Equal Opportunity Employer
The mission of the Health Federation of Philadelphia is to promote community health by advancing access to high-quality, integrated, comprehensive health and human services. We believe in and are firmly committed to equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, religion, disability, sex or gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status. This commitment applies to all aspects of the Health Federation of Philadelphia’s employment practices, including recruiting, hiring, training, and promotion.
JOB SUMMARY
Home Grown, a fiscally sponsored project of the Health Federation of Philadelphia, is a national collaborative dedicated to creating a more inclusive child care system that values and supports home-based child care (HBCC), including care provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN). The organization envisions a future where all children have access to quality care that fosters their growth, learning, and well-being. By addressing systemic barriers and amplifying the unique value of HBCC, Home Grown advocates for sustainable change that positions HBCC as a viable and high-quality child care option for families. Guided by core values such as community-centered approaches, collective action, and innovation, the organization prioritizes uplifting care providers and families, fostering provider-led networks, and building scalable solutions.
The Director of Narrative Strategy leads Home Grown's national narrative strategy, developing and implementing a narrative framework grounded in Home Grown's strategic approach across its pillars: building grassroots power, disrupting policies and systems, and shifting the narrative so that HBCC is visible, valued, and well-resourced. This leader ensures that HBCC providers' voices, needs, and solutions are centered in a narrative strategy that shifts public and policy-maker perceptions and beliefs about HBCC, and that this strategy is built in alignment with Home Grown's broader mission and goals.
This role is responsible for setting the strategy and systems behind Home Grown's narrative work. The Director builds the team, partnerships, and processes that allow Home Grown to communicate with one voice across audiences, and ensures that narrative work reflects and reinforces the priorities of the organization.
As a member of the management team, the Director of Narrative Strategy contributes to organization-wide strategy and decision-making, partners closely with peer directors to align messaging, and steward Home Grown's resources, culture, and values.
JOB SPECIFICATIONS
Responsibilities/Duties
Team Supervision
- Build and lead the narrative team, creating a culture that embraces accountability, continuous learning, and that motivates people to take on complex challenges in new ways.
- Support independent, self-motivated professionals, and provide tailored support to team members from diverse backgrounds, recognizing the unique perspectives and lived experiences they bring to the work.
- Set clear expectations, performance goals, and feedback practices that support both individual growth and team results, and address issues constructively as they arise.
Leadership and Management
- Serve as a member of the management team, contributing to organizational strategy, culture, sustainability, and operational planning, including input on whether narrative initiatives should be adapted, scaled, or sunsetted.
- Translate Home Grown's organizational strategy into a clear narrative strategy and annual plan for the narrative function.
- Develop and manage the narrative team's budget, monitoring performance and recommending resource or capacity adjustments to align with strategy and operational needs.
- Model balanced, values-driven leadership that prioritizes both results and the well-being of staff and partners, bringing curiosity, care, and steadiness to times of change.
- Participate in cross-functional planning with program, policy, and operations teams, bringing the narrative perspective and surfacing implications for messaging and external positioning so that work across teams stays aligned.
Narrative Strategy and Systems
- Design and build the systems and processes the team uses to plan, produce, review, and approve content, working with the teams who rely on them to balance what the narrative team needs with what supports collaboration across program, policy, and operations.
- Ensure systems and processes are used with fidelity and refine them over time with input from relevant stakeholders.
- Establish and maintain Home Grown's message guidance and brand standards, ensuring messaging stays consistent across audiences, products, and teams.
- Direct the narrative team's workplan and oversee the development of written and multimedia materials, ensuring output reflects organizational priorities, provider voice, and Home Grown’s quality standards.
- Establish systems for tracking the effectiveness of narrative work, connecting communications metrics to Home Grown's broader goals for shifting perceptions and policy conditions, and use the resulting data to refine strategy and inform organizational learning.
- Oversee the team's story-banking processes with providers, ensuring provider voice is collected, stored, and used responsibly and effectively across Home Grown's work.
- Oversee the team’s provider engagement structure, the Insights Panel. Ensure providers can regularly engage and offer ideas, make decisions and set direction for Home Grown narrative work and partner projects.
- Lead Home Grown's response to time-sensitive media inquiries and emerging issues, ensuring the organization responds quickly, consistently, and in line with its values and messaging.
Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships
- Cultivate relationships with media contacts, narrative allies, and field partners that extend the reach, credibility, and impact of Home Grown's narrative work.
- Identify and develop new partnerships with provider networks, nonprofits, media outlets, and coalitions that strengthen Home Grown's narrative strategy and visibility.
- Represent Home Grown as a spokesperson alongside other leaders, and support other staff in serving as spokespeople when appropriate.
- Coordinate with the policy and program teams to identify shared external relationships where aligned messaging strengthens Home Grown's overall positioning.
- Manage relationships with contractors, vendors, and sub-grantees, ensuring their work aligns with Home Grown's narrative strategy and quality standards.
Collaboration
- Contribute narrative and communications expertise to grant and report development, ensuring Home Grown's impact and story are well represented to funders.
- Help staff across Home Grown understand how to work with the narrative team, including what's needed from them, what to expect in return, and where things stand on shared work at any given time.
- Maintain visibility into the status of shared work and timelines, so staff across Home Grown can plan around the narrative team's processes and outputs.
