Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit network of high-performing, public charter schools providing an outstanding K-12 education in historically under-resourced communities. We have proudly built schools that reflect our student population, with more than 60% of our teachers and staff across our network identifying as a person of color. Uncommon currently manages 53 schools serving more than 20,000 students in five cities: Boston, Camden, New York City, Newark and Rochester. We are proud that Uncommon graduates persist in and graduate from college at five times the rate of their peers nationally. We achieve this by offering strong academic, co-curricular, and social-emotional learning that prepares students for success in college and beyond.

The Associate of External Affairs will organize and empower our parents and schools to ensure high quality schools for every family through local and state level advocacy. They will establish and cultivate relationships with key elected officials and community leaders to ensure that they know, support and protect our schools; as well as design and complete programs and initiatives that deepen the relationships between the schools and the communities we serve. The Associate will also advance our parent engagement, leading our Parent Partners for Advocacy group as well as our campus-based Family Councils. Other duties include website and social media oversight, logistical support of external events and board meetings, and other administrative responsibilities. The position will report directly to the Regional Senior Director for Boston.

Essential duties & responsibilities

• Analyze and navigate the education and political landscape in Boston and Massachusetts.
• Develop and cultivate relationships with elected representatives at the local, county and state level.
• Attend community events regularly in the communities we serve.
• Educate community leaders, advocates and elected officials about our schools through relationship building, school visits, community events, etc.
• Lead and conduct outreach to Roxbury Prep families and communities associated with our schools regarding opportunities for advocacy and involvement.
• Lead non-partisan voter registration and get out the vote campaigns among families, in coordination with schools.
• Organize events and activities that provide families with an opportunity to have their voices heard in their community and by city, state, and national leadership.
• Identify and train parent leaders at each of our schools to engage with elected officials and community leaders, mobilize large groups of parents for advocacy events, and lead school-based community engagement efforts.
• Design, initiate, and implement events and initiatives that deepen the connections between our schools and the communities our schools serve.
• Run partner database, ensuring data entry and data integrity in databases
• Track progress around all outreach efforts, analyze progress data, and design plans to adjust to real-time data.
• Run regional website updates, social media platforms and school and Board of Trustee newsletters
• Provide logistics support for events (e.g. advocacy rallies, professional development workshops for district partners, board meetings)
• Implement actions step for board meeting preparation (e.g. monthly communications, information gathering, packet creation, meeting minutes, etc.)
• Provide general administrative support
• Handle purchasing and invoicing tasks and processes
• Schedule meeting with various partners
• Collect and disseminate Board meeting notes

• Strong strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to create and maintain systems that enhance organization efficiency.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to initiate and build relationships with various stakeholders.
• Great teammate who is a self-motivated "go-getter" with the ability to lead and motivate others.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, flexible and able to adapt quickly to changing priorities, and a sense of humor in the face of contending demands.
• Knowledge of Massachusetts and Boston public education, charter schools, and political landscape highly preferred.
• Self-awareness with the ability to reflect and adapt to diverse environments.
• Cultural competency and experience working with families from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Applications and Social Media Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
• Flexibility of schedule for early morning, evening and weekend meetings and events.
• Fluency in Spanish preferred.
• Must have access to a personal vehicle to travel to our schools and community events.

Education and experience

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum three years of professional experience in organizing, community engagement or other relevant work with schools and families in communities similar to those we serve.
• Prior experience planning and leading large scale projects.
• Prior experience with grassroots field organizing, including experience in political or issues campaigns, or leading a field organizing team a plu

Our people are what make us uncommon. It’s important to us that our compensation practices align with our values and enhance our ability to attract and retain talent. Our compensation philosophy is focused on equity and fairness, retaining our talented staff and valuing their expertise, and transparency and clarity.

Compensation for this position: The starting compensation for this role is based in Boston, MA and is between $65,300 to $76,800 and generally, we expect that qualified candidates in this location will be made an offer between $65,300 and $69,100. The starting pay will depend on a variety of factors that may include but are not limited to experience, education, training, certification, and location.

Uncommon believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. At the same time, we work to ensure an inclusive community by creating a space for important dialogue about issues of race and identity for our staff and students. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.