Associate Director, Policy and Public Affairs for the 10-Minute Walk Program (location flexible)

New York City,
Posted on July 20, 2023

Background:
Parks are superfoods for cities and play a critical role in quality of life for urban communities. They improve physical and mental health, strengthen civic and community vitality, and build social and environmental resilience. Though the benefits of parks are well documented, 100 million people, including 28 million children, lack access to a park and greenspace within a 10-minute walk of home. There is an urgent need to address this U.S. park equity divide.

Trust for Public Land’s 10-Minute Walk® Program works with city leaders to ensure that every resident has access to a quality park or greenspace within a 10-minute walk of home. Since 2017, more than 300 mayors, representing cities large and small, have made the 10-Minute Walk Commitment, to prioritize access to high-quality parks and green spaces that support healthy, resilient communities. The 10-Minute Walk Program works across the country to identify, support, and accelerate local policy and practices, and to build the tools that are needed to advance equitable park systems and thriving communities. More information on the program can be found here: https://10minutewalk.org/

Position Overview:
Trust for Public Land is seeking a highly motivated individual to join the 10-Minute Walk Program as Associate Director, Policy and Public Affairs. Reporting to Senior Director of the 10-Minute Walk Program, this position will serve a critical role in advancing new and existing local policy efforts.

This role will be responsible for leading the local park equity policy agenda, policy model and toolkit development, policy analysis and research (in coordination with Consultants or other partners), and direct city support. This work significantly expands upon TPL’s ongoing work around greenspace policy research, recommendations, and action.

This person should have policy expertise and strong understanding of politics and factors affecting city leader decision-making. This person should have a desire to deepen policymakers’ understanding of complex social and land use issues, the thoughtful solutions they require, and to share those learning with others. This person should have experience and expertise working with government officials and communities to generate change, be capable of both big picture and detailed thinking, and have a strong track record of project execution.

This role will have a direct report, and serve as direct manager for a Public Affairs position on the 10-Minute Walk team. The role will work closely with other members of the 10-Minute Walk team (i.e., to inform research priorities and activate information for key audiences), with other teams across the organization, and with external partners (both city elected and appointed officials and staff, local community partners, and national organizational partners).

Key Responsibilities:
This role involves three core areas:

Policy research and leadership
Park equity policy and related resource development
Dissemination & Adoption

Park Equity Policy Research
As a critical component of working to reduce the park equity gap at scale, and advancing the park equity field of knowledge, this position will lead TPL’s 10-Minute Walk local park equity policy strategic direction and priorities. In addition, working with other teams in the Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations department, oversee and support broader integrated policy efforts (local, state, Federal).

Continue to refine and advance 10-Minute Walk’s agenda of most-impactful, cross-sector parks policies and practice (i.e., our “top 10 policies for park equity”).
Work to identify conditions for success and key challenges related to implementation of local park equity policy.
Lead and manage new and ongoing data collection and policy partnerships projects.
Collaboratively plan and support policy evaluation efforts.

Park Equity Policy Resource Development
Lead development of TPL’s local policy resources, tools, and knowledge.

Manage TPL’s local park equity policy library/database of policy examples, as well as TPL’s local park equity policy tracker tool.
Create model policies based upon policy research and with cross-sectoral partnerships.
Create toolkits and guides for adaptation and implementation of policies for a variety of key audiences, contexts, and city typologies.
Manage creation/development of deliverables that distill knowledge and best practices around identified solutions and strategies.

Policy Dissemination & Adoption
Support TPL’s direct assistance efforts, to help accelerate implementation and achieve impact at scale.

Work with other 10-Minute Walk (and including the Public Affairs role),and Trust for Public Land staff, and partners to disseminate information around “high-impact” policy solutions and strategies, and promote socialization and uptake in the field.
Manage the Public Affairs role to maximize adoption of 10-Minute Walk policies in pilot cities and other cities across the country.
Related to the “top 10 policies for park equity,” work with 10-Minute Walk Technical Assistance Leads to identify cities for pilots and key questions for exploration in our peer learning networks.
Work with 10-Minute Walk Technical Assistance Leads to develop and execute action plans for cities involved in various 10-Minute Walk assistance programs.
Provide other policy support, consultation, and technical assistance as-needed to other cities, also in coordination with 10-Minute Walk Technical Assistance Leads.

Manage Consultants (such as cross-sector partners bringing expertise to deliverables and city support), including the selection, scoping, contracting, and overseeing of work and deliverables.

Qualifications:

Public policy expertise, and experience developing and working through policy adoption processes, required
Experience working directly with city leadership highly preferred
Public service experience preferred
5-8 years of work experience within related fields (such as public policy, public administration, planning, or economics)
Excellent interpersonal skills, as well as strong verbal and written communication skills
Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills
Strong project management skills, highly organized and detail-oriented
Broad knowledge of public space and parks field preferred
Familiarity with range of U.S. cities and geographies helpful

Compensation:
As a full-time exempt employee, you will be eligible for Trust for Public Land’s comprehensive benefits program which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, vacation, sick and holiday pay, and a 403(b) retirement plan, currently with an up to 7% company match. We offer competitive salaries commensurate with experience; the range for this position is $90,000-100,000 annually.

Trust for Public Land’s active goal is to be an inclusive and equitable place to work and build community. As the organization actively works to eliminate racial and other disparities it welcomes candidates with diverse backgrounds and/or multicultural skillsets and experiences.

Climate Hiring and Amplifying Talent

Associate Director, Policy and Public Affairs for the 10-Minute Walk Program (location flexible)

Associate Director, Policy and Public Affairs for the 10-Minute Walk Program (location flexible)