VP, Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships
Overview
Since 1972, Covenant House has served and advocated for youth and young families experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. Our overarching goal is to end homelessness among youth and young families by helping them achieve housing stability, heal from trauma, tap into their innate resilience, and hone their interests and skills to forge new pathways to independence. This work is carried out across Covenant House sites in 34 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
About the Role
Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships, the Vice President of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships serves as the strategic and operational leader responsible for translating vision into execution across the advocacy portfolio. The VP acts as the SVP's key thought partner and deputy, maintaining visibility across priorities, advancing enterprise alignment, identifying risks and opportunities, building and stewarding key relationships, and ensuring strategic initiatives move from concept to implementation along established timeframes.
This role sits at the intersection of strategy, advocacy, youth leadership, partnership development, and organizational change. The VP will oversee the International Youth Congress (IYC), coordinate implementation of Covenant House's advocacy priorities across the federation and help ensure that advocacy efforts remain aligned with the organization'sStrategic Visionand the Strategy Office’s goals.
Successful candidates are equally comfortable advising senior leaders, facilitating cross-functional collaboration, authentically engaging and lifting up youth with lived experience, managing complex initiatives, and driving day-to-day execution. We’re looking for someone who can operate as a trusted advisor to senior leadership while also rolling up their sleeves to get work done, bringing exceptional project and portfolio management discipline.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership of International Youth Congress (50%)
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Serve as the organizational lead responsible for successful implementation, institutionalization, and long-term sustainability of the International Youth Congress
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Ensure IYC recommendations and insights are systematically integrated into organizational planning, policy development, program design, research initiatives, and continuous quality improvement processes
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Build organizational readiness for meaningful youth partnership across the enterprise
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Develop governance structures, feedback loops, accountability mechanisms, and decision-making pathways that elevate youth voice while ensuring organizational effectiveness
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Supervise the Youth Advocacy Program Manager, ensuring consistent, high-quality execution of key logistical and coordination tasks to deliver excellent programming for IYC members
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Manage the IYC budget and ensure accurate, timely reporting to SVP of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships
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Coordinate IYC Advisory Board, ensuring performance indicators for governance and engagement are met
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Oversee development of IYC curriculum to align with strategic vision implementation
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Manage vendors and consultants to build IYC capacity and enhance the leadership skills of members
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Forge partnerships and collaborations with organizations, experts, and stakeholders to expand resources and opportunities for International Youth Congress leadership development
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Establish key relationships and serve as the point of contact for IYC site leads, fostering understanding of and strong buy-in for IYC across the federation, ensuring consistent understanding of IYC goals, vision, values, and timeline of implementation
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Partner with Research and Impact team to develop meaningful opportunities for IYC members to participate in research and evaluation studies to advance practice and policy learning related to youth homelessness and other relevant social determinants of health
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