About the Organization

The Chicago Education Alliance (CEA) is a new organization created to strengthen and align Chicago’s education advocacy ecosystem. In a city where energy, expertise, and commitment abound—but often operate in silos—CEA will serve as a unifying force that convenes partners, builds shared priorities, and drives coordinated action toward a student-centered policy agenda.

CEA will amplify the effectiveness of Chicago’s diverse education partners—grassroots organizers, grasstops leaders, nonprofit organizations, and civic institutions—by:

• Building and sustaining a broad, cross-sector coalition

• Serving as a bridge between the field and key decision-makers

• Advancing policy solutions grounded in the lived experience of students, families, and communities

• Mobilizing collective action around a shared, student-centered policy agenda

Our mission is to catalyze the field and champion policies and systems that ensure every Chicago student—especially those furthest from opportunity—has access to a rigorous education that prepares them for success in a changing economy.

Our vision is that every Chicago child receives a rigorous and well-rounded education that leads to meaningful careers and economic mobility—and that Chicago becomes a national model for what is possible when a city aligns around equity and student success.

CEA is led by its Founding Executive Director, with additional senior leadership being built to support strategy, policy development, operations, and citywide coalition efforts.

For more information visit: www.ChicagoEducationAlliance.org

The Opportunity

CEA is seeking a relationship-driven, equity-grounded, and strategically minded Director of Community Engagement to build, strengthen, and lead CEA’s work with students, families, educators, and community-based organizations. As one of the organization’s early hires, this leader will establish CEA’s approach to community partnership and ensure that community experience and insight shape the organization’s policy priorities and influence strategy.

This role reports directly to the Founding Chief Operating Officer and will serve as a key member of CEA’s senior leadership team.

The Director of Community Engagement will play a central role in ensuring that CEA’s citywide work is informed by authentic listening, meaningful partnership, and consistent engagement with communities across Chicago. This leader will develop engagement structures, build trusted relationships, elevate community perspectives, and help translate lived experience into policy and systems recommendations that reflect community needs and priorities.

This role also requires experience in or familiarity with community organizing approaches, including building collective voice, mobilizing stakeholders, and supporting community driven action that informs policy and systems change, while also elevating youth leadership and voice to ensure that students are engaged as active partners in shaping CEA’s priorities and policy agenda.

This is a role for someone who thrives in a start-up environment, values collaboration, believes deeply in the expertise of communities, and is energized by building new systems that honor and amplify community voices.

Scope of Responsibilities and Goals

Community Engagement Strategy & Leadership

• Design and lead CEA’s approach to community engagement, ensuring it reflects equity, respect, and authentic partnership

• Develop and maintain ongoing engagement structures such as advisory groups, listening sessions, roundtables, and community partnership forums

• Incorporate organizing-informed practices that build collective voice, leadership, and shared ownership among community partners

• Identify and elevate key themes, priorities, and insights emerging from engagement work and ensure they inform CEA’s strategy and policy agenda

• Build trust across communities by ensuring CEA shows up consistently, listens actively, and partners responsibly

• Develop strategies to elevate youth voice and leadership within engagement efforts, including creating opportunities for students to contribute to policy and advocacy conversations

Relationship Building & Partnership Development

• Build and strengthen relationships with families, educators, school and community leaders, youth organizations, and civic partners across the city

• Serve as a primary point of contact for community-based organizations and partners seeking to collaborate with CEA

• Support relationship mapping and landscape analysis to identify strengths, opportunities, and gaps in CEA’s community-facing work

• Represent CEA at community meetings, coalition gatherings, and public events in ways that reflect the organization’s values and commitment to equity

Community to Policy Integration

• Gather, synthesize, and elevate community insights to inform policy development and advocacy strategies

• Partner with Executive Director and colleagues to ensure that community voice is integrated into organizational decision making

• Prepare written summaries, memos, and recommendations that translate community input into clear implications for policy, research, and organizational planning

• Ensure that community partners receive regular updates on how their perspectives are being reflected in CEA’s priorities and actions

• Ensure that youth perspectives and lived experiences are meaningfully represented in policy development and advocacy priorities

Organizational Collaboration

• Work closely with the Executive Director to align community engagement work with organizational strategy and goals

• Collaborate internally to develop materials, messages, reports, and presentations that highlight community priorities and lived experience

• Contribute to planning for Board updates, convenings, and organizational learning processes

• While this role does not initially include direct reports, there is strong potential to build and lead a community engagement team as CEA grows.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Step into and steward CEA’s existing Community Co-Design cohort (approximately 17 Community-Based and citywide partners), building trust, continuity, and sustained engagement beyond the initial design phase

• Develop and implement a strategy to retain and deepen participation of the initial cohort while expanding the coalition to include additional partners aligned to a student-centered public policy agenda

• Partner with the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer to translate co-design insights into a clear, public-facing policy agenda and support the launch of a coalition aligned around advancing that agenda

• Establish clear, repeatable engagement structures and feedback loops that ensure community voice meaningfully informs CEA’s strategy and advocacy

• Work in partnership with the Chief Operating Officer to implement and utilize a CRM or relationship management system to track partnerships, engagement history, and coalition growth in a disciplined and sustainable way

Candidate Profile: Who you are and what you bring

You are a trusted relationship builder, a thoughtful listener, and a strategic thinker who believes deeply in the power and wisdom of communities. You are energized by partnership, collaboration, and the opportunity to build new systems that elevate community voice at the center of policy and systems decisions.

As an ideal candidate, you will demonstrate the following core competencies: 

• Community Engagement Expertise – Deep experience designing and leading engagement that centers respect, trust, and authenticity

• Equity Focus – Demonstrated commitment to lifting up lived experience and addressing systemic inequities within education

• Strategic Relationship Building – Ability to build strong relationships across lines of race, geography, sector, and perspective

• Organizing Orientation – Demonstrated experience using community organizing principles to build collective voice, support advocacy or organizing efforts, or mobilize stakeholders toward shared policy or systems change goals

• Communication Excellence – Ability to translate community insights into clear and compelling narratives that inform strategy and influence decisions

• Facilitation and Convening Skill – Experience planning and leading meetings, listening sessions, and community conversations

• Collaboration and Partnership – Ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders and to serve as a bridge between communities and citywide systems

• Youth Leadership Orientation - Experience working with, supporting, or developing youth leaders, and a demonstrated belief in the importance of youth voice in shaping education policy and systems change

• Entrepreneurial Mindset – Comfort building new structures, iterating quickly, and navigating ambiguity in a start-up environment

Experience and Expertise

• 6+ years of experience in community engagement, advocacy, education, public affairs, or related fields

• Demonstrated experience working directly with communities and facilitating engagement that results in actionable insights

• Experience leading or supporting organizing efforts, campaigns, or coalition-based initiatives that advance community priorities or policy change

• Experience working with youth, youth-led organizations, or student leadership initiatives strongly preferred

• Deep knowledge of Chicago communities and the education landscape across neighborhoods

• Experience partnering with community organizations, schools, youth groups, and civic institutions

• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to synthesize community perspectives into strategic recommendations

• Experience in start-up or early growing organizations is preferred but not required

• Bilingual Spanish strongly preferred

Compensation and Benefits

Base Salary: $135k - $155k

Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage; 401(k) match through fiscal sponsor; generous PTO and holiday schedule.

Additional Requirements

On-site/in-office presence required, with flexibility.
Occasional evening or weekend work may be required based on organizational needs.

Equal Opportunity

Chicago Education Alliance is committed to building a diverse team and fostering an inclusive work environment. We welcome all applicants regardless of race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, disability, or veteran status.