Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE), the California policy advocacy project of three longstanding Asian American civil rights organizations, seeks a Legislative Advocate. AACRE is a joint statewide advocacy project of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), and Asian Law Caucus (ALC). The AACRE Legislative Advocate is responsible for advancing a pro-active policy agenda on a broad range of civil rights issues that promote access and equality for California’s diverse Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) communities before the California Legislature. Issues championed by AACRE include language rights, immigrant rights, and racial justice.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Legislative Advocate works under the supervision of the Executive Director of CAA, and in concert with APALC and ALC, located in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The main office of the AACRE project is located in Sacramento.Specific job responsibilities include:

• Working closely with CAA, APALC, and ALC staff to set policy priorities, and develop strategies designed to promote common organizational goals for legislative, administrative, and budgetary policy advocacy.
• Developing pro-active legislation and budget policy proposals to promote a progressive agenda for APIAs.
• Analyzing legislation, administrative policies, and budgetary proposals that impact APIA and immigrant communities.
• Lobbying and negotiating with legislators, the Governor’s office, administrative agency representatives, staff and other advocates on priority legislation and policy proposals.
• Preparing and delivering testimony at legislative and administrative hearings.
• Drafting policy fact sheets and briefing papers on priority legislation and policy issues.
• Writing letters stating the position of AACRE and its three partner organizations on legislation, administrative policies, and budgetary proposals.
• Analyzing the voting records of state legislators and action taken by the Governor on key legislation important to California’s diverse Asian American communities and drafting an annual legislative report card.
• Coordinating legislative and community policy briefings on diverse legislative, administrative, and budgetary issues.
• Communicating with mainstream and ethnic media on legislation and state policy issues.
• Mobilizing a statewide network of community-based organizations to engage in the legislative process through regular electronic action alerts and informational updates.
• Participate in CAA meetings and in CAA agency-wide activities as requested.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in legislative advocacy or working on legislative matters, preferably on civil rights or immigrant rights issues.
• Commitment to advancing social and economic justice.
• Experience in working with Asian and Pacific Islander American communities.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to think strategically about promoting public policy agendas.
• Strong speaking and writing skills, and the ability to present AACRE’s policy priorities to government officials, community partners, the general public and the media.
• Capacity to integrate diverse viewpoints and experiences in building coalitions across different communities.
• Ability to work well both independently and in collaboration with diverse staff, organizational leaders, and community allies.

Preferred Qualities

• Public Policy, Law, or other similar degree.
• Experience in working with people from a variety of ethnic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds.
• Experience working with partnerships and coalitions of organizations.

Compensation: Salary depending on experience, excellent benefits.

Application process: Send resume, cover letter, and relevant writing sample to Leilani A. Yee via fax to 916.448.6774 or via email to layee@aacre.org. Please submit documents by Friday, June 19, 2009. All applications will be treated as confidential.

CAA is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity in its workplace. Women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals encouraged to apply.