The Sikh Coalition Hiring for Education Manager at Remote Full Time

About the Sikh Coalition:
For over 20 years, the Sikh Coalition, a national community-based, civil rights organization, has defended Sikh civil liberties in the courtroom, classroom, community, and halls of Congress. Whether it’s working to secure safer schools, combat and prevent hate and discrimination, create equal employment opportunities and access, or empower local Sikh communities, the Sikh Coalition’s goal is working towards a world where Sikhs, and other religious and racial minorities in America, may freely practice their faith without bias and discrimination.

The Sikh Coalition is a nonpartisan, civil rights nonprofit with nearly 20 full-time staff and over one hundred volunteers that operates on a $2.4+ million budget with complete financial transparency. Our funding comes from grants, private foundations, and individual donors. We receive no funding from any government agencies.

We strive to do this work with integrity (sach), selflessness (seva) and with the lasting belief that our shared work holds a greater purpose (sangarsh). We will relentlessly pursue our goals while putting the community and these values first.

For more information please visit www.sikhcoalition.org.

Position Summary:
The Sikh Coalition seeks a strong professional to play a key role in supporting our educational campaigns and content development. This position will also provide direct guidance and support on analysis, strategy, and priorities in relation to our educational policy work. Through this work, the Sikh Coalition aims to create safer and more inclusive classrooms for Sikh children, develop accurate content reflective of Sikh values and history, and foster a stronger understanding of the community in the United States.

To date, the Sikh Coalition has successfully worked with educators, activists, and lawmakers to advocate for Sikhi to be included in social studies standards in fourteen states, developed leading classroom-ready content for Sikh lesson plans, and helped Sikh parents and students bring Sikhi to classrooms in states across the nation. This position is designed to take that work to the next level and is perfect for a highly motivated self-starter who can balance finishing projects in front of them while envisioning the work to follow. Additionally, this manager position comes with day-to-day leadership opportunities to support and grow the strategies to sustain engagement from parents and students in bringing this content to their classrooms.

The Education Manager will report directly to the Senior Education Manager and play an important role in shaping the Sikh Coalition’s decisions on educational work. They will collaborate across all Sikh Coalition teams – community development, advocacy, media and legal – to create resources and content that align with the organization’s goals.

Key Responsibilities:
Manage campaigns to ensure Sikhi is included in state standards and core curriculums across the country.

Review state standards across the nation and identify opportunities to improve curriculum standards to include Sikhism.

Support building long-term relationships with state boards of education, law makers, and influencers.

Identify and organize local community members to petition for state standard changes.

Monitor implementation of state standards across the nation and provide districts and educators with appropriate resources and content.

Provide analysis and support cross-programmatic strategies for creating safer and more inclusive classrooms through state and federal legislation.

Analyze and provide direct feedback of draft bills and resolutions with an eye on Sikh inclusion and religious literacy.

Contribute to identifying legislative problems or opportunities that could help or harm our long-term educational efforts.

Represent the Sikh Coalition in coalitions where educational policy strategy is being discussed.

Support the Sikh Coalition policy and leadership team in growing their educational policy expertise by advising them on sign on letters, policy documents, and meetings with lawmakers.

Create content to aid educators in how to teach Sikhi in their classrooms.

Help create lesson plans and other educational resources that are classroom-ready and align with social studies standards.

Help develop a strategy with educators and partner organizations to deploy content into schools.

Help develop and deliver professional development trainings for educators, including but not limited to anti-bullying and biased-based bullying.

Review, revise, and develop content for publishers and media companies to reflect the Sikh community accurately.

Build relationships with textbook publishers and media companies developing content for K-12 students.

Analyze current content and work with Sikh scholars to advocate for the inclusion of Sikhs and Sikhism accurately.

Create resources and tools for community members to educate others on Sikhi.

Create and regularly update content for the community, including but not limited to, Sikh awareness presentations, video scripts, and brochures.

Provide feedback on toolkits to help engage the community.

Assist in developing strategies to disseminate resources.

Provide direct support to the work of all program areas by helping produce relevant materials on Sikhs and Sikhi or through serving as an expert resource to them.

Develop or provide feedback on content about the Sikh faith, values and community for Sikh Coalition materials.

Participate, with training, in interviews specific to education campaigns and on the Sikh community and values generally.

Qualifications:
A successful candidate demonstrates a combination of the following attributes:

Bachelor’s degree with a strong preference for experience in the areas of policy work, education, advocacy campaigns, or a related field.

Strong knowledge of Sikh values and practices are required.

Previous professional or volunteer experience with the Sikh community is preferred.

Understanding of the broader political and social landscape to inform the social studies standards work and implementation of teaching Sikhi in the classroom.

Experience and comfort working with different key stakeholders; including Sikh and non-Sikh community members, educators, and other organizations.

Strong writing ability, including proofreading and editing skills.

Exceptional presentation skills and ability to develop persuasive arguments that are applicable to diverse audiences.

Experience building relationships and networking with people representing diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.

Demonstrated success working on teams, managing long-term and short-term campaigns, and simultaneously being able to make timely strategic decisions using multiple data points effectively.

Punjabi language skills preferred, but not required.

Must be willing to travel up to 15%; including occasional evenings and weekends

The ideal candidate will also exemplify the Sikh Coalition’s values:

Belief in Sikh Coalition values of truth (sach), service and humility (seva) and persistence (sangarsh) as being critical in how we pursue creating change.

Respect for the faith-based roots of the organization and sensitivity to the specific cultural needs of the community.

Commitment to consensus-building and shared decision making as a process, coupled with the ability to make decisions and bring together the whole team on delivering against them.

A commitment to social justice and a strong interest in social justice education and community empowerment.

Compensation:
This is a full-time, remote, exempt salaried position and compensation will be commensurate with experience in the $58,000-60,000 range. Benefits include:

Medical, dental, vision fully covered for employees. Option to contribute to a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) available.

Retirement savings (equivalent to a 401K plan) with a contribution match.

Generous vacation and sick leave, including compensation time when weekend work is required.

Paid parental leave.

Commitment to professional development and growth. Applicable professional membership dues may be eligible for reimbursement.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, but please submit a current resume and a substantive cover letter highlighting interest and relevant experience by July 22, 2022.

The Sikh Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Sikh Coalition is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants, and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental handicap, political belief, marital status, age, veteran status, ancestry, caste, medical condition, genetic characteristic, pregnancy, registered domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, reproductive health choices, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state and local laws.