Director, State Gov. Affairs & External Partnerships || Harvard Innovation Lab VIP incubated Non-Profit Mental Health Startup (part-time, volunteer) Owensboro, KY /
0. Gvt affairs /
Part time
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Do you want to improve the world? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get in at the ground level working at a world-changing organization just as they started growing rapidly? Excited by the opportunity to power world-class entrepreneurs and Changemakers as they work to positively impact the lives of 100,000’s & 1,000,000’s for decades to come?
At Ignite Mental Health we're accelerating world-class mental health entrepreneurs and mobilizing students at scale to catalyze the scalable innovations and legislative changes needed to transform the future of student mental health literacy and access. Using this approach, we're working to make the impossible inevitable; helping build and scale lasting legislative changes and breakthrough organizations to be as impactful as Google and Facebook that focus solely on equipping every student with a standard measure of mental health literacy and access.
Become a member of a mission-driven founding team that grew rapidly from the Harvard and MIT communities, with the support of the Harvard Innovation Labs Venture Incubation Program, to become a nationwide effort in just nine months! All of us at Ignite have experienced first-hand, or through the experiences of loved ones and friends, the pain caused by just how broken our approaches towards mental health really are, so we're fixing it, on a national scale and accelerated timeline. You will perch atop a fast-growing organization working to catalyze national and global change with the opportunity to learn, grow, and hopefully thrive in our fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and impact-driven environment.
We are looking for a bold, boundary-pushing and resourceful Director of State Government Affairs & External Partnerships who is enthralled by the challenge and excited by the opportunity to deliver state policy wins centered on reducing suffering and saving lives for decades to come. Focusing primarily on K-12 mental health education policy and access wait times (incl. minimum councilor ratios), you will join a high-energy State Leadership Team working to accelerate meaningful early intervention and preventative measures.
If you're a creative changemaker, strong relationship builder and resourceful leader with a drive to invest and volunteer your time to transform the future of mental health in your state, this might be the perfect opening.
We’re expanding our world-class team.......  And this is where you come in.
What you'll get to do • Develop and execute government affairs strategies for all state legislative activity and executive branch directives of importance to our mental health literacy and access policy goals.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of legislative and regulatory processes, and awareness of the political, legislative, and regulatory landscape affecting policy goals.
• Establish, develop and maintain strong relationships with government officials, state policymakers in executive and legislative branches, and their staff, community leaders, advocacy groups, external organizations, and stakeholders to achieve policy goals.
• Identify and access existing influential networks, and form new networks and coalitions that will accelerate achievement of policy goals.
• Develop and implement advocacy strategies on Ignite-specific positions relative to key state policies.
• Prepare government affairs background information and materials for internal stakeholders. These products may include political analyses, advantages of support/opposition, bill analyses and legislative highlights.
• Manage legislative consultants and lobbyists as appropriate.
• Identify and pursue additional opportunities to advance our policy goals.
• Ignite is a fast-growing startup and we are seeking candidates who will thrive in a role where duties and areas of responsibility will evolve and change with organizational growth. Assigned duties will evolve over time.
Must haves • 7+ years experience with state government (Legislature, Governor’s office, agency etc.), state government affairs/policy or at a major trade association with significant direct lobbying experience.
• Expertise in political, legislative and regulatory matters at the state level.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain relationships with members of the legislature, administration and other government and community leaders.
• Passionate, positive, self-starter who enjoys working in a cross-functional and sometimes unstructured startup environment.
• Passionate about transforming mental health (but that's a given!).
• Significant knowledge of state legislative and regulatory systems.
• Bachelors degree required (advanced degree preferred).
• Excellent written, verbal communication and presentation skills.
Time, Structure & Financial • Success in this role may involve volunteering 3 - 6 hours per week, potentially on a rotating basis dependent on the successful candidate's preferences. Based on these preferences we may appoint two or more professionals as Co-Directors to facilitate a division of responsibilities and time The successful candidate(s) will have the opportunity to join the HQ team remotely or in-person* during 9-5 EST hours, or outside of these hours, with an array of integration and team interaction options available.
• Ignite Mental Health currently operates as a world-class, and uniquely high-skilled, volunteer run 501(c)(3) & 501(c)(4)-in-formation non-profit; efficiently coordinated by a core Head Office team of exceptionally dedicated leaders, collectively working to reduce suffering and save lives on a national scale and accelerated timeline.
• This position is non-compensated and volunteer in nature. For candidates who are enrolled or work in a University or Sponsoring Organization, we of course assist in the preparation of documentation required to support applications for stipends, non-profit work pay related programs, financial fellowships or financial scholarships. While our incoming Capital Raising Team will be working hard to establish partnerships to fund stipends, salary and other renumeration, we are unfortunately unable to commit to compensation of any form at this time.
• Third-party websites may provide erroneously calculated salary projections for positions. These estimates are not provided by Ignite and are incorrect.
Location • Our Director, State Gov. Affairs & External Partnerships would be welcome to work remotely or in-person with our Founder and key team members in the Boston area. In-person options may be dependent on a range of COVID-19 health and safety related factors.
Ignite Mental Health is not a department of Harvard University, nor are we in anyway owned or operated by the University. Ignite is a nonprofit startup founded by Harvard students and alumni which is incubated by and works (pre-covid) out of the Harvard Innovation Labs VIP program. We ask that all communications are directed to Ignite & not the Harvard Innovation Lab.
This description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work which may be performed by persons assigned to this position. It is not intended to include all duties, responsibilities or other potentially relevant information which may change between the date of this posting and potential interviews.
We're working to scale innovative solutions and legislative changes —unafraid of transforming traditional approaches—that tackle the root causes of some of the biggest problems affecting mental health.
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