, create meaningful opportunities for volunteers to contribute their expertise and relationships, and prepare them for advocacy and civic leadership.
• Facilitate conversations among people with strongly held and sometimes conflicting views. The right person will know how to provide confident professional leadership while respecting and drawing upon the experience, passion, and leadership of our volunteers.
• Work as part of a team. Collaborate closely with the CEO and colleagues across the organization. Communicate proactively, share information, invite perspectives, follow through on commitments, and contribute to the work of others as readily as you ask them to contribute to yours.
• Understand when to take the lead, when to bring others into the conversation, and when your role is to prepare and support the CEO, a colleague, or a layleader. Represent Federation's positions and priorities consistently and exercise sound judgment about when decisions or public-facing actions require consultation.
• Strengthen our community's civic voice. Monitor legislative, policy, educational, and civic developments affecting Jewish life and help develop strategies for engagement. Work with the CEO and lay leadership to determine when an issue calls for education, organizing, coalition building, direct engagement, or public response.
• Coordinate as appropriate with statewide and national Jewish partners.
• You will be the professional staff lead for the Jewish Community Relations Council, the committee of lay leaders leading our advocacy and community partnership work.

Who We're Looking For

• You have real knowledge of Jewish communal life, contemporary antisemitism, Israel, and the issues facing American Jews today. Direct professional experience in the Jewishcommunity is strongly preferred.
• Candidates coming from outside Jewish communal work must demonstrate substantial Jewish communal knowledge and familiarity with the issues this position will encounter from day one.
• You are an organizer and a natural relationship builder. You know how to find people, engage them, understand what motivates them, and give them meaningful opportunities to participate.
• You are politically savvy without being partisan. You understand advocacy, influence, and how decisions get made.
• You have excellent judgment and emotional intelligence. You can receive and incorporates feedback constructively You know when to push, when to listen, and when escalation will help or hurt.
• You are an exceptional partner to lay leaders. You respect what volunteers bring to the table, enjoy working in professional-volunteer partnership, and are comfortable with accomplished people who have strong opinions and high expectations.
• You are a generous, collaborative colleague. You don't need to own an idea to support it. You seek input, communicate before acting, accept feedback, share credit, follow through, and understand that your work is part of a larger organizational mission.
• You can exercise initiative without operating in a silo.You are both strategic and hands-on. You can identify an opportunity, develop a plan, bring the right people together, manage the details, and carry it through.

Qualifications

• Significant relevant professional experience in Jewish communal advocacy, antisemitism response, grassroots or political organizing, government affairs, public policy, community organizing, or a related field
• Demonstrated success working with and developing lay or volunteer leaders
• Demonstrated success working collaboratively as part of a professional team
• Strong knowledge of contemporary antisemitism and issues affecting the Jewish community
• Experience building relationships with elected officials, educators, civic leaders, coalition partners, or other community stakeholders
• Ability to manage conflict and emotionally charged situations with confidence, diplomacy, self-awareness, and sound judgment
• Experience developing and executing substantive programs, trainings, convenings, or advocacy initiatives
• Strong political and organizational judgment, including the ability to distinguish between personal views and institutional positions
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
• Ability to take initiative while working within organizational priorities, decision- making structures, and appropriate professional boundaries
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and respond effectively in a fast-moving environment
• Bachelor's degree required
• Availability for occasional evening and weekend programs and community events

Salary range from $85,000-$100,000. Please send your requirments in your cover letter. 

About the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven brings people, resources, and institutions together to strengthen Jewish life throughout our region. We work to ensure a safe and connected Jewish community, respond to antisemitism, strengthen Jewish identity and belonging, care for people in need, develop future leaders, deepen connections with Israel and the global Jewish people, and build the capacity our community needs for the future. This position offers an unusual opportunity to help shape how a Jewish community responds to one of the defining challenges of this moment while building the relationships, leadership, and civic strength that will serve it for years to come.If you are a relationship builder, organizer, collaborative colleague, and thoughtful advocate with the judgment and drive to help strengthen the Jewish community's voice and impact, we'd like to hear from you.