Position Overview

This is a full-time paid position in the Little Rock office of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF). This position will assist AACF’s Health Policy Director in promoting public policies that improve health care coverage, access, and quality for Arkansas’s children and families, particularly for Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color (BIPOC) families and families whose incomes are below the federal poverty threshold. Candidates must have analytical skills, communication skills, writing skills, organizational skills, and the ability to work in a team environment with diverse groups. This position must support AACF’s equity statement and be committed to supporting equity in all areas of the work. 

Salary range is $50,000 to $59,000, depending on qualifications and experience. We value diversity and equity in our work and in our workplace and strongly encourage BIPOC individuals, LGBTQIA+ individuals, members of other historically disenfranchised populations, and applicants with lived experience to apply. 

Job Summary

Collect stories from Medicaid recipients, perform data analyses, write reports and briefs, and assist with outreach and coalition building efforts on health care. Give public presentations on Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and health care policy issues, and assist with communications on health-related issues. Manage aspects of grants related to child health and outreach and enrollment in affordable health coverage options for children and their families. This position reports to the director of health care policy and the policy director. 

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree with one year of experience or Master’s degree. Candidates who have more experience related to the position will be eligible for the higher salary range.

Skills Required

• Ability to read and understand public policies that impact health care coverage
• Ability to interview people who’ve experienced poverty and/or health challenges, received public benefits or have tried to sign up for public programs
• Good presentation and communications skills and the ability to communicate data findings and complex issues to external audiences, including governmental, partners and stakeholders, community groups, and the public
• Ability to plan and organize meetings
• Proficient computer skills including spreadsheets, word processing, PowerPoint, and other online software programs
• Ability to compile and analyze health care data related to coverage, access, and health outcomes
• Ability to have flexible schedule when needed to attend and host meetings around the state
• Ability to work with a diverse group of advocates, community and nonprofit partners, state agency officials, and constituency groups
• Ability to work in a team environment and motivate others to assist in AACF’s work

Responsibilities

• Collect stories from Medicaid recipients and health care providers that center around the end of the Public Health Emergency and Medicaid enrollment
• Collaborate with partners to collect stories that center around the end of the Public Health Emergency and Medicaid enrollment
• Work with partners to monitor the terminations and re-enrollment of recipients who have lost Medicaid coverage
• Conduct research and perform data analysis on health care related issues and other policy issues as requested
• Write data and policy briefs, grant proposals and reports, and blogs
• Develop and give presentations on health care related policy issues
• Assist in our health care coalition building efforts and represent AACF on various work groups
• Conduct outreach with community organizations and other groups on health care related issues
• Assist the health care policy director with monitoring health care policy developments on the state and national levels
• Represent the health care policy director as needed at committee, coalition, and public meetings related to health care
• Ability to travel around the state for meetings, events, and for collecting stories. Some travel to national meetings to participate in conferences hosted by our national partners.

About Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

AACF was founded in 1977 by a group of prominent Arkansans who believed that children needed an “independent force to provide information and education to parents and citizens about our state’s policies toward children and families.” For 45 years, AACF has provided leadership, research, and advocacy to promote wide-ranging reforms that have improved the lives of Arkansas’s children. 

The mission of AACF is to ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential. To carry out its mission, AACF serves as a voice for children at the Arkansas State Capitol and in Washington, D.C., gathers and analyzes data to support public policy that serves all children and families, and organizes coalitions of diverse groups to drive change across the state.

Equity at AACF

AACF has been a dynamic and effective voice for Arkansas’s children and families, guided by a vision calling for equity for all children. AACF’s work spans all policy areas impacting Arkansas’s children and families, including child welfare, economic security, COVID-19 response, early childhood, education, health, hunger, immigrant children and families, juvenile justice, tax and budget, and racial equity. Learn more about these policy areas at www.aradvocates.org/issues. 

In all of this work, AACF’s racial equity focus strives to align mission and stated values with organizational practices and programs. It recognizes that structural inequity has been embedded in our national and state culture and policies and has had a lasting effect, as seen today in disparities in children’s outcomes across race and many other identities. AACF believes in intentionally engaging diverse perspectives throughout its work and is committed to amplifying the voices and wisdom of those most directly affected by systemic oppression, with a focus on building a more equitable and inclusive Arkansas to truly serve every child and family.

Read more about AACF’s history and work at www.aradvocates.org.

Compensation

Salary: The salary range for this role is $50,000 to $59,000 depending on qualifications and experience. 

Location: Little Rock, with the flexibility to work outside of the office up to 50% of the time based on job responsibilities.

Benefits: AACF’s benefits include health and dental coverage, a 6% employer 401K contribution, an optional HSA with employer contribution, life insurance, long-term disability, annual leave of 15 for the first three years of employment, sick leave, flex time, 10 holidays, and sabbatical leave after 6 years of service. 

Apply Now

Please send cover letter and resume to Cara Neal, cneal@aradvocates.org.

Interview Process

• Stage 1: From the time the position is advertised, AACF collects resumes for three to four weeks before interviews begin. 
• Stage 2: Up to 8 candidates may be asked to participate in an initial screening call/Zoom with the policy director and the health policy director. 
• Stage 3: Up to 6 candidates will be asked to participate in an in-person or Zoom interview with the policy director and the health policy director.
• Stage 4: Up to 4 candidates will be asked to complete a written exercise on their own time. The candidate should spend no more than two to three hours to complete.
• Stage 5: Final candidates may be asked to do one final interview with the Executive Director before a final decision is made.

Candidates can continue to apply after the interviews begin. AACF accepts applications until the position is filled. Once interviews begin, the process can take up to 4 months before a final decision is made depending on number of candidates and scheduling availability of candidates and staff.

Candidates who make it to stage 4 will receive a one-time payment of $100 to complete the written exercise to compensate them for their time.