Executive Director, Illinois Unidos
COALITION OVERVIEW: Illinois Unidos is a growing coalition of the State of Illinois' Latino elected and appointed officials, healthcare professionals, academicians and representatives of community-based organizations, The coalition aims to present a shared vision and united voice in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in Latino communities throughout the state, while addressing related public health issues and the devastating economic impact of COVID-19. This primarily volunteer led coalition has become the voice and vision for addressing the COVID-19 crisis in the Latino community. While its leadership and members will continue to donate their time, the crisis response requires staff support to ensure strategic coordination, and timely follow up to the escalating pandemic in the Latino community for the coming year. The Executive Director will work with the leadership team, committee chairs, and staff coordinator to reduce Covid 19 and prioritize, implement, and assess public policies and programmatic initiatives to advance at the city, county, state and national levels.
COALITION GOALS: Reduce COVID-19 cases and ensure that the state’s Latino communities are vaccinated. The overall project goals are: 1) conduct timely community outreach and engagement to disseminate educational materials and other resources on the consequences of COVID-19 and the benefits of the vaccine; 2) mitigate the spread of COVID19 and address vaccine hesitancy by working with community partners, organizing and supporting vaccine drives and using a multi-generational approach to maximize the coalition’s effectiveness and engagement with Latino families; 3) provide a community-grounded, socioecological perspective that informs the public policy process, and places targeted focus on systemic issues affecting health, educational, and economic inequities; and, 4) Develop Illinois Unidos organizational infrastructure.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The Executive Director provides leadership and oversight on all programmatic, administrative and operations matters, including programmatic strategies, annual planning, funded initiatives, civic engagement, marketing, and promotion to reach the Latino communities affected by COVID-19 in fulfillment with the coalition’s mission. The successful candidate will:
● Be a motivated self-starter who exhibits a deep commitment to Illinois Unidos’ mission of elevating insights that help engage communities, shape investments and fuel sustainable change and impact;
● Possess strong administrative and program management experience in the social sector;
● Promote a culture of collaboration, equity, and inclusion;
● Keep current about the state of the field in order to serve as a conduit of information to Illinois Unidos leadership, staff, volunteers and community stakeholders; and,
● Have a proven track record of working with partners and colleagues in a consultative way.
COALITION LEADERSHIP RELATIONS: The Executive Director works with the Coalition’s leadership and staff to fulfill the coalition’s mission. The Executive Director will:
● Lead the coalition in a manner that supports and guides the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic direction.
● Communicate effectively with Illinois Unidos staff by providing timely and accurate information to support the coalition’s operations and decision-making.
● Work closely with Illinois Unidos committee leadership and coalition staff to inform meeting agendas, minutes, reports, and materials in a timely manner.
● Collaborate with committee leadership and staff on the development and management of policy, programming, budgets, and financial forecasting.
● Partner with committee leadership and staff to co-create an annual strategic plan to guide the coalition’s efforts.
● Work collaboratively with staff and consultants (policy director, community health worker director, coordinator, etc.) to implement strategic annual plans and provide quarterly progress reports.
● Work closely with the policy director to review relevant issue and public policy analyses and contribute to writing/editing articles/statements to advance the Coalition’s equity agenda.
● Establish a data monitoring system to track membership and funded partners.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS: The Executive Director ensures collegial relationships and consistent communication with Illinois Unidos community partners and funding agents.
● Build and maintain strong relationships with Illinois Unidos’ internal and external constituents (health care professionals, partner organizations, corporate and foundation investors, etc.).
● Manage and deepen relationships across the system with leadership, providers, volunteers, multi-sector professionals, and community members.
● Establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders including those in health and philanthropy. FINANCIAL AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The Executive Director maintains the financial integrity and viability of the coalition in alignment with Illinois Unidos’ mission.
● Work closely with the fiscal agent to review and provide quarterly financial reports to assure sound management of financial contracts and/or agreements, including reviewing and monitoring funding agreements.
● Work collaboratively with the fiscal agent and staff to assure timely submission of proposals and reports to funders.
● Engage in the hiring process and provide supervision to program staff and consultants.
● Manage and support Illinois Unidos coalition staff.
● Ensure that current operational practices are maintained (employee, finance, development).
● Steward the development of IU organizational infrastructure and strategic plan.
MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS: The Executive Director builds awareness of the coalition and its work through consistent public outreach, presence and targeted marketing.
● Create and implement an annual marketing/communications plan to maximize the Coalition’s leadership visibility, outreach and communication to constituents.
● Assist with the dissemination of Illinois Unidos messaging to maintain an internal and external digital footprint.
● Assure that the Illinois Unidos website portal and resources are consistently updated and maintained to create a dynamic communication platform.
● Work with Illinois Unidos marketing and communications consultants to advance the field by networking, coordinating, promoting IU activities with other organizations, interested parties, and partners.
● Collaborate with the Illinois Unidos marketing and communications consultants to identify and carry out media and communications opportunities.
● Work closely with the Illinois Unidos marketing and communications consultants to support the development and dissemination of media releases to promote events, announce accomplishments and build timely public awareness of the current COVID-19 precautions, vaccination, etc.
● Represent and promote Illinois Unidos’ work at selected forums, conferences, and meetings, etc.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:
● Minimum of a master’s degree required in relevant fields, such as public health, behavioral or social science, education, public policy/administration from an accredited college or university strongly preferred, with at least two years of relevant experience.
● Minimum of 10 years of senior management experience.
● Ability to communicate the Illinois Unidos’ vision and mission to key constituents.
● Strong financial management record.
● Record of strong collaboration and stewardship of Boards of Directors and volunteers.
● Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to present in a variety of settings.
● Ability to engage and work with diverse audiences.
JOB KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
● Basic organizational, problem-solving, and time/project management (e.g., scheduling) skills.
● Advanced proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite of applications (e.g., Word, Excel).
● Skilled with management of communications software and virtual applications (e.g., Canva, Zoom).
● Experience and comfort with internet research and survey applications (e.g., Survey Monkey).
● Ability to prioritize and coordinate multiple priorities and engagements using strong organizational and time-management skills.
● Strong communication skills in Spanish and English (written and oral).
● Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, with an attention to detail. WORK ENVIRONMENT: This is a remote position and will require the employee to have reliable access to a functional computer with internet access. Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, resume and one page writing sample to: illinoisunidos@gmail.com.